Top-down Visual Framework for Optometric Vision Therapy for those with Traumatic Brain Injury

 Vision therapy has been successful in reducing visual symptoms experienced by patients with sensorimotor visual deficits since the early twentieth century. Recently, there has been a surge of scientific research in the area of neuroplasticity demonstrating physiological changes evident following rehabilitation in those with traumatic brain injury. This research has revealed changes to the brain after therapy in the areas of language and motor function, which could also apply to vision rehabilitation. This article provides an overview of the concept of neuroplasticity, along with the contemporary research, which supports the importance of top-down, visual information processing in optometric vision therapy. Based upon this neuroplasticity research, a template will be proposed to assist the vision rehabilitation practitioner in developing protocols and enhancing vision therapy procedures to address visual processing deficits as a result of traumatic brain injury more effectively.

Comments: Read the article by clicking on the title above. DM

20% Of Children Have A Mental Disorder

• ADHD (6.8%)
• Conduct or Behavioral Problems (3.5%)
• Anxiety (3.0%)
• Depression (2.1%)
• Autism spectrum disorders (1.1%)
• Tourette syndrome (0.2% among children 6-17 years old)

Comments: I have a bit of a problem with this number. Although, if you are going to trust anyone...the CDC is the one I would normally place my trust. I would need to see how they defined these disorders (for instance Autism has changed its definition...which could, at least in part, explain its increase), and how they "counted them". DM

Dr. Patrick Quaid:Video on Vision and Reading

Video about vision and reading by my colleague, Dr. Patrick Quaid. Take a look at this....

Brain Stimulation Can Boost Math Skills

"Long-Term Enhancement of Brain Function and Cognition Using Cognitive Training and Brain Stimulation"
Albert Snowball, Ilias Tachtsidis, Tudor Popescu, Jacqueline Thompson, Margarete Delazer, Laura Zamarian, Tingting Zhu, Roi Cohen Kadosh Current Biology - 16 May 2013 - 10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.045

Noninvasive brain stimulation has shown considerable promise for enhancing cognitive functions by the long-term manipulation of neuroplasticity ....(transcranial random noise stimulation (TRNS)) .....Five consecutive days of TRNS-accompanied cognitive training enhanced the speed of both calculation- and memory-recall-based arithmetic learning. .....These results demonstrate that, depending on the learning regime, TRNS can induce long-term enhancement of cognitive and brain functions. .....

Man: 3-D movie changed my sight for the better

Trees once looked like green panels for Bruce Bridgeman. He'd have to move his head to gauge the relative closeness of objects.

For most of his life, he had poor depth perception. His eyes pointed outward and did not allow him to see, in stereo, a single image with both eyes.

But in February 2012, something changed when he went to a movie theater with his wife. He put on a pair of 3-D glasses to watch the film "Hugo" and, to his amazement, the characters and scenery in this film jumped out at him in greater stereo vision than he had experienced before.

What's more, after returning the glasses and leaving the theater, Bridgeman's perception of the real world was enhanced as well. A lamppost jumped out from the background, and the trees, cars and people looked somehow more vivid. This was the world with depth. Bridgeman was "euphoric."

"Suddenly, things began to jump out at me," said Bridgeman, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The effect has stuck around since he saw the movie 16 months ago

Comments: My friend and colleaue, Dr. Paul Harris, was interviewed for this article. Read the whole article by clicking the title above. DM.

Computer use and letter knowledge in pre-school children: A population-based study

Castles, Anne et al. 2013. “Computer use and letter knowledge in pre-school children: A population-based study.” Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 49:193–198.

.....as part of the Early Language in Victoria Study, a community cohort of 1539 four-year-old children was tested on letter knowledge as well as on non-verbal intelligence, oral language, articulation and phonological awareness. ....Greater computer use in pre-school children appears to have a positive association with emerging literacy development. .....

Efficacy of split hours part-time patching versus continuous hours part-time patching for treatment of anisometropic amblyopia in children: a pilot study.

This was....a prospective, interventional, non-randomised, comparative pilot study involving children between 4 and 11 years of age with anisometropic amblyopia who were treated with either continuous wear (Group A) or split hours part-time patching (Group B) ....Both patching regimens lead to significant and comparable improvement in BCVA in anisometropic amblyopia up to 6 months of follow-up.....

Comments: Once again they forget that amblyopia is a binocular vision problem and not just a visual acuity problem. You should do vision therapy to enforce the binocular aspect of amblyopia. DM

Floaters: Videos Show You what these Are

Patients ask me all the time about "floaters" in their vision. These videos show very nicely that floaters are located towards the back of the eye and "float" within the vitreous. Most floaters are notice when looking against a bright blue sky or a lightly colored wall. They appear like "Muscae volitantes" (Latin for flying flies). Most floaters are nothing more than a nuisance, but this is not always the case. If you have floaters, especially if you see many all of a sudden see an eye doctor immediately! DM

Social Robots as Embedded Reinforcers of Social Behavior in Children with Autism

Kim, Elizabeth S. et al. 2013. “Social Robots as Embedded Reinforcers of Social Behavior in Children with Autism.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 43(5):1038–49.

....Our findings suggest that social robots may be developed into useful tools for social skills and communication therapies, specifically by embedding social interaction into intrinsic reinforcers and motivators.....

Exposure To Traffic-Related Air Pollution In Early Years Linked To Hyperactivity

Exposure To Traffic-Related Air Pollution In Early Years Linked To Hyperactivity

Early-life exposure to traffic-related air pollution was significantly associated with higher hyperactivity scores at age 7, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.


The research is detailed in a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). .....