Eccentric Circles In Vision Therapy
Table Of Contents
Eccentric circles are vision therapy tools for working on positive fusional vergence and negative fusional vergence in near or far vision.
Just like Lifesaver Cards, eccentric circles are used in vision therapy to work on stereopsis when treating amblyopia.
This article will show you how eccentric circles are used in vision therapy to work on convergence and divergence.
To learn more about convergence and divergence as well as life-saving cards, please review our two articles:
Vision Therapy Exercises
- Eccentric Circles
- Lifesaver Cards For Convergence And Divergence
- Mazes as Vision Therapy Exercises!
- Brock String
- Marsden Ball
- 5 Activities To Do While Wearing An Eye Patch
- Lazy Eye – 5 Games And Activities For Adults
Download Our Lazy Eye Guide!
We will also cover:
- What are Eccentric Circles,
- What are Eccentric Circles Used For?
- What are the Different types of Eccentric Circles
- How can we use Eccentric Circles to train convergence and divergence
- Eccentric Circles PDF (for kids)
To finish, we’ve created a downloadable PDF with many eccentric circles for you to practice with. We have purposefully made fund and colorful eccentric circles that are child friendly!
We’ll also share a free exercise we have found on the web where you can work with eccentric circles using an application for your IPAD.
What Are Eccentric Circles?
Description Of Eccentric Circles
The eccentric circles comprise two cards used in vision therapy to work on stereopsis.
Each of these cards has two eccentric circles (i.e., two circles that do not share the same center and do not cross each other).
Vision therapy has different versions of eccentric circle cards in circulation; in this case, we will describe the most commonly found eccentric circles.
We have a circle in the center of the card and inside it, another smaller circle in the outermost or innermost part of the circle, with the word CLEAR inside it.
However, this word needs to be completed in all of the circles. By merging both circles, you can get the entire word to read.
In some versions of Eccentric Circles, you’ll find two equal letters or symbols, for example, A and B, on the bottom, which act as markers.
If the A on the left card is on the inside, we also have to place the A on the right card on the inside and thus, leaving the letter B on the outer side of both cards.
And by changing the position of the cards, including the B on the inside, we will see how the circles also change. The effect of depth perception will change.
- Smaller circles or inner circles seem to be deeper than the outer circle.
- OR Smallest circles are closest to you, and the rings seem to come out of the canvas towards you.
As we said, we can find different versions of eccentric circles. We added a dash of imagination and colors, symbols, and words to make them more attractive.
We only need to change the position of the two cards, and we will see how the depth effect changes completely…
What Are Eccentric Circles Used For?
Purpose of Eccentric Circles: The main objective of the eccentric circles is the fusion in open space thanks to the positive and negative voluntary fusional vergence with anti-suppression and accommodative control.
Fusional vergence is the binocular movement of the eyes in opposite directions, i.e., in which the angle of the crossing of the visual axes varies to have a fusion of the two monocular images (those provided by each eye).
In positive fusional vergence or convergence, the eyes move inward. In negative fusional vergence or divergence, the eyes move outward.
The accommodative controls, on the other hand, allow us to train in a more precise and conscious way the accommodative demand, while the anti-suppression controls allow us to control and verify the state of the fusion while, at the same time, becoming aware of it.
The purpose is to make our eyes work together as a team to fuse the two images provided by our eyes.
Types of Eccentric Circles Cards
The Eccentric Circles can be found in:
Opaque cards: to work the positive fusional vergence and converges in front of the eccentric circles’ card.
The right eye will be able to perceive the circle on the left, and the left eye will be able to perceive the circle on the right.
Transparent cards are used to work on the negative fusional vergence, and the visual axes cross behind the eccentric circles’ card.
The right eye must perceive the circle on the right and the left eye, the one on its left.
Anaglyphic eccentric circle cards: to work primarily on the anti-suppression control when using anaglyphic glasses (red-green).
In different sizes. In our case, our optometrist provided us with DIN-A4 size cards, which we work with. However, there are cards of a much smaller size. So that we can work on both near and far vision.
In the PDF that you will find at the end of the article, we have designed different eccentric circles in different sizes and colors.
De-doubling
We try to cross or uncross our eyes either in front of or behind the eccentric circles, the circles unfold or de-double, that is, instead of seeing two circles, we will see four double circles.
The objective is to merge the two pairs of central circles, leaving aside the other two lateral ones to achieve the central merger, where we will end up perceiving three double circles.
In the center, the third pair of circles will appear, which will be the merged image and the inner circle will be perceived floating in front of us. This fact will make us aware of the depth.
And by being able to read the word CLEAR in full with all its letters (in the version in which it appears), it will indicate that we are being able to accommodate.
How to use eccentric circles?
Instructions for using the eccentric circles:
-We place ourselves in front of the two cards.
– We will support ourselves with the help of a pencil or a long pointed stick to make the exercise easier.
– We will concentrate on the central part between the two pairs of circles (one inside the other) that appear on each card, at the point where we have our pointer.
– At that point, we will see three pairs of circles. We should ignore the two pairs of side circles and focus on the central even circle.
– When we can perform this exercise correctly and we are able to maintain the fusion, we will do it again without the help of the pointer.
