Vision Developments

NAACP Passes Resolution on Optometric Vision Therapy

AURORA, Ohio, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A routine visit to the eye doctor resulted in a national resolution that was passed by theNAACP at its 100th Anniversary Convention held in New York City,endorsing optometric vision therapy as a way to help some prisoners become productive members of society.

Read more about it here

Super Bowl Star Larry Fitzgerald Stops to Give Parents Advice on Vision Therapy

Arizona Cardinals 2008 NFC West Champions' wide-receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, is helping eye doctors spread the word to parents that vision problems can interfere with a child's ability to pay attention, read and learn. "Even if you have been told your child has perfect vision or 20/20 vision, your child could still be at-risk of having a learning-related vision problem," warns Fitzgerald.

Do you have a child who takes forever to do homework? Or hates to read? Learning-related vision problems directly affect how we learn, read, or do close work.

The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) launched their annual campaign, August is National Children's Vision & Learning month, to educate the public on the steps they can take to ensure their children aren't struggling with reading and learning because of undiagnosed vision problems.

"Parents don't realize that you need over 15 visual skills to succeed in reading, learning, sports, and in life. Seeing '20/20' is just one of those visual skills," says Fitzgerald.

During the many pre- and post-Super Bowl press interviews, Fitzgerald explained that one of the keys to his success was having vision therapy as a child. He had a vision problem that was making it difficult to pay attention in school and his grandfather, Dr. Robert Johnson, a developmental optometrist in Chicago, Illinois, diagnosed the vision problem and the appropriate treatment.

Fitzgerald went through vision therapy under his aunt's guidance, Dr. Stephanie Johnson-Brown, who is currently the executive director of the Plano Child Development Center, a not-for-profit vision care service corporation which was co-founded by her father, Dr. Johnson, in 1959, which specializes in vision education and the identification and remediation of vision development problems in children and adults.

According to a report from the New Jersey Commission on Business Efficiency of the Public School, "Undiagnosed and untreated vision related learning problems are significant contributors to early reading difficulties and ultimately to special education classification."

Fitzgerald is joining COVD this year to help spread the word that 20/20 is NOT perfect vision and that if your children are struggling with reading you need to take them to see a developmental optometrist. You can visit COVD's website to find a developmental optometrist near you.

"Vision problems can have a serious impact on a child's education. Don't wait to see if this next school year will be better, take action today!" Fitzgerald encourages parents.

Vision screening vs comprehensive eye examination

This is a video put out by IOA on the difference between screenings and eye exams.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRyNLiFFKEs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Evisionfirstfoundation%2Eorg%2F&feature=player_embedded

Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A

http://www.MainosMemos.blogspot.com

Vision Information from Maino's Memos

Treatment of Convergence Insufficiency in Childhood: A Current Perspective.

...Recent clinical trials showed that office-based vision therapy was successful in about 75% of patients (resulting in normal or significantly improved symptoms and signs) and was the only treatment studied which was more effective than placebo treatments for children with symptomatic CI. Eye care providers who do not currently offer this treatment may consider referring these patients to a doctor who provides this treatment or consider expanding the treatment options available within their practice to manage this condition.

Shoot-'em-up games may be good for your eyesight

...DOCTORS may start prescribing a dose of violent conflict, if a trial confirms evidence that computer gaming improves eyesight.
Six years ago Daphne Bavelier at the University of Rochester, New York, exploded the myth that gaming is bad for your eyes by showing that expert gamers outperform non-gamers at a variety of visual tasks (New Scientist, 31 May 2003, p 11). Now she has demonstrated that playing action-packed video games improves a person's ability to perceive contrast, a skill we rely on in dark conditions....

ADD or a Vision Problem?

...Attention Deficit Dsorder or a vision problem? The symptoms overlap, but are commonly misdiagnosed. Children with attention problems are three times more likely to have vision problems, so that ADD diagnosis sometimes has more to do with sight rather than behavior.

For the latest in children's vision research, information on vision and those with disability, and vision problems of those with acquired/traumatic brain injury and more...go to Maino's Memos at http://www.MainosMemos.blogspot.com

Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A
Professor of Pediatrics/Binocular Vision
Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute
Editor of COVD's Optometry & Vision Development
dmaino@ico.edu

New Research Gives Hope to Children with Common Reading-Related Vision Disorder

New research released by the National Institute of Health and published in the October 2008 Archives of Ophthalmology, has shown that there is scientific evidence of an effective treatment for children with a common reading-related vision disorder. Convergence insufficiency (CI) is an eye condition which leads to some or all of the following: loss of concentration, slow reading, eye strain headaches, blurred or double vision and ultimately impacts reading and learning.

CI, a common childhood eye muscle coordination problem, is often missed in many routine vision screenings because these screenings test distance vision, not the visual skills required for reading. For this reason many children can be misdiagnosed with learning disabilities when, in fact, they may have a treatable eye condition.

