WHAT IS VISUAL PROCESSING?

Visual processing is a term that is used to refer to the brain’s ability to use and interpret visual information from the world around us.

The process of converting light energy into a meaningful image for you to understand is a complex process that is facilitated by numerous brain structures and higher level cognitive processes. Your eye receives the image, sends it along the complex pathways of your visual cortex, to be processed by the brain.

For some people, these images get scrambled, or confused and misinterpreted, leading to visual processing problems such as dyslexia, Dyspraxia (DCD), migraines, some conditions related to autism (ASD), or other common perceptual issues such as “face blindness” or peripheral blur. 

Crowleys Opticians have invested in Visual Processing facilities in our stores as we feel the future of optical care will incorporate this important service for customers who are suffering from visual stress due to processing issues.

20% of people struggle with some form of visual processing issue where the eye is functioning perfectly, but the visual message being sent to the brain along the Visual Cortex is being misinterpreted due to a processing error.

While optometrists primarily focus on the health of the eye, and any issues relating to vision, increasingly we are seeing that a third, very important aspect of how we see is overlooked; how the brain interprets the images sent to it from the eye, along the optic nerve.

If your brain misinterprets the images sent to it, it can lead to great distress, or life-long issues with a person’s visual processing. Another way of considering this is that the eye can be functioning perfectly, sending clear images to your brain. However, due to processing issues, your brain may be scrambling the image and creating a visual impairment.

This is common in Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, migraines and other neuro-diverse conditions such as ASD. 

Difficulties with visual processing can be due to hyper-excitability of neurons in the Visual Cortex. This means that some of the cells in the visual pathways to the brain which deal with processing optical information work too fast and do not respond in the way they should. Colour can help to slow and calm these cells and therefore quieten the pattern of the text and improve visual processing.

Colour is needed to reduce the hyperexcitability and the colour prescribed using a Visual Processing system is very precise and specific to each person. This precise colour is then transposed into tinted glasses which help to reduce visual processing issues.

Crowleys Opticians use the ReadEye System which consists of a computerised assessment and prescribing instruments.

Different coloured lights are used to find the person’s optimum colour response. The colour is then recorded and a lens is tinted to the exact specifications and glazed into spectacles. The colour is individualised and may change over time.

Approximately 20% of the population are affected by visual processing issues. Not everyone needs corrective lenses but may still require this service.

Visual processing issues can be present in neurological conditions such as:

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) or Dyspraxia
• Dyslexia
• Migraines
• Vertigo
• Sensory Processing Dysfunction (SPD)
• Prospagnosia or Face Blurring
• Binocular vision and accommodative issues such as trouble refocusing from a white board to the page on the desk. 

Symptoms can be present in the absence of a diagnosis as well. While we have many patients referred to us from medical practitioners, self-referrals are also welcomed.

Visual processing can be used to help improve outcomes within the complicated conditions listed above. It’s important to note that detailed examinations need to be undertaken to see how visual processing can appropriately help with conditions such as migraine, dyspraxia and the others listed above. We can never tell until we sit and work with a patient and expectations must be set accordingly. This can be a long road, but it can lead to great outcomes.

By properly testing your sensitivities through ReadEye testing we can identify tinted lens solutions that may alleviate some of the symptoms you’re experiencing – such as words moving on a page, or certain lights leading to migraines, visual distortions (such as face blurring), or indeed coloured lenses which can calm a mind.

EXAMPLES OF PROCESSING ISSUES

Many people struggle with the effects of visual disturbances every day. Here are some examples.

Many people with visual disturbances or processing issues “mask”, or normalize what they see. They may not realize that others don’t see the world this way – this is especially true for children – and therefore think it’s perfectly normal.

However, these visual distortions are impacting their lives, and we may be able to help them.

If you recognize any of the visual symptoms below, get in touch.

A distressing visual disturbance where a patient’s peripheral vision is heavily impacted.

Another example.

Patient’s of ours have come to us never realizing that they should be able to clearly see a face.

Some people may not clearly see the lower half of a face.

One of the rarer types of visual disturbances is where the brain superimposes animal faces onto the faces of people. This can be highly distressing, and often happens when someone is under stress.

Visual processing can have great results with conditions such as dyslexia. There are a number of conditions, associated with dyslexia, which is generally referred to as ‘visual stress’:

• Visual dyslexia,
• Meres Irlan Syndrome
• Irlan Syndrome
• Scotopic sensitivity syndrome

Often reading difficulties can be due to light sensitivity and headaches from exposure to disturbing visual patterns. It can be responsible for print distortion and rapid fatigue when reading. The severity of these symptoms can vary from person to person.

Visual stress can manifest in a number of ways, such as:

• Movement of print
• Blurring of print
• Letters changing shape or size
• Letters fading or becoming darker
• Patterns appearing, sometimes describes as “worms” or “rivers” running through print
• Illusions of colour – blobs of colour on the page or colours surrounding letters or words
• Rapid tiring
• Headache or eye-strain

All of these are symptoms of Dyslexia.

Here’s an example of why a Dyslexia person might see when they look at the page.

Here are some tell-tale signs you can look out for in loved ones who you think might be struggling with Dyslexia or visual stress:

• Moving closer to or away from page
• Becoming restless or tired quickly
• Using finger as a marker
• Skipping words and lines
• Rubbing eyes and blinking excessively
• Not making eye contact.
• Fidgeting
• Daydreaming
• Sick tummy after school
• Clumsy
• Prefers one to one rather than groups
• Face scanning

Visual stress is NOT dyslexia but can be particularly prevalent in dyslexic individuals. If visual stress is identified in a patient, prescribed tinted lenses are used to alleviative some of the symptoms.  Very often visual stress manifests itself when a child starts reading full text books.