2. Functional Vision Assessment

According to scientific research, between 35% and 75% of people with brain injury experience oculomotor problems and visual processing disorders. Therefore, visual ability and efficiency of vision post-injury or dysfunction should be considered a therapeutic priority.

What is functional vision assessment?

Functional vision assessment is a holistic approach focused on the evaluation of the quality of your visual abilities. It explores how the eyes, the brain, other sensory channels, and the entire body and its functions are working together, as a team, to support you in the acquisition and processing of visual information necessary for the execution of different daily life activities.

Two components are considered in the assessment process:

Oculomotor functions - We check the ability of your eyes to capture information from the outside world and send them to the brain.
Visual perception and visual processing - We check the ability of your visual system and the brain to coop and process information and make sense of what we see or captured with the eyes.

What do we measure in a functional vision assessment?

1. Oculomotor functions

Accommodation (eye focusing) - ability of your eyes to see objects clear both at near and distance.
Binocular vision (eye teaming) - ability of your eyes to point together at the same time on an object and make it clear and single.

Vergence - ability of your eyes to move at the same time (simultaneously) in opposite direction - inward (towards your nose) rotation for near vision (convergence), and outward (towards your ears) rotation for distance vision (divergence), in order to maintain a binocular, single vision.

Saccades - ability of your eyes to rapidly change the point of fixation necessary in reading. The saccadic movement supports you in seeing a steady text when reading, find the next row in the text with ease.
Eye movement and smooth pursuit - ability of the eyes to track / to follow and to scan horizontally, vertically, oblique and circular the moving targets and keep the image clear. The movement should be fast, accurate and coordinated.

2. Visual perception and visual information processing

Visual functional field and visual processing - ability of the visual system and the brain to quickly and efficient interpret the visual information captured by the eyes and give it a meaning.

Processing of visual information supports the management of information in an organized manner without feeling overwhelmed and tired, execution of daily tasks, free and safe movement in space.

Due to brain injury or other medical condition that affect the visual system, the quality and quantity of visual information is diminished or suppressed. Consequently, partial or total lack of information arriving to your brain leads to unclear and missed interpretation of what you see.

Visual perception - ability of the brain to process visual information and give it a meaning to what we see. There are different components of visual perception:
- Visual discrimination - ability to make the differences between objects, people, words, text.
- Visual figure-ground discrimination - that supports you in the identification and location of visual stimuli in a complex or very busy visual environment.
- Visual sequencing - supports you in the organization of visual information, following directions and instructions, reproducing sequencies.
- Visual-motor processing - that gives you a good eye-hand coordination in writing, drawing, participation in sport activities.
- Visual spatial ability - that supports you in appreciation of how far the objects are from you, navigation in environment, recognition of landmarks and orientation in space.
- Visual closure - that help you with the recognition of visual stimuli even though they are partially unseen.
- Letter and Symbol reversal - that help you in the recognition of shapes and letters even though they are in different positions.
- Long and short-term visual memory - ability to remember shapes, symbols, letters, objects that you have already seen before.

What you can expect from the functional vision assessment?

Raised awareness on your visual abilities - strengths and challenges.
Set up an individual functional visual profile.
Set up a short and long-term individualized rehabilitation plan based on your visual profile.
Strategies on how to encounter and manage the visual dysfunctions.
Periodic follow up.

The duration of a session is around 50 to 60 minutes. The assessment is divided into two to three sessions according to the individual´s stamina. It does include the following steps:

A short discussion about the history of your visual dysfunctions and medical conditions.
Assessment of the different components of the visual functions, as presented above.
Feedback and decision for the visual stimulation and rehabilitation plan.