What does a vision therapy optometrist do?

What is a Vision Therapy Optometrist?

A vision therapy optometrist is an eye doctor who helps people with problems related to how their eyes work together and how their brain processes what they see. Unlike regular optometrists who mostly correct blurry vision with glasses or contact lenses, vision therapy optometrists focus on functional vision issues. These are the kinds of problems that can make reading harder, affect learning, cause eye strain, or even impact sports performance and everyday comfort.

What does a Vision Therapy Optometrist do?

Duties and Responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities of a vision therapy optometrist involve helping patients improve the way their eyes and brain work together. Their focus goes beyond simply correcting eyesight — they address functional vision problems that affect learning, reading, sports, and daily life. Some key responsibilities include:

• Conducting Specialized Eye Exams: Perform detailed assessments to evaluate how well the eyes work together, how the brain processes visual information, and identify issues like eye teaming, tracking, or focusing problems.
• Designing Vision Therapy Programs: Create personalized therapy plans that include eye exercises, activities, and sometimes specialized equipment to strengthen visual skills and improve coordination between the eyes and brain.
• Providing Ongoing Treatment: Work closely with patients over weeks or months, guiding them through therapy sessions, adjusting programs as needed, and tracking progress toward treatment goals.
• Supporting Children and Adults: Help children who struggle with reading, attention, or learning due to vision issues, as well as adults dealing with eye strain, double vision, or vision changes after an injury.
• Collaborating with Other Professionals: Communicate and coordinate with teachers, occupational therapists, or other healthcare providers to support patients’ overall development and success.
• Educating Patients and Families: Explain vision problems in simple terms, teach strategies for daily life, and give encouragement to keep patients motivated during therapy.

Different Types of Vision Therapy Optometrists
While all vision therapy optometrists share the core focus of treating functional vision problems, some specialize in particular patient groups or conditions:

• Pediatric Vision Therapy Optometrists treat amblyopia and strabismus, address convergence insufficiency, help with eye-tracking and focusing difficulties that affect reading and learning, and work with children who have visual perceptual deficits that impact academic performance.
• Sports Vision Optometrists work with athletes to improve hand-eye coordination, reaction time, depth perception, and visual tracking to enhance performance. They address eye tracking, peripheral awareness, and dynamic visual acuity needed in fast-paced sports, and develop customized exercises to enhance visual-motor integration and overall sports performance.
• Neuro-Optometrists / Vision Rehabilitation Optometrists specialize in patients recovering from traumatic brain injuries, concussions, strokes, or neurological disorders that affect vision. They treat double vision, blurred vision, eye movement disorders, and visual field deficits caused by neurological damage, and implement vision therapy to improve visual processing, balance, and coordination during rehabilitation.
• Academic or School-Based Vision Therapy Optometrists help students with reading difficulties, dyslexia-related visual issues, or slow visual processing. They address visual attention and tracking problems that interfere with learning, and collaborate with teachers and educational specialists to support academic success.

Some vision therapy optometrists may combine these specialties, depending on their training and practice focus.

What is the workplace of a Vision Therapy Optometrist like?

Vision therapy optometrists can work in a variety of settings where patients need specialized vision care. Common employers include:

• Private Optometry Practices – clinics focused on functional vision and therapy services
• Pediatric or Family Eye Clinics – clinics that see children and adults for both general eye care and vision therapy
• Sports Vision Centers – facilities that provide performance-enhancing vision training for athletes
• Hospitals and Rehabilitation Centers – especially neuro-optometrists working with patients recovering from brain injuries, strokes, or neurological disorders
• Schools or Educational Programs – working directly with schools to support children with visual processing or learning-related vision difficulties
• Universities or Research Institutions – conducting research in vision therapy, visual development, or sports vision

In some cases, vision therapy optometrists are self-employed, offering individualized therapy programs.

The workplace of a vision therapy optometrist is usually a special kind of clinic set up for both testing and treatment of vision problems. Unlike a regular optometry office, these clinics often have therapy rooms filled with tools like computer programs, special lenses and prisms, eye-tracking devices, and equipment for hand-eye coordination and balance exercises. The setup is designed so the optometrist can work one-on-one with patients, guiding them through activities and keeping track of their progress over time. Alongside these therapy spaces, there are also exam rooms for regular eye checkups and office areas for scheduling, record-keeping, and teaching patients and families about their care.