Articles

  1. Illinois Enacts Children's Eye Exam Law
  2. Illinois’ Eye Exam Law—The story behind Senate Bill 641
  3. Preschool screenings—Are they enough?
  4. NIH Study:  Vision screenings still get failing grade
  5. Vision in Preschoolers Study (VIP)
  6. Governor Signs Vision Examination Bill
  7. The Illinois Children's Vision Law of 1987—The top ten reasons why it hasn’t been implemented
  8. Illinois law differentiates between full eye exams and screenings
  9. National PTA Adds Vision to Position Statement
  10. Puerto Rico passes mandatory children’s eye exam law
  11. National PTA Supports Eye Exams—The story behind the amended Position Statement
  12. The Old Myth About Perfect SightThe truth about 20/20
  13. Toolbox Analogy—The nuts and bolts of what optometry knows, education needs
  14. Learning disabilities, dyslexia, and vision:  a subject review
  15. TV or Not TV, Is that the Question?
  16. Hope Lost
  17. Handwriting, Posture, and the Use of Pencil Gripper
  18. A Closer Look at H.R. 577
  19. NEW! Best Treatment Determined for Childhood Eye Problem (from the Mayo Clinic)
  20. NEW! How Vision Impacts Literacy: An Educational Problem That Can Be Solved
  21. NEW! Not Autisic or Hyperactive. Just Seeing Double at Times. (from the New York Times)

1. Illinois Enacts Children's Eye Exam Law

Children entering kindergarten must show proof of having a comprehensive eye exam. Recommended reading for all parents, teachers, and legislators.  Read more...  

 

2. Illinois’ Eye Exam Law—The story behind SB 641

 

Illinois passed two children's vision laws in four years.  Together, we made a difference.  This is the story of how we did it.  Read more...

 

3. Preschool screenings—Are they enough?

The issue of comprehensive eye exams for children hasn’t received much attention until recently.  This optometrist points out why it’s important. Recommended reading for all parents and legislators.  Go to Optometric Management's website and read more…

 

4. NIH Study: Vision screenings still get failing grade

A major National Institutes of Health study has found that common vision screenings are failing to identify large numbers of children with vision problems needing correction.  The study was published in the August 2005 edition of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.  A great summary from the Connecticut Optometric Association.  Read more…

 

5. Vision In Preschoolers Study (VIP)

View the Clinical Studies Database supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI).  The study results from Phase I and II showed similar results: that vision screening tests vary widely in their performance for detecting children who have amblyopia, strabismus, refractive error, and/or reduced visual acuity.  Vision screenings were able to detect up to 68% of children with at least one of the most prevalent conditions.  Go to NEI's website and read more…

 

6. Governor Signs Vision Examination Bill

Governor James Thompson signed the vision examination bill into law on September 11, 1987. A short historic article from the Illinois Optometric Association.  Read more...

 

7. The Illinois Children's Vision Law of 1987—The top ten reasons why it hasn’t been implemented

In 1987, the vision examination bill was signed into Illinois law recommending  public, private and parochial schools adopt a policy of required vision exams with the health exams for all children entering kindergarten (or first), fifth, and ninth grade.  Unfortunately, schools failed to realize this recommended vision requirement.  Read more…

 

8. Illinois law differentiates between full eye exams and screenings  

Under Senate Bill 0805, parents will receive notification that a vision screening is not a substitute for a complete eye exam. Go to Primary Care Optometry News' website and  read more…

 

9. National PTA Adds Vision to Position Statement  

At their annual meeting in June 2005, National PTA amended their policy statement, Elements of Comprehensive Health Programs, to include vision, thanks to the hard work and dedication of one mother, Mrs. Janet Hughes.  Read more…

 

10. Puerto Rico passes mandatory children’s eye exam law  

Educating the legislators about comprehensive exams was crucial to passing the law. Recommended reading for all legislators and educators. Go to Primary Care Optometry News' website and

read more…

 

