You know you are in vision therapy when...

This is from SOVOTO: You know you are in binocular vision therapy when...


1. You tell people you can see two moons and the only person who doesn’t think you’re a verified lunatic is your developmental optometrist who asks, “How far apart horizontally and vertically were the two moons? Were they the same size? Could you make them come together and be single again?”


2. Your friend complains he’s losing his hair and you tell him, “I can’t tell because I see you in double sometimes. So with your two heads, you have a lot more hair than usual!”


3. Somebody keeps asking you to drive them somewhere at night and you don’t want go and you realize you have a good excuse: “Do you really want me to drive you at night? I see double at night and all the streetlights, car lights and other lights either have halos or have lots of rays coming out of them in all directions and I have trouble making sense of where to go.”


4. You find yourself staring at napkins because you’ve never noticed the undulating texture of the napkin. You say, “Wow, I never noticed how complicated this napkin is. It looks like an orange peel with all its curves and dips.” 



5. At a street crossing, while waiting for the light to turn green, you are distracted from the traffic as you are amazed at the concrete and how unsmooth it looks. 



6. You stare at people you’ve known for a long time (like your mother) and can’t figure out why they look different, until you realize that they have more wrinkles on their face than you had previously noticed! (Hopefully, you don’t announce your new finding to the newly-aged person.)


7. You prefer to go on walks with your friends and family rather than sit side by side and look at them because you don’t want to see them in double. (Motion cuts down on double vision.)



8. You finally have an excuse to become a couch potato because you have little energy to do much else.


9. You have a great excuse to tell your mom so you can diplomatically get out of family functions with loud and annoying relatives and family friends, “I can’t take the noise, plus I see some people in double and they are even more annoying than usual.”



10. You can be a kid again and spend lots of time every week staring at Humpty Dumpty, clowns and other children’s images and tell your therapist or doctor when you see them in double. You also get to see things that don’t exist. You see five dots on the wall, but the doctor has only shone four dots in red and blue. 

Most importantly, anytime you think you are going crazy, you can just blame it on the vision therapy!

Adults with cerebral palsy: a survey describing problems, needs, and resources, with special emphasis on locomotion

....Eighty-four per cent lived in their own apartments, with or without home services. Twenty-four per
cent worked full-time and 18% had full disability pension. Twenty-seven per cent had never been able to walk, 64% could walk with or without walking aids, 35% reported decreased walking ability, and 9% had stopped walking. Eighty per cent reported contractures and 18% had pain every day. Approximately 60% were regularly physically active, and despite their disability, 54% considered that they were not limited in their ability to move about in the community.....

Comments: Full free pdf available by clicking on title. DM

Aging and Down Syndrome

...Lifestyle, perceptions of life, and responsiveness to events are highly varied. The social and psychological attributes associated with an individual cannot be classified in any particular fashion. Individualization and individual needs are varied and need to be taken into account in relation to levels of observed functioning, while seriously attempting to meet the individual's choices. This is consistent with other quality of life studies for people in younger age groups....

Comments: Free pdf available. Click on title above. DM

3D User Experience Technical Summit:Improving Binocularity:Creating a Better 3D Audience

On Friday, September 23rd at 9AM I will be presenting information on how to improve the 3D audience during the 3D User Experience Technology Summitt in Hollywood, CA. This meeting is for all those who produce 3D technology and 3D imagery in any form...3D movies, 3D video games, 3d handheld devices, and 3D as an educational adjunct in the class room.

See below for full program...

3D User Experience3

View more documents from Dominick Maino.

Recurrence Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders

....A total of 18.7% of the infants developed ASD. Infant gender and the presence of >1 older affected sibling were significant predictors of ASD outcome, and there was an almost threefold increase in risk for male subjects and an additional twofold increase in risk if there was >1 older affected sibling. The age of the infant at study enrollment, the gender and functioning level of the infant’s older sibling, and other demographic factors did not predict ASD outcome.....

Comments: Free pdf of article available by clicking on title above. DM

Self correction of refractive error among young people in rural China: results of cross sectional investigation

....Though visual acuity was slightly worse with self refraction than automated or subjective refraction, acuity was excellent in nearly all these young people with inadequately corrected refractive error at baseline. Inaccurate power was less common with self refraction than automated refraction. Self refraction could decrease the requirement for scarce trained personnel, expensive devices, and cycloplegia in children’s vision programmes in rural China.....

Comments: Free pdf available by clicking on the title above. DM

Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism

.... we identified 440 autism cases and 787 cases of other autistic-spectrum disorders. The risk of autism and other autistic-spectrum disorders did not differ significantly between children vaccinated with thimerosal containing vaccine and children vaccinated with thimerosal-free vaccine ..

Comments: Free PDF available by clicking on the title. DM

Promising Drug For Down Syndrome

......"We are hoping to enhance memory and learning in those with Down syndrome," said Alberto Costa, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and the neuroscientist leading the effort. "We have been studying this drug for three years and are now ready to analyze the data on our trial. Our team at the University of Colorado and Children's Hospital Colorado expects to have the results in the next two or three months."...

Prevalence of Autism in a US Metropolitan Area

....The rate of autism found in this study was higher than the rates from studies conducted in the United States during the 1980s and early 1990s, but it was consistent with those of more recent studies.....

Comments: Free PDF available by clicking on the title above. DM

Social Skills Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review of the Intervention Research

....This review summarizes the state of research in group-based social skills training programs for school-age children and adolescents with ASD. All published studies of group social skills interventions between 1985 and 2006 were reviewed.....

