Dr. Erin Stahl says video games can help treat children with amblyopia.

Like many other 5-year-olds, Isabelle Wurmser loves to play with her Nintendo DS, which is just fine with her mother, MaryTara Wurmser.

Isabelle has to wear a patch for four hours a day, and for one hour while she wears the patch, she plays her Nintendo DS. During the other three hours, she works on craft projects, solves puzzles — and does anything else that requires manipulating small pieces.

Her mom says the handheld video game has really helped Isabelle, because it improves her hand-eye coordination.

“I don’t think it’s as much the actual game as it is the action of trying to focus on the tiny screens and use the stylus,” she says. “Her vision went from not seeing the big hand on the eye chart to 20/30 in a year.”

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