Children entering kindergarten must show proof of having a comprehensive eye exam. Recommended reading for all parents, teachers, and legislators. Read more...
Illinois passed two children's vision laws in four years. Together, we made a difference. This is the story of how we did it. Read more...
The issue of comprehensive eye exams for children hasn’t received much attention until recently. This optometrist points out why it’s important. Recommended reading for all parents and legislators. Go to Optometric Management's website and read more…
A major National Institutes of Health study has found that common vision screenings are failing to identify large numbers of children with vision problems needing correction. The study was published in the August 2005 edition of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. A great summary from the Connecticut Optometric Association. Read more…
View the Clinical Studies Database supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI). The study results from Phase I and II showed similar results: that vision screening tests vary widely in their performance for detecting children who have amblyopia, strabismus, refractive error, and/or reduced visual acuity. Vision screenings were able to detect up to 68% of children with at least one of the most prevalent conditions. Go to NEI's website and read more…
Governor James Thompson signed the vision examination bill into law on September 11, 1987. A short historic article from the Illinois Optometric Association. Read more...
In 1987, the vision examination bill was signed into Illinois law recommending public, private and parochial schools adopt a policy of required vision exams with the health exams for all children entering kindergarten (or first), fifth, and ninth grade. Unfortunately, schools failed to realize this recommended vision requirement. Read more…
Under Senate Bill 0805, parents will receive notification that a vision screening is not a substitute for a complete eye exam. Go to Primary Care Optometry News' website and read more…
At their annual meeting in June 2005, National PTA amended their policy statement, Elements of Comprehensive Health Programs, to include vision, thanks to the hard work and dedication of one mother, Mrs. Janet Hughes. Read more…
Educating the legislators about comprehensive exams was crucial to passing the law. Recommended reading for all legislators and educators. Go to Primary Care Optometry News' website and
In 1999, National PTA took a bold step and became the first organization to recognize a hidden disability affecting learning and school performance. Delegates at the 103rd annual National PTA convention adopted the resolution, Learning Related Vision Problems, to improve children’s vision care. Read more…
"There is an old myth going around. It says that 20/20 vision is perfect sight. And it just isn’t so! Still the myth is perpetuated almost daily by people in the health care field who ought to know better. They use the eye chart alone to determine “perfect” eyesight. Millions of children are led to believe that their eyes are ready to tackle the most challenging and exhilarating experience of their life—the elementary school entrance into the world of learning." Read more…
"For many years, I have used the toolbox analogy as a way to share with others one way of viewing the relationship between the services offered by a behavioral vision care optometrist and education. I share the analogy here with the purpose of facilitating an understanding of how the services of both professions are needed in order to serve the needs of the many children who are failing to perform in the educational system." Recommended reading for all parents and educators. Read more…
Much is known of how vision relates to learning difficulties, yet the position of medical professions for the past thirty years is that vision and learning are not related, evidenced by their official position papers in 1972, 1981, and most recently, 1998.
This article reviews the 1998 paper and the 24 references that were selectively chosen to sustain their position. Visual function and visual processing problems as related to learning difficulties have been topics in the literature since the 1930’s.
This critical review presents a statement-by-statement rebuttal and 329 references to inform the reader of the known relationship between vision and learning. Recommended reading for anyone questioning the relationship between vision and learning. Available only as a PDF file. Read more...
"One of my favorite New Yorker magazine cartoons shows a toddler in a playpen watching TV through the bars. The room is otherwise bare. No humans are in view. No furniture or other objects can be seen. There is a balloon over the child’s head depicting what he or she is visualizing. It is a TV with bars in front of it. This, to me, is a perfect illustration of how "Television has Stolen the Night”—the stultifying effect that excessive TV watching has on our children's visual imagination and creativity." Recommended reading for all parents. Read more…
A true story. “Many years ago after graduating optometry school, I worked in a welfare clinic on the west side of Chicago. One day I met a patient I will never forget.” Read more…
Here is an informative article on teaching penmanship and handwriting. Writing as a form of communication is a critical skill that helps a person develop their thinking skills much better than just through the spoken word.
This program will help develop a more visually healthy and mentally healthy pencil grip and writing posture. Recommended reading for all parents and teachers. Read more…
Currently there is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives called the Vision Care for Kids Act of 2009. This federal legislation hopes to improve the vision care for America’s children but will it really help? Read more...
Mayo Clinic researchers, as part of a nine-site study, helped discover the best of three currently used treatments for convergence insufficiency in children. Read more...
Antonia Orfield, an optometrist specializing in vision therapy at the Harvard University Health Services Eye Clinic and chief investigator of the Boston Mather School Inner-City Vision and Learning Project, led off by emphasizing the epidemic proportions of visual problems in urban poor children. Read more...
As an infant, Raea Gragg was withdrawn and could not make eye contact. By preschool she needed to smell and squeeze every object she saw. Vision Therapy helped her eyes work together. Read more...