Philosophy and Approach

Individuals who have suffered a traumatic head injury, or neurological event such as a stroke, tumor or surgery for a tumor can be affected in many areas of their lives; the way their body works, how they receive and organize sensory information, how they think and concentrate. In the hospital they often begin the rehabilitation process as soon as they can open their eyes. Immediate work on recovery to maximize return of skills and function is well known and understood and applies to vision as well.

The visual system can be affected by injury in a number of ways; clarity can be reduced, side vision can diminish, the eye muscles can cause misalignment so that the person sees double, or the eyes don’t track smoothly making reading difficult. Any of these changes can also affect comprehension and concentration. Many of these visual changes can cause confusion and disorganization affecting eye-hand coordination, mobility and safety. Communication problems such as aphasia can make describing the vision problems very difficult.

For these reasons an early identification approach to vision loss is advocated. Once the patient is medically stable a visual rehab evaluation can determine how visual deficits are impacting rehab therapy, glasses prescribed, and how vision rehab can be implemented. Many times the rehab therapist (OT, PT or ST) will be able to begin with some of the vision exercises while the patient is still in the hospital, through home health, or outpatient settings.

Therapies may include placement of a temporary prism on current glasses, vision exercises, or possibly referral to other specific therapy programs. Progress evaluations are done periodically to monitor progress and update the therapy plan.