- Research Update & Overview
Impact of vision therapy on reading performance, and the role of visual function in dyslexia and reading disabilities. - New - In Press (2009)
Visual Factors in Childhood Behavioural Disorders. - American Journal of Occupational Therapy 2005
Visual function significantly distinguishes between children with and without reading and academic problems. - American Optometric Association
The Effectiveness of Vision Therapy in Improving Visual Function. - Archives of Opthamology 2008
New Research on Convergence Insufficiency. - Archives of Opthamology 2005
Randomized Trial of Treatment of Amblyopia in Children Aged 7 to 17 Years. - Archives of Opthamology 2005
Controlled Study Demonstrates Value of Professional Therapy. - Journal of Learning Disabilities, Nov. 2003
Vision Therapy improves Reading Comprehension. - Neuropsychologia 2007
Prisms throw light on developmental disorders. - NeuroRehabilitation 2006
Oculomotor rehabilitation for reading in acquired brain injury. - Strabismus, Dec. 2005
The Relationship between Convergence Insufficiency and ADHD.
Documents
- Optometric Education 2011
PDF Format: Private Practice Residency in Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation. - Optometry & Vision Development 2009
PDF Format: The Role of Optometry in Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Additional References
Ciuffreeda KJ The scientific basis for and efficacy of optometric vision therapy in non-strabismic accommodative and vergence disorders. Optometry 2002 Dec; 73 (12):735-62.This article summarizes models of the accommodative (eye focusing) and vergence (eye teaming systems), as well as cure rates of vision therapy for problems with accommodation and vergence.
Prisms throw light on developmental disorders.
Brookes RL, Nicolson RI, Fawcett AJ. (2007)Neuropsychologia, 45, 1921-1930.
Prisms have been used by developmental optometrists to influence a wide variety of visual functions. This paper, the results of research by experimental psychologists published in a neuropsychology journal, supports a scientific model for the powerful influence of prisms.
Prism adaptation is a fundamental form of motor learning, and has been selectively linked to the cerebellum. The role of the cerebellum in motor development is well-known, but less well-known is the recent evidence linking deficits in cerebellar function with dyslexia.
Direct evidence for the role of the cerebellum in dyslexia includes behavioral evidence of posture and balance deficits; eye movement deficits; impaired eye blink conditioning, and motor sequence learning deficits. Studies showing these connections are cited in this paper.
The research paradigm used in the present study involved motor performance first with prisms in place, and then a re-adaptation rate when prisms were removed. The subjects with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and dyslexia had reduced ability to adapt, and the experiment controlled for attention and distractibility factors.
This study concludes that the slower prism adaptation data are consistent with the cerebellar deficit hypothesis of dyslexia. The cerebellar deficit hypothesis supports the use of motor and prism activities that have been a mainstay of optometric vision therapy programs.
