Practitioner FAQ

Supporting optometrists to deliver exceptional neurodevelopmental and behavioural vision care through knowledge, skills and collaboration.

Understanding Neuro-developmental Optometry

Behavioural optometry and neurodevelopmental optometry are not separate disciplines and many practitioners use the terms interchangeably. Behavioural optometry is the traditional term that has been used for decades and remains widely recognised by many of our members. The Behavioural model looks at how a person approaches a visual task. Neurodevelopmental optometry is a newer term that reflects our growing understanding of vision as a learned, adaptable and neurological process shaped by development and experience. Neurodevelopmental models investigate why visual behaviours are adopted. While the terminology has evolved, the core principles and clinical approach remain the same.

Neuro-developmental optometry incorporates established principles of visual development, binocular vision, neuroplasticity and sensory-motor integration. As with many areas of healthcare, the evidence base varies between interventions and patient populations. Practitioners are encouraged to critically appraise emerging research and apply evidence-informed clinical decision making.

Whilst there is some considerable overlap with optometrists using some orthoptic exercises as part of their vision therapy program, vision therapy is more individualized. Optometric lenses, prisms, filters and other optometric equipment is utilized.

Optometric vision therapy is usually done in the community practice settings by an optometrist. Orthoptists usually work within a hospital setting. Orthoptists are specialists in the assessment, diagnosis and non-surgical management of binocular vision and eye movement disorders. They play a key role in measuring and characterising strabismus, monitoring treatment outcomes, and providing information that helps guide surgical planning and management.

Training and becoming a neuro-developmental optometrist

It is a rewarding career
Many practitioners are drawn to behavioural optometry after encountering patients whose symptoms cannot be fully explained by ocular health, refraction or routine clinical findings.
To expand management options beyond "new spectacles, refer or discharge."
To understand complex patients better
To gain confidence with binocular vision.
To pursue a passion for paediatric optometry
To understand the visual effects of neurological conditions
To seek postgraduate clinical development

A person cannot become a neurodevelopmental optometrist unless they first qualify as an optometrist (gain a degree in Optometry, complete the registration process and then undertake postgraduate training in neuro-developmental optometry).

An occupational therapist's existing knowledge of child development, sensory integration, motor skills, and rehabilitation could be highly valuable in this area, and work well as part of a multi-disciplinary team. They make great candidates as a vision therapist under the supervision of an accredited neurodevelopmental optometrist.

Occupational therapists (OTs) are commonly trained to assess and manage the functional consequences of visual-perceptual difficulties, such as problems with:

Visual discrimination
Visual memory
Visual spatial skills
Visual-motor integration
Figure-ground perception
Hand-eye coordination

Some OTs use the terminology vision therapy to describe this area of their work. But it is not the same as optometric vision therapy.

Become a Neuro-developmental Optometrist.

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