Welcome to My Mighty Quinn

In this powerful episode, I’m joined by Dr Bryce Appelbaum a neuro-optometrist, founder of My Vision First, and creator of ScreenFit Vision Foundations.

Dr Bryce’s work sits at the intersection of the eyes, brain, body and nervous system — helping families understand why a child may pass a standard eye test, yet still struggle with reading, learning, attention, coordination, behaviour and confidence.

Together, we explore a concept that may change the way parents understand their child’s struggles:

Eyesight is not the same as vision.

A child may be able to see clearly, read the letters on the chart, and be told their eyesight is “fine” — while still struggling to track across a page, coordinate both eyes, shift focus from the board to their book, process visual information, or integrate vision with balance, posture and movement.

This conversation takes us beyond 20/20 eyesight and into the hidden world of functional vision — the eye-brain-body connection that underpins so much of how a child learns, moves, attends, regulates and feels safe in the world.

It is both confronting and deeply hopeful, because when vision is understood as a learned, developmental and trainable brain-body skill, we begin to see that many children are not lazy, difficult or simply “not trying.”

They may be working far harder than anyone realises.

Key takeaways

• Why passing a routine eye test does not mean a child’s visual system is working efficiently

• The crucial difference between eyesight and functional vision

• How hidden vision difficulties can affect reading, writing, copying, attention and classroom stamina

• Why visual stress may show up as behaviour, avoidance, frustration, fatigue or dysregulation

• The connection between vision, balance, posture, movement and primitive reflexes

• Why some children labelled with ADHD, dyslexia or poor motivation may have an overlooked visual processing difficulty

• How screens, reduced movement and lack of outdoor time are affecting visual development

• Why crawling, early movement and developmental sequencing matter for the eye-brain-body connection

• How functional vision challenges can impact confidence, sport, coordination and social engagement

• Why the right visual exercises and training can help children build stronger, more efficient visual skills

This episode is about asking a different question.

Not simply can my child see?

But is their visual system helping them learn, move, focus and regulate?

Because a child may have perfect eyesight and still be visually overwhelmed.

And when we understand the difference between eyesight and vision, we uncover a hidden piece of the developmental puzzle — one that may be sitting behind many of the struggles parents are seeing every day.

Resources

Free Guide: A Parent's Guide to Functional Vision - Including vision checklist!

Dr Bryce Appelbaum's Website

Get $200 off ScreenFit the digital eye strain relief online vision therapy tool from Dr Bryce Abbelbaum, using code MYMIGHTYQUINN

PLUS 10% off Digital Performance Lenses using code MYMIGHTYQUINN at shop.myvisionfirst.com

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