Q What is Behavioural Optometry?

A. Behavioural Optometry is practiced by qualified optometrists, who have an interest in how the eyes work in conjunction with the whole body ie how visual behaviour interacts with everything we do.

Some of the principles behind this approach are drawn from
the fields of neuroscience, cognition and how the brain learns. Vision is the
least well developed sense at birth, yet it rapidly evolves to become the
dominant processing sense by the time a child starts school. Although we are
born with eyes, vision is a learned skill requiring very precise motor control
and brain power. Therefore, vision is a learned behaviour or set of skills –
hence the name Behavioural Optometry

Q. How is Behavioural Optometry different?

A. Traditionally, health problems are identified by looking at each body part or function separately. However, the brain and body do not function this way. Now, in the year 2020, science has proven this over and over. Instead, the brain will utilise the entire brain and body in a complex, unified way. Vision is a major part of this complexity and simply looking at a person’s eyes will limit the ability to understand a person’s visual process.

At Harmony Vision, our optometrists are interested in testing the visual skills that are important to a person’s learning, work and life. If you are a child, or a student, working or retired, your visual demands may be individual to you. This means an eye check should be tailored to YOU.

Q. Why did the teacher recommend a Behavioural Optometrist?

A. Teachers witness first-hand the impact that undetected vision problems have in a classroom. Some children will still have vision problems despite passing a school sight screening because the screenings are  limited in which parts of vision are checked. Therefore, teachers may ask for a comprehensive visual evaluation to assess all of the important aspects of vision for the classroom when they notice a child struggling in certain ways.

The entire visual system is much more complex that just
sight or “20/20”. There are many aspects of a child’s vision that allows them
to concentrate, maintain attention on close tasks such as books and screens,
visually recall or remember things and process visual information. The fine
muscle control of the eyes must be tested to ensure that the eyes focus well
from the board to book, team together to keep words from jumbling together and
track well across the page for fluent reading.

For a comprehensive vision evaluation that tests critical
visual skills for learning and studying, phone 5520 5900  or book online today.

Looking for dry, gritty eye relief, without more eye drops?

Do you experience…

• stinging or burning eyes?
• a sandy or gritty feeling as if something is in the eye?
• episodes of excess tears?
• pain and redness of the eye?
• episodes of blurred vision?
• heavy eyelids?
• uncomfortable contact lenses?
• decreased tolerance of reading, working on the computer, or any activity that requires sustained visual attention?
• eye fatigue?

What is dry eye?

Dry eye is a condition when the eye does not produce tears properly, or when the tears are not of the correct consistency and evaporate too quickly.

Dry eye can adversely affect a person’s quality of life, due to discomfort, tearing or an inability to do things due to making symptoms worse (eg contact lens wear).

Dry eye can make it more difficult to perform some activities, such as using a computer or reading for an extended period of time, and it can make it difficult to cope in dry environments, such as the air inside an airplane.

New Treatments for Dry Eye

The first step in treating Dry eye is a thorough consultation to try and identify the correct cause. In the past, day to day relief came in the form of eye drops. These frequently help symptoms, but as soon as you stop using them, the symptoms return. Now, new treatments such as “Blephasteam” are giving longer lasting relief, without the need for additional eye drops.

How can Blephasteam^TM help?

Blephasteam is one way to treat Meibomian gland blockages. It is an eyelid warming
device which helps relieve congestion in the Meibomian glands. Over time, these
glands are prone to blockage and the oily secretion hardens. As a result, the glands
are no longer able to provide the right balance of oil to the tears.

Following use of Blephasteam, our Optometrists will massage and physically
express the hardened oil from the glands. This procedure may need to be repeated
between 2 and 6 sessions (over a number of weeks), depending on the severity of your dry eye.

Treatment is painless, and takes approximately 20 minutes. You may feel like your eyes are having a sauna, followed by some pressure on your eyelids.

