Hear from our recent graduate, Allison Keller

Allison’s Success Story in her own words:

"Whenever I would look up at the board it was blurry or doubled.  And I play soccer so whenever the ball came at me I would get confused.  I also do band, so when I had a solo in the beginning of the year there was no way I could play it, so I memorized it, now I play not needing to memorize notes.  At school they make us read out loud, I would get nervous, stutter, repeat words, and it held up the class because it was so slow.  Now I read faster and more clear than half of the kids in my class.  Sometimes at school I would open the wrong locker or grab the wrong copybook.  I can read the menu at restaurants, and I’m not afraid to read.  People would ask me why I’m so slow at reading and I would say I don’t know but now I do and I’m extremely glad it’s all better!"

Congratulations Allison!  We are all very proud of your hard work!

InfantSEE Seminar

FREE SEMINAR 02/20/2013

FREE SEMINAR! 11/28/12

Are you practicing good visual hygiene?

When working at your computer, reading, or other near work, do you experience headaches or burning/tired eyes?  

Here are some rules to follow for good visual hygiene....

1.  All near activity (reading, computer, games, etc.) at the Harmon distance or a little further.  
          
Harmon distance- distance from the center of your middle knuckle to the center of you elbow.  This is on the average 16-18 inches.

2.  Do not lie down for any seeing, this includes watching tv, playing games, reading, looking at pictures. etc. This is the most common mistake children make that will cause visual problems.  If you choose to read in bed, use pillows to prob yourself up. 

*You should not be leaning forward or backward more than 15 degrees for any extended seeing*

3.  When reading make sure the room is lit to some extent, not totally dark; the reading material should be lit 3 times brighter than the light in the room.

4.  Use good posture.  Sit upright and practice arching your back when reading, writing, using the computer, etc.  

5.  Tilt your work 10-20 degrees upward.  If your material is on a desk horizontal you feel the need to bend over to see it, tilting your work stops that need.

6.  Take Breaks!  Every time you turn a page while reading, give yourself a visual break by focusing on something in the distance.  Every 3 or 4 pages, get up and walk around.  Ideally you should take a 5 minute break for every half hour of near work.  When working on the computer it is very important to look away and focus on a far object at least once every 10 minutes.

7.  Researchers have found that you should be 16-19 feet from your TV screen.  The minimum distance from any TV should be no less than 10 feet.

8.  Relax!  Eliminate any muscular tension and try to relax and breath deeply when reading.

Vision Therapists at TCFVD

(from left to right)

 Wendy, Kerry, Melinda, Tami, Debbie, and Jenna

Our vision therapists are continuously training to better our ability to help our patients.

Pictured above are therapists Tami and Kerry performing vision therapy exercises while wearing prism glasses.  We often use prisms to change the apparent position of objects we are looking at.  

Check out The Optometric Extension Program's article on prisms in the therapy room.

http://www.oepf.org/sites/default/files/22-5-FOX.pdf

Joel's Success Story

We are so excited to congratulate our newest graduate, Joel.  Joel worked extremely hard through his vision therapy and was determined to correct his visual challenges.  Below is Joel's success story from his point of view...  

I have struggled for many years with double vision.  This led me, a few years ago, to have eye-muscle surgery to attempt to "correct" the problem.  Things got better for a bit - although they never fully resolved - and eventually started sliding back to where they were before the surgery.  It was at this point that I found my way to vision therapy.  Although the work sometimes seemed frustrating and challenging, with a lot of hard work (and patience by the vision therapists) I found myself able to make consistent, steady progress.  I've now gotten to the point where I rarely experience double vision in my everyday life (even during my long days in front of a computer at work, a scenario which used to always pose problems for me).  And on the rare occasions that I do have a double-vision issue, I now have the tools and techniques to quickly address those issues and bring my vision back into line. 

 

I am very grateful to Dr. Kungle and the wonderful therapists at the Center for Vision Development for helping to guide me through my vision problems, and for giving me the tools to handle these issues going forward.  Thank you!

 

-Joel Wood