11. National PTA Supports Eye Exams—The story behind the amended Position Statement

In 1999, National PTA took a bold step and became the first organization to recognize a hidden disability affecting learning and school performance.  Delegates at the 103rd annual National PTA convention adopted the resolution, Learning Related Vision Problems, to improve children’s vision care.  Read more…

 

12. The Old Myth about Perfect Sight—The truth about 20/20

"There is an old myth going around.  It says that 20/20 vision is perfect sight.  And it just isn’t so!  Still the myth is perpetuated almost daily by people in the health care field who ought to know better.  They use the eye chart alone to determine “perfect” eyesight.  Millions of children are led to believe that their eyes are ready to tackle the most challenging and exhilarating experience of their life—the elementary school entrance into the world of learning."  Read more…

 

13. Toolbox Analogy—The nuts and bolts of what optometry knows, education needs  

"For many years, I have used the toolbox analogy as a way to share with others one way of viewing the relationship between the services offered by a behavioral vision care optometrist and education.  I share the analogy here with the purpose of facilitating an understanding of how the services of both professions are needed in order to serve the needs of the many children who are failing to perform in the educational system."  Recommended reading for all parents and educators.  Read more…

 

14. Learning disabilities, dyslexia, and vision: a subject review 

Much is known of how vision relates to learning difficulties, yet the position of medical professions for the past thirty years is that vision and learning are not related, evidenced by their official position papers in 1972, 1981, and most recently, 1998. 

This article reviews the 1998 paper and the 24 references that were selectively chosen to sustain their position.  Visual function and visual processing problems as related to learning difficulties have been topics in the literature since the 1930’s.

This critical review presents a statement-by-statement rebuttal and 329 references to inform the reader of the known relationship between vision and learning.   Recommended reading for anyone questioning the relationship between vision and learning. Available only as a PDF file. Read more...

 

15. TV or Not TV, Is that the Question?

"One of my favorite New Yorker magazine cartoons shows a toddler in a playpen watching TV through the bars.  The room is otherwise bare.  No humans are in view.  No furniture or other objects can be seen.  There is a balloon over the child’s head depicting what he or she is visualizing.  It is a TV with bars in front of it.  This, to me, is a perfect illustration of how "Television has Stolen the Night”—the stultifying effect that excessive TV watching has on our children's visual imagination and creativity."  Recommended reading for all parents.  Read more…

 

16. Hope Lost  

A true story.  “Many years ago after graduating optometry school, I worked in a welfare clinic on the west side of Chicago.  One day I met a patient I will never forget.”  Read more…

 

17. Handwriting, Posture, and the Use of Pencil Gripper  

Here is an informative article on teaching penmanship and handwriting.  Writing as a form of communication is a critical skill that helps a person develop their thinking skills much better than just through the spoken word.  

This program will help develop a more visually healthy and mentally healthy pencil grip and writing posture.  Recommended reading for all parents and teachers.  Read more…

18. A Closer Look at H.R. 577

Currently there is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives called the Vision Care for Kids Act of 2009.  This federal legislation hopes to improve the vision care for America’s children but will it really help? Read more...

19. Best Treatment Determined for Childhood Eye Problem (from the Mayo Clinic)

Mayo Clinic researchers, as part of a nine-site study, helped discover the best of three currently used treatments for convergence insufficiency in children. Read more...

20. How Vision Impacts Literacy: An Educational Problem That Can Be Solved

Antonia Orfield, an optometrist specializing in vision therapy at the Harvard University Health Services Eye Clinic and chief investigator of the Boston Mather School Inner-City Vision and Learning Project, led off by emphasizing the epidemic proportions of visual problems in urban poor children. Read more...

21. Not Autistic or Hyperactive. Just Seeing Double at Times. (from the New York Times)

As an infant, Raea Gragg was withdrawn and could not make eye contact. By preschool she needed to smell and squeeze every object she saw. Vision Therapy helped her eyes work together. Read more...

"He who stops being better stops being good.”
              —Oliver Cromwell

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