Yesterday, the New York Times Magazine published a lengthy article online about vision therapy (VT). It presents some very compelling cases of patients who have received vision therapy and observed the changes it can produce when needed. Many of the comments are also from parents who have children who have lives changed from VT.

It also delves into the controversy. As a provider of VT, I feel that this article fairly characterizes how the multiple sides involved view this issue. It is accurate to say that most pediatricians and ophthalmologists are opposed to vision therapy and the parents who have experienced it often become very supportive. There is often very little middle ground.

I believe very much that patients can have vision problems that interfere with various aspects of their life and VT is the appropriate treatment. However, when I am making recommendations to patients, it can be difficult to find the line between over-promising potential results from vision therapy  and failing to provide a valuable and needed service for a diagnosable  problem. Often, even with the best available data, we may not know just how well a patient will respond. After all, there are no guarantees with any medical intervention; we can only do our best with the information we have.

I encourage all who are interested in vision and vision therapy to visit the website of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development to learn more about what is known about vision and vision therapy. Of course, you can always call our office or Ask  Dr. Nate.

See Well!

-Dr. Nate
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Connect: Facebook Twitter Foursquare LocalShops1.com

This is an Guest Post by  Stephanie  Leary, who is training to be a Vision Therapist. Although her story is long, I encourage you to read it because it is not written by a doctor or by a newspaper reporter, but from a mother how has experienced how vision therapy can change lives. – Dr. Nate

I cannot thank my eye doctor enough for all that his vision therapy program has done for both my son and me.  The transformation that has taken place in both of us is profound and absolutely life changing!  I am writing our story in hopes that it will be given to any person diagnosed as needing vision therapy.  I hope that our story will help them decide to pursue the treatment.  I know that they are skeptical and I thought that hearing our story from the perspective of a college educated mother who herself experienced vision therapy with her son might shed some light on very unfamiliar territory.  I want them to understand the varying degrees of these vision problems and their implications behaviorally.  I want them to know that no matter what the severity, pursuing vision therapy treatment will help.  Unlike psychology, which is subjective, vision therapy is measured and you will see the results, in black and white, printed out for you from the Visagraph.   The computer will show you what your eyes are doing while you read and evaluate your comprehension.  The Gardner Test will further evaluate your visual abilities, including things like visual memory and visual discrimination. Read the rest of this entry »

“If you imagine it, you can achieve it.  If you dream it, you can become it.”- William Arthur Ward

How many times have we seen the impossible become possible through a simple thought or dream?  Can you imagine all the possibilities and opportunities that would open up in your life just by taking one small step towards your dream or goal?

In Dr. Lynn F. Hellerstein’s book, See It.  Say It.  Do It!, she reinforces this concept of visualization.  By teaching a child to visualize first,  then to verbally affirm that goal as if he has already achieved  it, and finally to take the necessary actions to accomplishing that goal, you are giving that child invaluable tools that will last him his whole lifetime.  You will have instilled a self-confidence that would ensure him to become successful in any area of his life.

It sounds so simple, and yet we don’t even realize what an impact it could actually have in our daily lives.  Some of us already use visualization and don’t even know it, but we don’t use visualization to its full potential.  But if we start now , we can teach ourselves, children, and others how such a simple, yet powerful concept can truly alter people’s lives forever.

Dr.  Hellerstein shows us how easily we can learn and teach visualization techniques by giving us step-by-step instructions and fun activities that can be utilized in any age group.  If you want to make a difference in someone’s life, or even in your own, then you need to read this book and discover for yourself just how powerful your visualization can be for you!

Edna Moore, Vision Therapist

Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
Connect with Us: Facebook Twitter Foursquare

I’ve been a big fan of Susan Barry ever since I first read about her in The New Yorker several years ago. I was an even bigger fan after her book “Fixing My Gaze” was published this year. As a neuroscientist and educator, she has written a very accessible book about her remarkable experience with vision therapy as an adult.

I’ve become so enamored with “Fixing My Gaze” that I have shared many copies with friends, held an online contest to give a the book as a prize, and even interviewed Dr. Barry. So I was delighted to see this morning that the book has been selected as the #4 top science book by Amazon.com for 2009. This is very fitting, due to the easy-reading style of a very complex and fascinating subject.

