Our Services
The Psychological services available at Cognitive Development Associates are focused on short term; focused treatment relating to the child's learning difficulty. Many children who come to our clinic do not require these services; however we have found that older children are often sad, frustrated and discouraged. They have often developed many avoidance behaviors which make the learning process even more of a struggle.
Treatments for children and families are focused on developing confidence & self-esteem, training focused learning behavior, developing cooperation between parents and children and intervening strategies to deal with depression and anxiety.
Auditory-Visual Processing
Children who perform below their potential resulting from deficient processing skills need therapies that integrate all sensory systems. Schools can only provide educational experiences as they lack the time and training to properly serve children with learning skills outside the norm. By them offering smaller group resource programs a tutorial experience is possible. However, the core difficulties are seldom addressed. Even if properly evaluated, students and parents must run a gauntlet of caring professionals each unknown to the next, often duplicating services with non-productive results.
Cognitive Development Associates fully evaluates all contributing factors that create learning disabilities. Then, using an in-house integrated team approach efficiently remediates deficiencies saving time and money.
Adult & Child Psychology
The Psychological services available at Cognitive Development Associates are focused on short term; focused treatment relating to the child’s learning difficulty. Many children who come to our clinic do not require these services; however we have found that older children are often sad, frustrated and discouraged. They have often developed many avoidance behaviors which make the learning process even more of a struggle.
Treatments for children and families are focused on developing confidence & self-esteem, training focused learning behavior, developing cooperation between parents and children and intervening strategies to deal with depression and anxiety.
Educational Testing & Therapy
We believe that a thorough evaluation is the most important step that can be taken before treatment proceeds. A free initial evaluation is provided to determine an overall picture of the child’s needs. Following that, more specific tests are used to pinpoint learning skills deficits needing remediation.
The following is a list of the areas that will be thoroughly assessed before treatment is initiated.
- Complete vision analysis to include acuity assessment, visual skills (tracking, eye teaming, focus), and a visual efficiency evaluation. Specific testing is also undertaken for visual processing which will include; fixation speed, selective attention, reversal frequency, visual memory, visualization, and visual-motor integration.
- A comprehensive auditory processing assessment will include; long and short term memory, processing speed, sound blending, sound segmenting, reasoning, comprehension.
- Neurological assessment to determine the integration of visual and auditory information.
- A comprehensive evaluation of mental skills to determine relative strengths and weaknesses in brain function.
- An assessment of how the child interacts with the learning environment both at school and home. This includes assessment for ADD, ADHD, NVLD, and other similar disorders.
Vision Training
Vision therapy -- a type of physical therapy for the eyes and brain -- is a highly effective non-surgical treatment for many common visual problems such as lazy eye, crossed eyes, double vision, convergence insufficiency and some reading and learning disabilities. Many patients who have been told, "it's too late," or "you'll have to learn to live with it" have benefited from vision therapy.
In the case of learning disabilities, vision therapy is specifically directed toward resolving visual problems which interfere with reading, learning and educational instruction. Optometriists do not claim that vision therapy is a direct treatment for learning disabilities.
What is involved in a Vision Therapy program?
Vision therapy is --
- a progressive program of vision "exercises" or procedures;
- performed under doctor supervision;
- individualized to fit the visual needs of each patient;
- generally conducted in-office, in once or twice weekly sessions of 30 minutes to one hour;
- sometimes supplemented with procedures done at home between office visits ("homework");
- (depending on the case) prescribed to --
- help patients develop or improve fundamental visual skills and abilities;
- improve visual comfort, ease, and efficiency;
- change how a patient processes or interprets visual information.
Vision Therapy Is Not Just Eye Exercise
Unlike other forms of exercise, the goal of Vision Therapy is NOT to strengthen eye muscles. Your eye muscles are already incredibly strong! Vision Therapy is not to be confused with any self-directed program of eye exercises which is or has been marketed to the public. Vision Therapy is supervised by optometric vision care professionals and many types of specialized and/or medical equipment are used in Vision Therapy programs, such as
- prescription lenses (regulated medical devices);
- therapeutic lenses (regulated medical devices);
- prisms (regulated medical devices);
- optical filters;
- eye patches or occluders
- electronic targets with timing mechanisms;
- computer software;
- vestibular (balance) equipment
The first step in any Vision Therapy program is a comprehensive vision examination. Following a thorough evaluation, a qualified vision care professional can advise the candidate as to whether Vision Therapy would be appropriate treatment.
Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation
There are lots of ways the brain processes visual information. Weaknesses in a particular kind of visual processing can often be seen in specific difficulties with practical, everyday tasks.
Below is an explanation of each of the types of visual processing. Each category also includes:
- Possible difficulties that can occur if there is a weakness in that area
- Possible strategies that may help overcome the difficulties.
Be aware that weakness can occur in one or more category at the same time.
It is also important to note that many people without any kind of visual processing disorder experience problems with learning and behavior from time to time. However, if a person consistently displays difficulties with these tasks over time, testing for visual processing disorder should be a part of their treatment.
