Vision therapy (VT) is a treatment modality used by many pediatric optometrists, developmental optometrists, and neuro-optometrists to effectively treat many vision conditions.  Vision therapy is a highly effective non-surgical treatment that improves, enhances, and develops visual performance through a prescribed treatment program that is designed to create and establish new neural patterns.  Neuroplasticity allows individuals of all ages to form these new neural connections and see improvements in visual skills such as:

• Eye teaming 
• Eye focusing
• Control of eye alignment 
• Visual perception 
• Visual processing speed
• Eye-hand coordination
• Visual-motor integration
• Visual working memory

Vision therapy is best when performed under the direction of an optometrist with residency training in binocular vision, neuro-optometry, and vision therapy.  As with any type of therapy, vision therapy should be performed by a trained professional; such as an occupational therapist with advanced training in vision therapy. Only occupational therapists working under the direction of a neuro-optometrist can perform vision therapy, which differs greatly from traditional occupational therapy.  The key to a successful vision therapy program is to train new skills and develop appropriate neural connections rather than embed bad habits with inappropriate training.  Working with a residency-trained optometrist and therapist with advanced training is the best way to ensure the program's success.

Vision therapy is prescribed by a developmental optometrist to improve how a person uses their visual system.  Dependent upon the training of the optometrist, vision therapy can be a successful treatment option for people with:

• Vergence problems: Problems with eye teaming abilities. An example of this is convergence insufficiency, which is when the eyes do not work well together at near. Convergence insufficiency is one of the most common problems that can be treated with vision therapy
• Convergence Insufficiency: This condition results in several symptoms during near work, including: eyestrain, fatigue, headaches, words moving on the page, and poor reading fluency.  Research has shown in-office vision therapy to be the most effective treatment option for convergence insufficiency.
• Strabismus (Eye turn): Vision therapy provides both a cosmetic and functional treatment option for those with eye turns.  This means that vision therapy not only allows the person to keep the eyes aligned, but also improves how well the eyes work together and how the brain uses information from each eye.  This is why vision therapy can also eliminate double vision, eyestrain, headaches, lack of depth perception, and many other symptoms of strabismus.
• Amblyopia (lazy eye): Amblyopia results in both reduced vision and reduced eye teaming abilities.  Vision therapy is used in the treatment of amblyopia to ensure that vision is improved and the brain is able to integrate input from both eyes.
• Accommodative Disorders: Eye focusing problems result in blurry vision.  This blurry vision can occur in the distance, at near, or both.  The blurry vision may be constant, but can also be intermittent; made worse by sustained near tasks.
• Ocular Motor Dysfunction: Often called “tracking difficulties”, ocular motor dysfunction is a condition that does not respond to treatment with glasses and will not resolve on its own.  Vision therapy allows treatment for people with tracking difficulties that result in poor reading fluency, re-reading of lines, and skipping of lines.
• Visual Information Processing Disorders: Visual processing speed can affect how an individual performs in school, sports, or daily life.  The ability to quickly make sense of visual information is a skill that can be effectively enhanced using vision therapy and visually-guided interactive metronome therapy.
• Visual Integration Difficulties: Vision guides much of what we do in daily life.  We use our vision to guide our motor actions when we judge distance, speed, and position in space (visual-motor integration).  We use vision to see words and objects that we speak about (visual-auditory integration).  For this reason, occupational, speech/language, and physical therapists work closely with vision therapists to help patients succeed.
• Visual Perceptual Disorders: It is important that someone sees clearly, but this is only the beginning of the visual process.  Visual perception describes how the brain interprets the visual information that is taken in by the eyes. 
• Visually-Related Learning Problems: 80% of learning occurs through vision.  Many children who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and learning disorders have visual or visual perceptual deficits that are contributing to the challenges at school.  Addressing the visual component of their struggles can make remarkable changes in the classroom.

A native of Boise, Dr. Johnson graduated from Boise State University with a bachelor's of science in kinesiology. Dr. Johnson graduated from Southern California College of Optometry before pursuing a residency in binocular vision, vision therapy, and neuro-optometry at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Johnson is Idaho's first residency trained optometrist in neuro-optometry, binocular vision and vision therapy. With his residency training, Dr. Johnson's clinical experience and expertise is in the areas of strabismus, amblyopia, binocular vision dysfunction, acquired brain injury, vision therapy, vision rehabilitation and the visual system as it relates to brain function.

Dr. Johnson also combines his knowledge of exercise science from his undergraduate work with his understanding of the visual system to provide sports vision training to enhance visual performance for athletes of all ability levels - bringing vision rehabilitation and sports vision training to Idaho.

Dr. Johnson is a member of the American Optometric Association, Idaho Optometric Physicians, and the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). He also serves as clinical director at Advanced Vision Therapy Center.

Accepting new patients.

Schedule your appointment with Dr. Ryan C. Johnson or call us at 208.377.8899.