Comments: The free PDF of this paper is available by clicking on the title above. DM

New Online Journal of Behavioral Optometry Debuts August 22nd

 My good friends and colleagues at
the Optometric Extension Program
have just announced pre-launch
information concerning the new online version of the Journal of Behavioral Optometry.

Dr. Marc Taub, former assistant editor of Optometry & Vision Development and now editor of the Journal of Behavioral Optometry (JBO), and his incredible OEPF team have made important and significant changes to the JBO and its method of distribution so that it is readily accessible to the widest possible audience.

These changes include immediate access for additional information thru links to references, authors, videos, websites and more. Additional content will also be availabe at your finger tips as well.

Congratulations to Dr. Taub and all at OEPF.

On Monday, August 22nd be ready for a new experience in accessing the latest research and information concering functional, developmental and behavioral optometry.

Click on the title above for more information. DM

Even When The Body Starves, The Brain Grows

....When developing babies are growth restricted in the womb, they are typically born with heads that are large relative to their bodies. ...The growing brain is protected at the expense of other, less critical organs....

Impaired Communication Between Brain Areas Further Supports Theory That Frontal-Posterior Underconnectivity Causes Autism

....A new brain imaging study published in the journal Brain by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University provides an explanation as to why autistic individuals' use of the wrong pronoun is more than simply a word choice problem. Marcel Just, Akiki Mizuno and their collaborators at CMU's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI) found that errors in choosing a self-referring pronoun reflect a disordered neural representation of the self, a function processed by at least two brain areas - one frontal and one posterior.....

Coming Home to the Illinois College of Optometry

 Coming Home

What does it mean to come home? When Lassie came home, it meant Rodney McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor were waiting for him (Lassie Come Home 1943). When John Wayne came home, it meant a no-holds-barred Irish donnybrook with Maureen O'Hara and then passionate kisses (The Quiet Man 1953). And when Snoopy came home, it meant that Charlie, Lucy, Linus, Schroder and even Peppermint Patty gave him hugs and kisses (Snoopy Come Home 1972).

But when ICO alumni come home, well, it means a great cocktail reception and banquet at the John G. Shedd Aquarium. It means the 50 Year Club Breakfast (I'm not there yet, but steadily working on it!). It means being there for the Grand Opening of ICO's new and improved all high-tech Lecture Center, and taking a campus tour (We've probably changed a bit since the last time you visited ICO). And it means continuing education courses (Anterior Uveitis: From Diagnosis to Treatment given by Dominick Opitz, OD '96, FAAO, Managing AMD Patients: New Treatments-New Standards given by Pamela A. Lowe, OD '88, FAAO, Top Ten Strategies for Maximizing Your Practice Potential by Richard S. Kattouf, OD '72, DOS, and more!

Coming home to ICO also means interacting with the next generation of optometrists - and maybe finding a potential future business partner. There's also the chance to network with faculty and staff and tour the great city of Chicago!

Most of all, it means being with the friends who soon became like family, a family that made it possible for you to flourish within the ICO clinical and academic environment. It means coming home to a brick and mortar building that may have changed, but is still ICO in all ways important. It means coming home to an institution that may have changed its administration, faculty and staff over the years, but has always kept its mission clear, its purpose strong, and its heart filled with compassion for those we serve.

The Illinois College of Optometry Home Coming means you do not want to miss this incredible event.

Be there.  Come home. 

Dominick M. Maino, OD '78, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A,
Alumni Council President

Efficacy of Sensory and Motor Interventions for Children with Autism

...This review paper summarizes the sensory and motor difficulties often manifested in autism, and evaluates the scientific basis of various sensory and motor interventions used with this population. Implications for education and further research are described.....

Comments: A free PDF of this paper is available by clicking on the title above. DM

Tips On How Parents Can Prepare Their Child For The School Year

...."Taking time to talk with and listen to your child about the upcoming school year is one of the best ways parents can help their child transition to school life," says Robin Gurwitch, Ph.D., Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Dr. Gurwitch advises that parents begin talking to their child about school a couple weeks before it starts, and that they listen closely for their child's fears or concerns. She explains that how parents talk to their child, as well as what they say are both important.....

The Social Network; Is It Bad For Your Children? Facebook Yes Or No?

....So attention deficit is common and problematic for many in the last two decades. However do social media avenues such as Facebook and Twitter enable or occupy your child's time in an obviously over saturated venue called cyberspace? Social media present risks and benefits to children but parents who try to secretly monitor their kids' activities online are wasting their time,....

DEM Test, Visagraph Eye Movement Recordings, and Reading Ability in Children

...DEM outcomes can identify children whose Visagraph recorded eye movement patterns show slow reading rates. However, when reading ability is accounted for, DEM outcomes are a poor predictor of reading rate. Visagraph outcomes of duration of fixation and reading rate relate to standardized reading achievement scores; however, DEM results do not....

Comments: I use both to determine the oculomotor status and reading fluency of my patients. Never just depend on one test to determine the status of your patients....use all the data you can. DM

Antipsychotic Drugs

I see a number of patients taking these drugs. This is a pretty good review. DM

Nationali Optometric Association Honors ICO Staff and Alumn

The National Optometric Association (NOA) issued awards to:

    1.  Ms. Tracy Faulkner, ICO’s placement officer, as the ADVISOR OF THE YEAR award.

 

    2. Dr. Stephanie Johnson Brown, an ICO alumna, was awarded the  OPTOMETRIST OF THE YEAR award.  

Comments: I work with Tracy at ICO and she is indeed an excellent choice for this honor. Stephanie and I graduated from ICO at the same time....she is awesome! DM