Congrats to Dr. Barry for the well-deserved praise for a fine piece of work!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
Connect with Us: FacebookTwitter

My daughter just had academic testing done. She is in 2^nd grade.  She is a great reader and has no problem writing.  Her struggle is with visual perception and long term retrieval.  She has difficulty with math; specifically with shapes, graphs and tables.  She does not seem to understand or can not see the relevance to the math problems presented.   Can you tell me if you have heard of this math issue having to do with a vision problem?

Well, without being too technical, math does involve complex visual perceptual skill. It is certainly possible that a challenge in specific visual processing can result in difficulty with math. The relationships that are involved in math are typically rooted in tangible concepts that are readily processed visually.  (Here is a simple example). This can even be the case even if your daughter is a good reader – it is also possible that her language verbal skills are so very high that they compensate for visual difficulty, or that the visual processes may not be the same used primarily in reading.

Has your daughter and a complete vision evaluation? I would start there, followed by an optometric visual information processing evaluation. After these are completed, it would be possible to tell you if  some form of intervention (glasses, contact lenses, vision therapy)  may benefit her.

And, of course, she should continue to receive the needed instruction and any tutoring/remediation/addition instruction that is appropriate.

I hope this information has been helpful. If you have further questions, you can call the office at 813-792-0637 or email me directly.

Be Well!

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD, FAAO
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
P 813-792-0637 F813-792-0657
Connect with Us:Facebook Twitter Foursquare Yelp

This video features optometrist Julie Ryan and shows vision therapy in action.

Thanks to Maino’s Memos for the find.

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
Connect with Us: Facebook Twitter Foursquare

For those that follow vision therapy, you likely have read about this Joint Plicy Statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Ophthalmology; American Academy of Ophthalmology; American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus;  and American Association of Certified Orthoptists.

Well, this has created a stir, not so much for the policy that essentially has not changed in decades, but rather the tactics that were used to arrive that the policy statement. This is from the American Optometric Associatio Newsblog:

The policy statement …  sheds doubt on the claim that vision therapy treats dyslexia – a claim that vision researchers and clinicians have not made for decades.

It also ignores the evidence of the proven benefits of vision therapy, such as in well-designed studies, most notably the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT), which was funded by the National Eye Institute. This study showed that vision therapy administered in an eye care provider’s office is the best course of treatment for that condition.

Unfortunately, this is not new.  As Leonard Press, O.D., writes in A flawed statement on vision therapy, learning and dyslexia is reissued:

The American Optometric Association in a joint policy statement with the American Academy of Optometry has previously pointed out the flaws with the joint policy statement of the organizations above (1997, at www.aoa.org/x5420.xml ).  A point-by-point rebuttal of the misleading information intended to discredit optometric vision therapy was published by the American Optometric Association in its journal, Optometry.  (Bowan MD, 2002).  This latest iteration in the form of the Pediatrics article unfortunately recycles the same straw man arguments as the prior joint statements.

The issues of reading and learning are highly complex and multifactorial. I do honestly believe that all profressionals involved feel they are acting in the best interest of children. Unfortunately, some organzzations are slow to change, even in the face of highly credible evidence.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
Connect with Us:  YelpFacebookTwitter

As readers of this blog and those that follow us on Twitter know, there is an exciting book was recently been published about a woman who achieved great success with vision therapy at age 48. It is called “Fixing My Gaze” by Susan Barry, Ph.D. It has been very popular and at one point was the 367th most sold book on Amazon.com

When the book was released, I pre-ordered copies for my office. I read it and had the staff read it. I loved the way Dr. Barry writes and her accessibility. In fact, I liked it so much that I recently held an online contest to give a copy away.

Well, the contest caught the attention  of  “Stereo Sue”, as she is nicknamed, and she graciously agreed to an online interview.

Dr. B: Dr. Barry, thank you so much for being participating in this interview. I know that vision therapy programs can vary tremendously from patient to patient. How long was your office therapy with Dr. Ruggiero?

Sue: I had about 12 months of office therapy spread over one and one-half years.

How long before you saw definitive progress?

I began to see progress within the first month. My gaze appeared more stable and I began to notice pockets of space between objects.

Regardless of whether a patient is 5, 45, or 95 years old, vision therapy can be a lot of work. Was it hard to stay motivated?