The NIH study on CI (CITT)was a collaborative study with both optometrists and ophthalmologists involved in 9 sites throughout the United States including the Mayo Clinic and Bascom Palmer Eye Center. The study included 221 children ages 9 to 17 and compared different forms of treatment, including the most commonly prescribed "pencil push-ups" in addition to a placebo therapy activity. After 12 weeks of treatment nearly 75 percent of the children that were given office-based Vision Therapy along with at-home reinforcement activities achieved normal vision or had significantly fewer symptoms. While there have been hundreds of optometric studies over the years, this is the first scientific study to look at these treatment protocols.

In summary, this research used a multi-center, double blind, masked, prospective protocol and proved that:

1. Office-based vision therapy, provided by a doctor supervised vision therapist along with home-oriented reinforcement activities, is effective in the remediation of the binocular dysfunction known as Convergence Insufficiency and CI's related symptoms.
2. Pencil-push ups exercises are no more effective than a placebo in the treatment of CI.
3. Home-based vision therapy (including computer programs) are no more effective than a placebo in the treatment of CI.

To locate a doctor who can diagnose and treat CI click here

Dan L. Fortenbacher, O.D., FCOVD

Immediate Past President, COVD

A call to action on a reading blog

One mother of a person who used to have learning-related visual difficulties has used the current presidential campaign as an opportunity to call all government officials to action on policies that promote reading. Please see the blog here.
In this blog, she cites LBJ's daughter, Luci Johnson, who also suffered from a learning-related visual problem and went to the office of Bob Kraskin, O.D., FCOVD for vision therapy when she was still a child. Dr. Kraskin was a major influence on how many optometrists practice today, including myself.
To find out more about learning- and reading-related vision problems, please visit the College of Optometrists in Vision Development web site.
David A. Damari, O.D., FCOVD, FAAO

Fischer article hits major news/media organizations for hundreds of thousands of visit views

As Editor of Optometry & Vision Development (the Official Journal of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development), I just heard that information/news releases about the following articles

Fischer B, Gebhardt C, Hartnegg K. Subitizing and Visual Counting in Children with Problems in Acquiring Basic Arithmetic Skills. Optom Vis Dev 2008:39(1):24-29.

Fischer B, Köngeter A, Hartnegg K. Effects of Daily Practice on Subitizing, Visual Counting, and Basic Arithmetic Skills. Optom Vis Dev 2008:39(1):30-34.

were picked up by those media/news agencies listed below. The end result was that more than a million visitors to these sites had a chance to read about these articles and the link between vision and math skills.

If you've written for OVD, we will continue to get the word out about the great work you do.....if you haven't yet written a research/clinical article for Optometry & Vision Development, please consider doing so and submit it to dmaino@ico.edu for peer review and hopefully ... publication. Thanks for all you do!

Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A

Release headline: Vision Problems Affect How Children Learn Math Skills

AOL Money News

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/vision-problems-affect-how-children/n20080806074109990070?cid=2369

All Points Research   

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Arizona Republic   

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Atlanta Business Chronicle

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Austin Business Journal

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Baltimore Business Journal

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BioWorld Online

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Birmingham Business Journal

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Bizjournals.com, Inc.

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Bolsamania (Web Financial Group)   

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Boston Business Journal

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Breitbart.com

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Business First of Buffalo

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Business First of Columbus

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Business First of Louisville

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Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee

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Business Journal of Phoenix

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Business Journal of the Greater Triad Ar

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Business Review (Albany)

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Charlotte Business Journal

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Cincinnati Business Courier

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Cleveland.com (Advance Internet)

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Crains Cleveland Business

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Dallas Business Journal

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Dayton Business Journal

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Denver Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Downloads Portal

http://www.downloads-portal.com/prnewswire/pr_35596-vision-problems-affect-how-children-learn.html

Earth Times

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/vision-problems-affect-how-children-learn-math-skills,495151.shtml

East Bay Business Times

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Examiner.com

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Forbes.com

http://www.forbes.com/prnewswire/feeds/prnewswire/2008/08/06/prnewswire200808060730PR_NEWS_USPR_____AQW008.html

Globe Investor/Toronto Globe and Mail

http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/PRNEWS.20080806.AQW008/GIStory

Healthcare Industry Today

http://health.einnews.com/article.php?nid=534332

Houston Business Journal

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Houston Chronicle

http://markets.chron.com/chron?GUID=6220830&Page=MediaViewer&ChannelID=3197

Interest!ALERT

http://interestalert.com/story/08060000aaa035dc.prn/siteia/PUBLISHI/publishing.html

Jacksonville Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

KAIT ABC-8 (Jonesboro, AR)

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KHNL NBC-8

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KLFY CBS-10 (Lafayette, LA)

