Educational Applications of Vision Therapy: A Pilot Study on Children with Autism

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that explored the feasibility of using vision therapy (VT) as part of an interdisciplinary approach to the education of children with autism. Traditional research on VT has explored its usefulness in helping patients to use both eyes together, improve depth perception, and enhance visual acuity. Because visual problems accompany many learning difficulties/disabilities, VT is increasingly used in these cases. It was hypothesized that since children with autism often have pronounced visual-motor integration (VMI) deficits, VT may be helpful to them. The test of Visual Analysis Skills (VAS) was administered to two boys and one girl (ages 12-13) with autism. Overall, it was found that the children had great difficulty in performing the presented task correctly. The first participant was completely unresponsive to the task and was, thus, unable to perform a grid reproduction. The next participant initiated the task but perseverated and, therefore, failed to complete the task successfully. Following demonstrations, he was able to duplicate the grid, however, he continued connecting lines outside of the pattern. The final participant was also able to duplicate the grid following demonstration, but also perseverated, became frustrated, and activity ceased. (Contains 10 references.) (CR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document