Vision therapy is frequently recommended for children to combat conditions such as strabismus and visual-motor malfunctions.

It's often challenging for parents to motivate their child to participate in vision therapy activities and to work in such activities around their child's busy school schedule. Avoiding the following scheduling mistakes can help get kids on the right track to a successful vision therapy regime:

Lacking structure

Carefully planning out vision therapy is important in ensuring that your child is devoting enough time. Vision therapy is only effective if patients are able to commit to a regular schedule over the long term.

You should keep track of vision therapy activities on a calendar and make sure that your schedule is meeting the expectations set by your child's optometrist.

Procrastinating about vision therapy

It's a good idea to make vision therapy a priority by scheduling it first. Most children are very busy with homework and studying, and it's easy to neglect vision therapy in favor of these obligations.

However, it's best to get vision therapy out of the way as soon as possible unless your child is preparing for a very important test or completing a large school project. 

Over-scheduling during the week

While vision therapy should be a priority, it's probably best to relegate vision therapy tasks to the weekend as much as possible. This way, vision therapy will interfere as little as possible with school responsibilities.

Not informing school staff

It's important for parents to talk to their child's teacher about vision therapy and the issues that therapy is correcting. Teachers who are aware of your child's unique needs will be able to offer their support and assistance when necessary. 

It might even be possible for you to arrange for vision therapy activities to be completed while your child is at school. Get school staff on board and you'll find that it's much easier to stick to your child's therapy routine.

Not keeping track

Tracking progress is important if you want to keep your child engaged and motivated. Ask your child's optometrist about ways that you can track progress and benchmarks you can set to work towards. 

Neglecting office appointments

On average, a vision therapy regime will require your child to attend one or two office appointments each week in addition to completing therapy exercises at home.

For many patients, it's much more difficult to schedule office visits than it is to complete therapy exercises at home. However, these office visits are a necessity and help patients to progress. 

For more information, contact Absolute Vision Care or a similar location.