Treatment Areas
ADD/ADHD
- poor concentration/inattention
- difficulty sitting still even when required
- difficulty organizing tasks or activities
- excessive talking
- avoidance of near tasks (like homework and reading)
- excessive fidgeting (especially during near tasks)
Each of these symptoms can contribute to poor classroom behavior and low self-esteem. Many teachers have never heard of VRLP’s and therefore request a child be tested for ADD/ADHD based on these overlapping symptoms. At Academy of Vision Development, we treat Vision Related Learning Problems with Vision Therapy techniques designed to improve attention and concentration.
Amblyopia
Our Advanced Binocular Vision Treatment includes:
- Binocular vision therapy with 3D training
- Perceptual learning
- Visual Processing development
- Oculomotor Therapy
- Accommodation “focusing” development
- Eye-hand coordination training
Autism & Developmental Delays
Concussion/Brain Injury
At the Academy of Vision Development, we offer In-Office Neuro-Optometric Vision Rehabilitation. Vision Rehabilitation is an essential treatment to restore visual function and accelerate the recovery process of patients who have suffered concussion, traumatic or acquired brain injury, or cerebral vascular accident or stroke.
Convergence Insufficiency & Double Vision
Poor Tracking Skills
Sports Vision Therapy
Strabismus Treatment (Crossed or Turned-Out Eye)
One popular approach for treatment of strabismus is surgeons recommend eye muscle surgery. Sadly, even though the eyes may appear to be straight after surgery, the brain still does not know how to properly team the eyes together. Eye muscle surgery is merely the cosmetic realignment of the two eyes, it is not a functional cure! Without Vision Therapy, the brain will continue to use the two eyes just as it did before the eye muscle surgery. This eventually causes another eye turn a few years later to which surgeons again recommend another cosmetic, non-functional “cure”, surgery. At Academy of Vision Development, we help patients of all ages retrain the brain to use the two eyes together properly with the extremely effective and holistic approach of Vision Therapy. For those people skeptical about the brain’s ability to be retrained later in life or after eye muscle surgery, please read the novel, Fixing My Gaze by Dr. Sue Barry, or watch her Ted Talk.
Vision and Reading
Visual skills necessary for comfortable reading, content comprehension and overall academic success include; the ability to move the eyeballs independently of head movement (oculomotor control); the ability to change focus from near to far and back again (accommodation); retaining and recalling information from reading material (visual information processing); spelling words and writing paragraphs properly (visual-motor integration).
At Academy of Vision Development, we tailor each Vision Therapy Program to the specific goals of each patient and family while working to accomplish the professional goals of the Doctor based on the patient’s visual needs. Are you or the patient interested in any of the following? (These are actual goals written and achieved by our patients).
- Getting homework done faster so there is more time to play?
- Learning to ride a bike, rollerblades, skateboard, pogo stick, etc?
- Learning to enjoy a sport for the first time?
- Improving athletic skills, the way you aim, kick, hit, catch or throw?
- Have better, more legible handwriting and be comfortable while writing?
- Read faster and longer and actually understand the content?
- Enjoy reading and read for pleasure?
- Get better grades in school?
- Behave better in school?
Academy of Vision Development is passionate about the development of the WHOLE person. We don’t just stop at Vision Therapy, we integrate all the desired goals to help the patient advance or enhance life skills, academic skills and athletic skills which serves to greatly improve their confidence and self-esteem.
Vision Therapy for Adult Patients
Vision Therapy is extremely beneficial to people of all ages. Anyone CAN improve their visual efficiency, but not everyone NEEDS to improve their visual efficiency. For instance, not everyone needs to acquire the visual skills required to be an NFL star, an accountant, or a neurosurgeon. Each patient is a unique individual and requires skills necessary to attain their personal goals in life.
Academy of Vision Development helps adults struggling with many visual symptoms, including:
- Long-standing double vision
- Poor depth perception
- Eye turns (even if previous surgery was performed decades ago or just recently)
- Headaches or difficulty focusing especially on the computer, phone or tablet
- Brain injury or concussion
Vision Therapy can help people of any age, especially those fraught with vision dysfunction. The most successful patients are motivated and engaged in therapy, adhere to the homework regimen and maintain a positive attitude.
“We are not saying it will be easy, we are saying it will be worth it!”
Sensory Integration and Visual-Motor Problems
Good sensory integration includes these systems:
- visual (brain processing)
- ocular (eye movements)
- vestibular (balance and coordination)
- auditory (hearing)
- linguistics (speech/language)
- tactile (touch)
- motor (gross and fine muscle movements)
The most likely culprit to “The Homework Wars”, and the extreme frustration experienced by every person involved in that battle, is an underdeveloped sensory integration system. Poor visual-motor integration (eye-hand coordination) is often associated with poor handwriting, difficulty completing assignments, misaligning digits in columns and frustration with paper pencil activities. The Academy of Vision Development provides effective treatment for accelerated development in visual-motor skills leading to improved visual-motor speed and accuracy, legible handwriting and more confidence with spelling and other writing requirements.
Visual Stress Headaches
At Academy of Vision Development, we treat visual discomfort with specific Vision Therapy techniques designed to eliminate Visual Stress Headaches resulting from visual dysfunctions. We help decrease the amount of visual stress a patient feels by training the visual system to increase endurance, efficiency and accuracy for near tasks and technology usage. Our patients treated for visual dysfunctions are able to enjoy headache-free reading and computer work.
Angela L. Martin, OD
Behavioral Optometrist
(616) 541-7080

Academy of Vision Development, PLLC
6617 Crossings Dr. SE, Suite 102
Grand Rapids, MI 49508