Additional Services

Primitive Reflexes Assessment and Integration

At InSight Vision Therapy, we take a developmental approach to our vision therapy program. For that reason, we want to make sure the patient’s visual system has matured from all developmental levels. For this reason, we assess certain primitive reflexes (that developed in-utero and early post-natal) that may still be hindering the visual development process. If primitive reflexes are still retained (or present), the patient will be given a series of movement activities to integrate them. This gives the patient control over their movement and cognitive process!

We assess the following primitive reflexes

• Moro – the startle reflex
  If retained, may lead to anxiety, excessive reactions, difficulty with ball sports.
• Tonic Labrinthine Reflex – leads to the head-righting reflex
  If retained, may lead to balance problems, poor body coordination, difficulty with eye tracking or convergence.
• Spinal Galant – high sensitivity along the spine
  If retained, may lead to fidgeting, sensitivity to tags in clothing and bed wetting.
• Asymmetric Tonic Neck Reflex – leads to crawling and cross-pattern movement
  If retained, may lead to difficulty crossing midline, poor handwriting and poor expression of ideas on paper, eye tracking problems.
• Symmetric Tonic Neck Reflex – helps the visual system aim near to far
  If retained, may lead to poor posture when writing, poor eye-hand coordination, problems refocusing from distance to near, clumsy, W-sitting.
• Palmar Reflex – grasping reflex seen in infants
  If retained, may lead to poor handwriting or speech delays

For more information, download the Primitive Reflexes paper by Sally Goddard, et al.

Syntonics (Light Therapy / Optometric Phototherapy / Photobiomodulation)

Syntonics (light therapy) is the application of selected visible low-intensity light through our eyes. These frequencies can impact the visual system, nervous system (ex: fight or flight), and even hormone levels.

The colors (wavelengths) of the rainbow each have an effect on the nervous system.

• Red / orange / yellow are stimulating (“get up and go”)
• Green is neutral (“equilibrium”)
• Teal / blue / purple are calming (“rest”)

Syntonics light therapy is used in the treatment of a variety of vision disorders, including:

• Strabismus (turned eyes)
• Amblyopia (lazy eye)
• Focusing / convergence problems, including eye strain and double vision
• Visual attention deficit
• Vision-related learning and behavior problems
• Visual field constrictions associated with visual stress, brain injury, and degenerative eye disorders

Specifically, syntonics light therapy is used to enlarge the “functional” visual field of patients. Constrictions in this field can affect visual processing, coordination, and learning.

• A small (constricted) visual field can result in functional tunnel vision
• This makes the brain work harder to track, scan, and take in visual information

Syntonics light therapy treatment begins with a functional field and pupil assessment. The doctor determines the specific frequencies for treatment based on the patient’s history and examination findings. An initial treatment is performed in the office. After treatment, specific tests are repeated to verify a positive response.

The treatment is then performed at home, no more than 20 minutes per day. The patient returns to the office every 1-2 weeks to re-evaluate visual findings to confirm improvements or modify treatment as needed.

Syntonics therapy is one of many tools that are utilized at our office. Some patients require additional treatment(s) to fully meet their visual goals, such as specialty lenses or vision therapy.