WELCOME
Is your child struggling in school?
Have you had a brain injury?
Are you an adult experiencing new & abnormal sensations or emotions?
We can help.
You may be experiencing problems from visual functions. The brain is modulated through light and vision, which may overwhelm certain areas and under-stimulate others. Read more About Us. Contact our office at (520) 886-8800.
Are you an adult experiencing discomfort with daily activites?
Is your child in need of neurological rehabilitation?
Are you looking for a tailored, holistic, and natural program to help improve your quality of life?
Think Better
Move Better
See Better
Our Vision Treatments can help you or your loved one by addressing:
"I took my son to Dr. Thomas when he was 8 years old. He could not catch a ball. After months of Vision Therapy, after he turned 9, he said to me one day, ‘Mom, thank you for taking me to vision therapy. Now I can see the whole world in 3-D!"
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Reading Comprehension
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Mental and Visual Focusing
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Visual Memory
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Spatial Orientation
TYPICAL VISION TESTS AND SCHOOL SCREENINGS AREN’T ENOUGH.
Functional vision problems in children and adults often go undetected by doctors and vision screenings, so those who need help aren’t always getting it. Most school screenings only measure how clearly a child sees objects in the distance. Even if your child has 20/20 eyesight, they could still have a functional vision problem that affects their learning ability. In fact, children with vision-related learning problems often have 20/20 eyesight (visionandlearning.org).
Determining Dyslexia Versus A Functional Vision Problem
“80% of children who are
reading disabled, including
dyslexics, have vision problems
which can be solved.”
(visionandlearning.org)
Our vision tests reveal how your child’s eyes track while performing activities such as reading or hitting a ball. If your child has problems reading, our tests can determine whether the issue is dyslexia or a functional vision problem.
A computerized program called Right Eye includes a printed graph of your child’s eye-tracking movements that can be used to communicate with others. For example, the graph can be a visual aid to show your child’s teacher where your child’s eyes are looking when they are trying to read.
A Happier Family Life
When one person in a family is struggling, it affects the entire family. Our Vision Therapy Program relieves the daily stress in your child’s life from struggling in school and with daily activities. Parents report a more harmonious home life, with relief from constant homework battles. The cessation of homework battles means more free time for kids and parents. In fact, many parents say that once their child has received therapy, they actually initiate homework themselves!
“I hope other families discover that Vision Therapy is an alternative to consider instead of surgery for many binocular problems.”
Vision Therapy Program for Sight and Learning
Vision affects almost everything in the brain. Our program treats the vision-brain-body connection so your child can learn better and feel happier and more confident in their daily life. Our therapy helps children create the eye movements that allow their brain to receive and access the correct information.
Visual remediation helps children succeed in school by addressing:
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Reading Comprehension
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Visual Memory
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Finding Targets in a busy environment
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Matching Abilities
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Spatial Orientation
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Eye-Hand Coordination
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Eye-Body Coordination
Your Child’s Experience with Vision Therapy
Kids struggling with functional vision problems don’t know why it’s so hard for them succeed at the activities their peers easily perform. Feeling different and not knowing why often makes children feel insecure about themselves and they underperform in school. When children arrive at our office for their first therapy session, they are often withdrawn, insecure and wary of making mistakes.
We boost not only their visual acuity, but their confidence as they go from being afraid of making mistakes to learning that they can see and succeed as never before. The positive impact is huge for both the child and their family.
After vision therapy, children feel:
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More Confident
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More Independent
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More Capable
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More Engaged
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Less Anxious
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Better able to make mistakes without withdrawing
“Dr. Thomas is so wonderful with kids. They really love her! She changes the VT ‘homework’ so much that even my wiggly boy did not tire from it or ever get bored!”
Help your child see and learn like never before.
What We Treat
Vision problems are frequently overlooked because they are rarely discussed. You would be surprised at how many people have arrived at our practice thinking that it was perfectly normal to have double vision and words that moved on the page. They seem shocked when we tell them that not everyone sees in this way.
If you have any of the following problems, you have come to the right place:
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Visual Comfort – These can include visual headaches, eye strain, fatigue and dry eye symptoms.
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Attention – These are problems with focused or sustained attention that would prevent you from working or learning to your full potential.
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Anxiety – There are many different types of anxiety that can be treated in this practice to include low level chronic dread, feelings of overreacting in typical situations, problems feeling at ease, problems concentrating because of anxiety during timed tests or deadlines, needing to feel anxious to keep yourself awake, racing thoughts and feelings that you are not good enough.
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Reading and Learning – We help resolve the vision problems that cause difficulty in reading fluently and paying attention to newly learned information.
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Coordination – This includes eye-hand, eye-body, posture and balance skills.
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Brain Injuries – Since vision is connected to over 80% of the brain, there is a strong risk for vision problems after an injury – using visual techniques is one of the most effective ways to balance the brain and improve healing.
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Sensory Integration – Each sense needs to agree with the other senses to help you feel comfortable in your environment and to help that person bring in sensory information and act on it wisely. We are able to help you connect your senses to allow you to work and learn at a higher level.
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Convergence Insufficiency – When the visual skills are not coordinated well, it becomes difficult for a person to work with visual targets within arm’s reach easily. It is as if the visual system becomes “spring-loaded” at near and can cause headaches, strain, fatigue and difficulty paying attention to things like reading and writing.
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Visual Tracking Issues – When the eyes struggle to track accurately and as a team, the information that enters the brain is less clear, understandable and comfortable. We are able to teach/remind your brain about the most efficient way to track so that your tracking is effortless and effective.
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Focusing – This often forgotten skill is necessary to keep visual targets clear at whichever distance it is located. We help to teach and/or remind your brain how to determine where you need to focus and how to focus accurately.
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Eye Turns (Strabismus) – Despite popular belief, eye turns do not usually occur because of a weakness of one or both eyes. There is usually an eye turn to avoid double vision when the two eyes are unable to coordinate well as a team. We can teach your eyes how to work well together, which will remove the need for the eye turn.
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Lazy Eye (Amblyopia) – Also despite popular belief, lazy eyes are not actually lazy. They are the brain’s way of avoiding confusion by shutting off one eye. The lazy eye is actually trying to become less noticeable so the other eye can work more effectively.
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Autism or Developmental Delays – Vision problems are very frequent in people with these conditions because vision is learned during the developmental process. When there is a problem with this process, vision is not learned well, and the person needs to make many adaptations to use their vision. These adaptations usually take a lot of energy and effort so it can be highly distracting.
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Nonverbal Learning Disabilities – Visual centers in the brain are located very close to the verbal centers so vision can be used to help push forward development of these centers.
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Motion Sickness (“Seesickness”) – When there is a poor connection between vision, balance and proprioception (body awareness), there can be an increase in dizziness or vertigo when you are moving.
These are just scraping the surface of how interconnected your vision is with your sense of well-being and your ability to perform tasks easily accurately. Our job here at Arizona Vision Therapy Center is to find the root sources of your vision problems and help you resolve them so you can have a better outlook on life.