Blephasteam is just one way that Harmony Vision is now tackling this age old problem, with new technology. Results are dependent on the nature of the dry eye being treated. For further information, or to book a consultation about your dry eye, call 5520 5900.

(source Optometry Australia 2017).

One in five kids on the Gold Coast have vision problems that are going undiagnosed.

This is an issue that is close to the hearts of the team at Harmony Vision Optometrists.  We founded the practice to concentrate on providing an extended range of vision treatments to people of all ages, this inevitably lead to a strong focus on children.  Why?

Reading is not the only visual task in the modern classroom.

70% of Classroom Activities are Visual

We use vision in nearly all aspects of life, so this should be of no surprise.  What might be surprising is that many vision problems are invisible. Why?

• Vision problems don’t always result in obvious symptoms like eyestrain, blur or double vision.
• Some of the symptoms can be related to performance eg avoidance of reading, reduced comprehension despite good decoding abilities, losing place or concentration during near tasks, falling asleep easily or getting tired during reading.

Childhood vision problems may alter the choices they make about reading and writing

Children are at a critical stage in life where they start to form opinions on their abilities ie what they can and can’t do. We encounter adults who might say “I’ve never been a reader”, or “I can’t do that”, when it seems obvious to us that an undetected vision problem was part of the reason they didn’t find some aspects of learning easy or just not enjoyable.

What if that vision problem had been discovered at that critical time when it first started to interfere?

It is estimated that you are nearly 8 times more likely to have visual dysfunction than eye disease

Some concerns with some school based screenings.

• They are designed to detect the small proportion of children who who have “sight” problems, but are not designed to detect the rest of the 20% (1 in 5 children) who may have some other vision problem.
• Sight screenings are done at Prep, but research indicates that vision problems increase in subsequent years in primary school, suggesting the need for more regular and thorough assessments.
• While the intent of screenings is good for those small number of children who benefit, people may mistakenly believe they are a good replacement for a full vision examination.

Important Parts of a Thorough Vision Exam

Vision problems that are not related to the ability to see 20/20 or eye disease need two important things to occur in order for them to be detected.  The first relates to symptoms:

1.  Ask the “Right” Questions.  Your optometrist needs to ask specific questions about classroom performance other than “can you see the board clearly” in order to uncover those symptoms that a patient might not think to bring up, often because they just deal with them, or they don’t realise they could relate to vision.  The second thing relates to what sort of examination is done.
2. Do the “Right” Tests.  If the optometrist were to only test distance sight, prescription and eye health, they could miss vital clues about undetected vision problems.  Extensive near visual testing that includes eye teaming (binocular vision), focusing (accommodation), eye movements (tracking) should be conducted because distance “20/20” sight often tells you nothing about how a person uses vision for reading and writing.  We can’t assume that just because a child has youthful eyes that they know how to use them!

Contact us to find out more about a vision exam.

When Should A Child Have a Vision Exam?

Accepted practice is a routine exam before starting school and regularly throughout school.  Remember:

• Not all vision problems are obvious
• School based sight screenings won’t pick up all vision problems
• Vision can change in the subsequent years.  Having an “all clear” result on the first examination provides a good reference point for changes in vision later on.

However, there are other times when a vision examination is recommended:

• Any change in child’s performance compared to their own previous results, or compared to their peers.
• Signs of eye strain, eye rubbing, squinting, getting close to the page, clumsiness and head turning.
• Complaints of blur, double vision and headaches, or simply that they “can’t see”.

Harmony Vision – Experienced Children’s Optometrist

We have a wealth of experience assessing and treating vision problems in children.  Our principal optometrists conduct lectures and workshops all over Australia to educate other optometrists in this important area of eye care.

More than glasses

Not all vision problems can be managed with fully with glasses, and that is why we have also dedicated a significant amount of our professional attention and extra training to other visual treatments such vision training, ortho-k and contact lenses.

If you feel you need to talk with a paediatric optometrist, make an appointment to discuss your child’s vision today.