CARRYING ON

CARRYING ON

Comments: Dr. Karla Zadnik spoke these words honoring ICO alumnus, Dr. Irving Borish, at his memorial service. I wish to pass them along to all reading this blog. Dr. Borish, a true giant within Optometry, always had a kind word for all and wise advice for those who would heed it. Karla suggests that if you wish to honor Dr. Borish to make a donation to the American Optometric Foundation (see below). I would also like to suggest that if you are an Illinois College of Optometry graduate, that you make a donation to ICO in his name as well. DM

(Above) Dr. Borish (left) with Dr. Arol Augsburger, President of the Illinois College of Optometry. Additional photographs of Dr. Borish (right)

 

On March 11, 2012, I had the honor of representing the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Foundation at a memorial service held for Irvin M. Borish, OD, FAAO, in Boca Raton, Florida. Irv's long-time mentee, Indiana University's Vice President for Research and Fellow Sarita Soni, asked that I speak at the service. My comments from that day follow.

I am honored to speak on behalf of the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Foundation. I recently read Fellow Bill Baldwin's biography, Borish, and discovered that Irv had a near-fatal heart attack near the end of the 1972 Academy meeting in New York. He was admitted to intensive care at a New York hospital and finally went home after 10 weeks in the hospital. In typical upbeat fashion, Irv declared it "the longest Academy meeting ever!" Irv's obituary described him as a confidant of every Academy president since 1936, and I am no exception.

Irv Borish saw the future. He was actively cognizant of it. That's hard to do. We all get caught up in our day-to-day endeavors and suddenly find those days have turned to weeks, months, and years; often, we've lost sight of the future and wonder what we have to show for all those days' efforts.

Irv's significant contributions to the Academy and AOF are evidence of his focus on the future. He created the Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Award for young scientists to encourage their progress toward their bright futures. The Borish Award-and Irv-bet on its recipients, and a quick perusal of the list of awardees shows that his investment has been returned. The AOF awards an endowed Borish Ezell fellowship annually to a promising young graduate student. The young Borish Ezells so far and the countless ones who will follow will bear his stamp of approval and must align with his view of the future.
Not surprisingly, I've heard from many young people who, hearing of Irv's passing, wanted to share their reflections on how Dr. Borish touched them. Fellow Kathy Osborn talked about having happened into the AOF Celebration Luncheon when Irv's 90th birthday was celebrated. She ended up in the empty seat next to Irv and described to me how aware she was of the significance of the event. Fellow Danne Ventura from Essilor shared a past Optometry Student Bowl "rules" video that shows Irv in a football uniform with "92" (his age) as his number, being tackled by eager optometry students from NOVA Southeastern University. Danne observed, "He would do anything for the students." Fellow Stacey Townshend wrote, "I was a young graduate in 1993 receiving recognition and a monetary award from Dr. Borish for my senior year thesis work. I remember his personal touch in a note of congratulations and thinking what a great man to support the future of optometry after having dedicated and contributing so much to its past. Such a generous person—of himself, his knowledge, his time and his kind monetary gesture to—I'm sure—hundreds of new optometrists over the years. He will be missed but certainly not forgotten."

Two days ago, we watched Irv's 2009 inaugural Myers lecture video at Ohio State. The room was full of faculty and graduate students, and the room was adorned with two of Irv's paintings. He spoke on screen for more than an hour, without notes, on the history of optometry. As we watched, we paused the video whenever someone wanted to share a story or comment on what he'd said. The speech ended—typically—with an anecdote to illustrate a point. He told a story of seeing two University of Houston optometry students after a talk he'd given to them. As they walked away, one of them turned back toward Irv and said, "Dr. Borish, we will carry on." As I looked around our conference room at Ohio State, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Irv continued on the video, "Of course, I didn't know the students' names, so I never checked back with them to see if they did indeed carry on."

Dr. Irvin Borish won't be around now to see if the optometric profession and its leaders carry on, but we must. The young scientists and graduate students his name rewards in the future will carry on. Future Academy presidents should pretend they're consulting with Irv as they lead. The AOF will build on his legacy. Rest easy and assured, Irv, we will carry on.

If you would like to contribute to programs that were dear to Dr. Borish, please donate to the American Optometric Foundation.

Dr. Karla Zadnik, President, American Academy of Optometry

The Impact of Immersive Virtual Reality on Educators' Awareness of the Cognitive Experiences of Pupils with Dyslexia

....In recent years, ..., children with dyslexia study in regular classes with non-dyslexic classmates. .... The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of VR technology in enhancing the teacher's knowledge and awareness of dyslexia, a phenomenon that is very difficult to explain. .... The research results clearly suggested that experiencing a variety of simulated types of dyslexia via virtual reality can bring about a greater improvement in teacher awareness of the dyslexic pupil's cognitive experiences than is achieved by viewing a film about dyslexia......

International Brain Injury Association: 9th World Congress

If you are in Edinburgh, Scotland; please stop by my poster presentation on Friday, March 23, 2012, 1:00pm-2:30pm Edinburgh International Conference Centre Cromdale Hall, Level -2

IMPROVING VISION FUNCTION IN THE PATIENT WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A; Professor of Pediatrics/Binocular Vision, Illinois Eye Institute/Illinois College of Optometry; Chicago, Il. USA

Darrell G. Schlange, OD, FAAO; Associate Professor/Ocular Motility & Binocular Vision, Illinois Eye Institute/Illinois College of Optometry; Chicago, Il. USA

International Brain InjuryAssociation Annual Meeting       March 2012      Edinburgh, Scotland

Abstract 

Objectives: Few reports in the literature note how optometric vision therapy (OVT) can improve the quality of life for those with traumatic brain injury (TBI). This presentation discusses the significant improvements of signs and elimination of symptoms noted after a regimen of OVT that resulted in improved oculomotor skills, attention, reading and driving ability in a patient with TBI.