Yes and no. The changes in my vision encouraged me to continue. I also saw myself as my own experiment and liked thinking about how I was changing my vision and what changes were occurring in my brain. The most important thing I did to keep motivated was to keep a journal of how far I could go with each procedure. This taught me that I was making progress even during the weeks when I felt that nothing was happening. My vision therapists were extremely encouraging and fun to work with. My optometrist, Dr. Theresa Ruggiero, was always so positive that she made me feel like I was 10 feet tall.

In “Fixing My Gaze” you mention several vision therapy activities such as Marsden Ball, Brock String and  Vectograms. Is there one activity that was your favorite?

My favorite activity was the Brock string because it gave me the feedback to learn how to point my two eyes simultaneously at the same place in space. I could feel my eyes moving in concert and this was very exciting. The first time I saw stereo depth in the Polaroid vectograms – it was the clown vectogram – was also very special.

Now that you’ve had stereopsis for several years, do you find yourself at times taking it for granted as most people do?

No. My vision continues to improve and I have taken to walking everywhere just so I can feel myself moving through this three dimensional world. I am still surprised by what I can see. One advantage, I suppose, of not having stereovision for half a century is that I never take my vision for granted. I feel like I have been given a great gift.

You did such a marvelous job making the book accessible to many people from laypeople to doctors and scientists. Did you find that difficult to do, or did it come naturally?

I am a college biology professor and enjoy teaching, especially finding straightforward ways to explain complicated things. I learned this from my mother who was also a teacher. I also learned a great deal about vision from the many optometrists I spoke with.

Several people have commented on the readability of the book. What steps did you take to achieve this?

I made the decision about the font. I told the publisher that I wanted the book printed in Garamond font at the largest acceptable font size and spacing between letters, words, and lines. I was concerned that the people who might find the book interesting and beneficial are also the ones with difficulties tracking the letters on the page. The Harry
Potter books (which I loved) are printed in Garamond font, and one of the people I mention in my book had told me that he found Harry Potter easy to read because of the font and spacing. Also, my father, now 86, was a calligrapher and graphic designer and so I asked his advice about the fonts as well. He told me that the font should have some serifs (the little curley cues around the letters) as Sans Serif can be hard to read. However, the font should not be too complicated. We got out his old font books and looked over many different fonts and agreed that Garamond would work. I was very happy that the publisher honored my wishes here.

Thank you for writing “Fixing My Gaze.” My colleagues and I are very happy about it. Have you been surprised at its reception?

I never expected my book to be embraced so enthusiastically by so many people from people with binocular vision problems to scientists to optometrists.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else you’d like add before we go?

I hope my book will teach people that the brain is capable of rewiring at any age, will broadcast the importance and effectiveness of optometric vision therapy, and will help many children as they progress through school.

I encourage all my readers to read “Fixing My Gaze.” You can get it at any bookstore or on Amazon.com. Alternatively, we have office copies that we are lending to patients. If you’d like to borrow a copy, just stop by Bright Eyes and ask for one.

Happy Reading,

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
Connect with Us: Facebook Twitter Foursquare

Update: Here are some links for more information:

Audio Podcast Interview with Susan Barry
http://www.perseuspodcasts.com/main/podcasts/book.php?
isbn=9780465009138

Print Q&A with Sue from the New Scientist, June 6, 2009
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227112.900-how-i-learned-to-
see-in-3d.html

Sue’s Psychology Today Blog, Eyes on the Brain
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/eyes-the-brain

Los Angeles Times OpEd
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-barry22-
2009jun22,0,350826.story

Just a brief note to say that our Vision Therapy Home Manual is now online.

You can find it in PDF form here.

Be well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
Connect with Us:  YelpFacebookTwitter

Because I was so lucky to win a book in a twitter contest that Tampa’s own @Steamykitchen held today, I am going to hold my own to celebrate.

I am so excited about “Fixing My Gaze” By Susan Barry.  It is an awesome book about vision development and human potential, written in an easy understand way.

I’d love to give everyone a copy, but I only have so many for the office. So during this contest, only one lucky person will get to win.

Here are the contest rules:

1. 50th retweet wins a free, new copy of “Fixing My Gaze” by Susan Barry.
2. Book can be picked up at Bright Eyes or will be mailed to the winner.
3. Only 2 retweets will be counted each hour.
4. No employee of Bright Eyes Family Vision care can win. (Just ask me for the book.)

If you have any question, ask @BrightEyesTampa.

Have Fun!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
Connect with Us:  YelpFacebookTwitter