About the Exam

Step 1 - Comprehensive Exam with your Primary Care Optometrist

At this exam, your optometrist will discuss any symptoms you or your child may be having and any test results found that day that may indicate a vision problem. It is at this time that you may be referred to Beyond 20/20 Vision Therapy for an evaluation.

Step 2 - Functional Vision Exam

A functional vision exam is a more in-depth evaluation into you or your child’s binocular vision system. During this exam, we will evaluate how your eyes work together, as well as how they move when reading, writing, playing sports, etc. We will also review any symptoms you or your child may be having. This evaluation takes about 45 minutes.

During this exam, we may determine that therapy is not necessary at this time and glasses will help alleviate your symptoms. Glasses ensure that one can see an image clearly, but they do not influence how we move our eyes or how visual information is processed and understood.

Step 3 - Vision Information Processing Exam

The eyes are part of the brain, therefore when visual information is taken in by the eyes, it is sent throughout the brain so we can interpret and understand what we are seeing. If Dr. Meinel determines during the Functional Vision Exam that there may be a processing problem in addition to a vision problem, additional testing will be needed. This testing takes about 2 hours.

Step 4 - In office Vision Therapy

Once a week, you or your child will meet with a trained therapist or doctor to retrain the eyes and brain to function at their optimal level. Together you will work through exercises to improve your visual system. After each session, you will be given homework to be done outside of therapy to continue retraining your brain.

Step 5 - Progress Evaluations

Every 8 weeks, you will return to Dr. Meinel for a progress evaluation. At this time we will reassess your eyes and see what additional therapy is needed, if any.