Case Report: PA, a university professor, is a 53 y/o WF with a history of traumatic brain injury due to a car accident. Her symptoms included falling asleep while reading, avoidance of reading, decreased attention, and exhibited major problems parking her car. The TOVA (Test of Variables Attention) showed an ADHD Score of -5.77 while the Visagraph revealed significant problems in span of recognition, fixation, reading rate/comprehension, efficiency and fluency. She was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency, oculomotor dysfunction (pursuits/saccades), and attention deficit. Optometric vision therapy sessions followed a standard format that included monocular, biocular, binocular and an integration/stabilization therapy phase. Computer aided OVT included the use of Vision Builder, CAVTs VIPS, and Home Therapy Solutions HTS and the EyePort. After 27, 45 min ) VT sessions both the TOVA and Visagraph showed normal attention and oculomotor skills, convergence insufficiency resolved, reading ability improved and parking problems eliminated. All other symptoms were either improved or eliminated. PA currently successfully teaches at a major USA university.

Conclusions: Individuals with TBI often exhibit marked problems in oculomotor skills, binocular vision dysfunction, attention, and other visual abilities that affect their quality of life. Primary eye care providers, in general, do not diagnosis or manage the many vision function, functional vision and vision information processing disorders associated with TBI. Primary eye care providers can utilize this case as a starting point to help them do so in the future or to motivate them to refer to those who have experience and expertise in this area. This case demonstrates that with OVT both symptoms and signs that adversely affect an individual's quality of life after traumatic brain injury can be improved.

Shape, Color and the Other-Race Effect in the Infant Brain

The "other-race" effect describes the phenomenon in which faces are difficult to distinguish from one another if they belong to an ethnic or racial group to which the observer has had little exposure. Adult observers typically display multiple forms of recognition error for other-race faces, and infants exhibit behavioral evidence of a developing other-race effect at about 9 months of age. ......We examine two distinct components of the infant ERP response to human faces and demonstrate through the use of computer-generated "hybrid" faces that the observed other-race effect is not the result of low-level sensitivity to 3D shape and color differences between the stimuli. Rather, differential processing depends critically on the joint encoding of race-specific features....

Improving Vision Function in the Patient with Traumatic Brain Injury

 Improving Vision Function in the Patient with 

Traumatic Brain Injury

Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A

Professor of Pediatrics/Binocular Vision, Illinois Eye Institute/Illinois College of Optometry; Chicago, Il. USA
Darrell G. Schlange, OD, FAAO

Associate Professor/Ocular Motility & Binocular Vision, Illinois Eye Institute/Illinois College of Optometry; 

Chicago, Il. USA

International Brain Injury Association Annual Meeting March 2012 Edinburgh, Scotland

Abstract

Objectives: Few reports in the literature note how optometric vision therapy (OVT) can improve the
quality of life for those with traumatic brain injury (TBI). This presentation discusses the significant
improvements of signs and elimination of symptoms noted after a regimen of OVT that resulted in improved oculomotor skills, attention, reading and driving ability in a patient with TBI.

Case Report: PA, a university professor, is a 53 y/o WF with a history of traumatic brain injury due to a car accident. Her symptoms included falling asleep while reading, avoidance of reading, decreased attention, and major problems parking her car. The TOVA (Test of Variables Attention) showed an ADHD Score of -4.00 while the Visagraph revealed significant problems in span of recognition, fixation, reading rate/comprehension, efficiency and fluency. She was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency, oculomotor dysfunction (pursuits/saccades), and attention deficit. Optometric vision therapy sessions followed a standard format that included monocular, biocular, binocular and an integration/stabilization therapy phase. Computer aided OVT included the use of Vision Builder, CAVTs VIPS, and Home Therapy Solutions HTS and the EyePort. After 27, 45 min OVT sessions both the TOVA and Visagraph showed normal attention and oculomotor skills, convergence insufficiency resolved, reading ability improved and parking problems eliminated. All other symptoms were either improved or eliminated. PA currently successfully teaches at a major USA university.

Conclusions: Individuals with TBI often exhibit marked problems in oculomotor skills, binocular vision dysfunction, attention, and other visual abilities that affect their quality of life. Primary eye care providers, in general, do not diagnosis or manage the many vision function, functional vision and vision information processing disorders associated with TBI. Primary eye care providers can utilize this case as a starting point to help them do so in the future or to motivate them to refer to those who have experience and expertise in this area. This case demonstrates that with OVT both symptoms and signs that adversely affect a individual’s quality of life after traumatic brain injury can be improved.

Look for the complete poster a the Lunch and Poster Presentations Session BFriday, March 23, 2012, 1:00pm-2:30pm Cromdale Hall, Level -2

I hope to see you there. Drop by our poster and let's discuss how we can improve the quality of  life for those with Traumatic Brain Injury. DM

The Earth Is Flat when Personally Significant Experiences with the Sphericity of the Earth Are Absent

Participants with personal and without personal experiences with the Earth as a sphere estimated large-scale distances between six cities located on different continents. ..... People who had personally experienced the Earth as a sphere, at least once in their lifetime, showed a clear optimal solution of the multidimensional scaling (MDS) routine with a mean radius deviating only 8% from the actual radius of the Earth. In contrast, the calculated configurations for people without any personal experience with the Earth as a sphere were compatible with a cognitive concept of a flat Earth....