You may have seen claims online that vision therapy can help with ADHD, or even replace ADHD treatment. As a vision therapy practice, we want to be straightforward with you.
Vision therapy does not treat ADHD.
What the research found
The most rigorous test of this question was a National Eye Institute-funded clinical trial called CITT-ART. Researchers randomly assigned 310 children ages 9 to 14 with convergence insufficiency, a common eye teaming problem, to either office-based vision therapy or placebo therapy for 16 weeks.
Vision therapy improved the children's eye teaming more than placebo did. But it was no better than placebo at improving attention. The researchers concluded that clinicians shouldn't suggest vision therapy will lead to better attention.
So why see a vision therapist at all?
Because children with ADHD can also have vision problems, and those problems deserve treatment on their own terms. Research has found that convergence insufficiency shows up more often than expected in children with ADHD.
If your child has symptoms like:
Headaches or eye strain with reading
Blurry, double, or moving words
Covering one eye or losing their place
then a binocular vision evaluation can check for a treatable vision problem. Treating that problem addresses the eye teaming itself, separate from ADHD.
Be cautious of big promises
If any provider tells you a vision program will cure ADHD, reduce the need for ADHD treatment, or replace medical care, ask for the evidence. ADHD diagnosis and treatment belong with your pediatrician or a qualified specialist.
Schedule a vision evaluation in Clermont
Hope Vision Development Center provides binocular vision evaluations and vision therapy for diagnosed vision conditions. Call 352-243-4673 or email pcc@hopevdc.com to schedule. We're at 235 Citrus Tower Blvd., Suite 107, Clermont, FL.
Source: CITT-ART Investigator Group, Optometry and Vision Science, 2021.