Shuswap Lake Rental

Vantage Vision Screening

Program goals target the underlying problems.
Program can be done by parents or professionals.
Vision screening specifically directs you to the next step.

Vantage Vision Screening

The Vantage Reading course is like no other course. It teaches reading to those whose reading difficulties stem from VISION SKILLS problems. Vision means much more than having 20/20 eyesight. If vision skills are not good, even though one has 20/20 eyesight, reading will be difficult. Our programs work with those many other absolutely essential vision skills such as saccades, accommodation, convergence, and tracking.

Reading is a survival skill in today’s society. Without strong reading skills chances for success are greatly diminished. At an early age poor readers become disillusioned with school and often drop out. This leads to a myriad of frustrations and problems. If our assessment tools indicate poor vision skills, our programs can stop this progressive decline and give a child or adult hope for the future and a lifetime of successful reading.

Most children with poor vision skills are bright, verbal, and have outstanding verbal memories. For these children the parent and teacher refrain “If you work harder you can do it, “does not work!

It is essential to do the Vision Skills program first followed by our Vantage Reading program. Each part needs to be done five times a week to be effective. Doing only parts of the program or skipping lessons makes the program ineffective.

This Vision Screening will check the various functions of the eyes and find deficits that lead to reading difficulties.

Screening for Tracking skills

To read the English language we think our eyes just read from left to right, but actually the task is much more complicated. Our eyes move horizontally and vertically in fluid motions in order to accomplish the reading task. This is called eye tracking. To check these eye movements we do the Horizontal, Vertical, and Circular Tests.

Horizontal Tracking Skills

Sit facing the student. Take the red wand and hold it 2 inches below the student’s eyes but back 50cm. from the student’s eyes. Move the wand slowly from the student’s left to right five times.

Are both eyes moving together smoothly?

Are there places where the student’s eyes do not stay on the target?

Do you see stress in the student such as tearing, eye rubbing, or head movement?

Any problem with this simple horizontal task requires our Horizontal Tracking program.

Vertical Tracking Skills

Sit facing the student. Take the red wand and hold it 50cm. from the student’s eyes. Move the red wand up and down slowly five times.

Are both eyes moving up and down together?

Are there places where the student’s eyes do not stay on the target?

Do you see stress in the student such as tearing, eye rubbing or bouncing off the target?

Any problem with this simple vertical task requires our Vertical Tracking program.

Circular Tracking Skills

Sit facing the student. Take the red wand and hold it 50cm. from the student’s eyes. Move the red wand slowly three times in a clockwise circle. Then move it three times in a counter clockwise circle.

Are both eyes moving in a circle together?

Are there places where the student cannot keep his/her eyes on the target?

Watch for stress with this activity. If there is a problem with slow pursuits it often shows up in circular tracking. Any problem with this simple circular task requires our Circular Tracking program.

Screening for Accommodation skills

To read the English language we think our eyes just move back and forth, but in fact the task is much more complicated. Our eyes must focus as a book moves closer to the face or away from the face. Our eyes must be able to change focus as we watch TV and read the newspaper at the same time. For students reading a textbook or notebook while watching a teacher or instructor the ability of the eyes to quickly focus on something close and then something farther away needs to be a fluid efficient skill. The ability of the eyes to change focus is called accommodation. Accommodation refers to the function of the crystalline lens located just behind the student’ pupil. This lens helps focus at near point and far point.

To check accommodation skills we use what we call a radial wand. It looks like a small wagon wheel two inches across. If a student has trouble with accommodation, the wand will become blurry during the following check.

Sit facing the student. Hold up the radial wand at eye level and move it slowly toward the student’s eyes. Ask the student continually, “Is it clear?”

If the lines blur in any position the student will need our Accommodation program.

This test often causes extreme stress. If the results are too severe or stressful have the student see an Optometrist, as the problem could also be poor eyesight.

Screening for Convergence skills

When we look at a page in a magazine, both eyes move together to look at the details, whether looking at a picture or a word. This ability for the two eyes to work together so both eyes look at the same object is called convergence. If a student does not have this convergence, they sometimes see double when looking at print. Some students cannot triangulate their eyes at all. Other students cannot triangulate their eyes up to the 8 cm.

Sit facing the student. Hold the red wand 40 centimetres from their nose at the student’s chin level and move it in to about 8 cm. from their nose. The student’s eyes should triangulate as you go closer in toward his/her eyes. This means both eyes will follow the wand as the wand is moved closer to the nose. If one eye rolls out, the student will need convergence therapy.

If the student cannot triangulate his/her eyes easily he will need our Convergence program.

Screening for Saccade function skills

When we read a line of words, it would seem our eyes move smoothly across the line of words and we read the words on that line. In fact this is not what happens. Our eyes stop many times as they move across a line of words. These quick motions are called saccades. For the very brief milli-seconds between these quick successive saccade movements, the eyes do not move. This stop time is called a saccade fixation.

During the saccade fixations, the vision system is partly responsible for storing pertinent information like letters and words. If you have slow saccade function the eye’s ability to store information easily and well is altered. Difficulties with reading fluency and comprehension are common due to this lack of efficient saccade function.

Sitting facing the student, move the red wand from the student’s left to right in short quick movements. In a sweep of 12 to 15 inches across in front of the student, you should stop the wand about six times.

Watch to see if the student’s eyes stop when the wand stops.

Watch for the eyes to flutter or overshoot when the wand stops.

If the saccades or stopping device is not stable the student will need our Saccades program. The Vantage Reading program is a saccade-training program. The methods used help saccades store words and groups of words.