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KLKN ABC-8

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KOLD CBS-13 (Tucson, AZ)

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KOTA ABC-3 (Rapid City, SD)

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KPAX CBS-8 (Missoula, MT)

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KPLC NBC-7 (Lake Charles-Lafayette, LA)

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KPSP CBS-2 (Thousand Palms, CA)

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KRIS NBC-6

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KRNV CBS-4

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KRON - San Francisco TV4

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KSLA CBS-12 (Shreveport, LA)

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KTRE ABC-9 (Lufkin, TX)

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KVIA ABC-7

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KVOA NBC-4

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KWQC NBC-6

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KXAN NBC-36 / KNVA NBC-14

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=8796278

Kansas City Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Los Angeles Business from bizjournals

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Los Angeles Times

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=LATMAG.story&STORY=/www/story/08-06-2008/0004862653&EDATE=WED+Aug+06+2008,+07:30+AM

MITECHNEWS.com

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=MITNOH.story&STORY=/www/story/08-06-2008/0004862653&EDATE=Aug+6,+2008

MarketWatch

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/vision-problems-affect-how-children/story.aspx?guid=%7B4CA61980%2DF1FB%2D4308%2D9DBF%2DB29F3B888CB5%7D&dist=msr_1

MedicalDevices.org

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=MDMA.story&STORY=/www/story/08-06-2008/0004862653&EDATE=WED+Aug+06+2008,+07:30+AM

Memphis Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

MinOnline

http://www.minonline.com/pressreleases/200808060730PR_NEWS_USPR_____AQW008.html

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Nashville Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

New Mexico Business Weekly

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Orlando Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

PR Newswire

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PR Newswire SEO

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Pacific Business News

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Pharmaceutical Industry Today

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Pharmahorizons Inc.

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Philadelphia Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Pittsburgh Business Times

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Puget Sound Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

RCR Wireless News (Crains Communications

http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/crain?Account=rcrnews&GUID=6220830&Page=MediaViewer&ChannelID=3197

Rehab Management

http://www.rehabpub.com/press_release.asp?id=10206496

SYS-CON India

http://in.sys-con.com/node/634400

SYS-CON US

http://www.sys-con.com/node/634400

Sacramento Business Journal

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San Antonio Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

San Francisco Business Times

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

San Jose Business Journal

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Soapdom.com

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South Florida Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

St. Louis Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Ohio/2008/08/06/AQW008

Tampa Bay Business Journal

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TecTrends

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Triangle Business Journal

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WAFB CBS-9

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WAFF NBC-48 (Huntsville, AL)

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WALB NBC-10 (Albany, GA)

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WAVE NBC-3 (Louisville, KY)

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WBAY NBC-2 (Green Bay, WI)

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WBOC CBS-16 (Salisbury, MD)

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WCAX CBS-3 (Burlington, VT)

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WDAM NBC-7 (Hattiesburg-Laurel, MS)

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WDBJ CBS-7 (Roanoke, VA)

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WECT NBC-6 (Wilmington, NC)

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WFAA - Dallas/Fort Worth TV8

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WFIE NBC-14 (Evansville, IN)

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WFLX FOX-29 (West Palm Beach, FL)

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WHBF CBS-4 (Rock Island, IL)

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WISHTV CBS-8

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WISTV NBC-10 (Columbia, SC)

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WIVB CBS-4 (Buffalo, NY)

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WLBT NBC-3 (Jackson, MS)

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WLEX NBC-18 (Lexington, KY)

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WLNS CBS-6 (Lansing, MI)

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WMC NBC-5 (Memphis, TN)

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WNEP ABC-16 (Moosic, PA)

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WOI ABC-5 (West Des Moines, IA)

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WOOD NBC-8

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WQAD ABC-8 (Moline, IL)

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WRIC ABC-8 (Richmond, VA)

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WSFA NBC-12 (Montgomery, AL)

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WTEN ABC-10 (Albany, NY)

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WTHR NBC-13 (Indianapolis, IN)

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WTKR CBS-3 (Norfolk, VA)

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WTNZ FOX-43 (Knoxville, TN)

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WTOL CBS-11 (Toledo, OH)

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WTVR CBS-6 (Richmond, VA)

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WXIX-TV FOX-19 (Cincinnati, OH)

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Washington Business Journal

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Wichita Business Journal

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Yahoo!

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080806/aqw008.html?.v=62

Yahoo! Canada

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New vision exam law in Illinois

Recently, Illinois passed a new law that requires children to have visual examinations before entering kindergarten. This article in the Southtown Star gives some good insight into the development of and philosophy behind the Illinois law, and why similar laws are gaining traction in states across the country. COVD has been a strong supporter of these laws because of the profoundly negative effects undiagnosed vision problems can have on children and adults.
David A. Damari, O.D., FCOVD, FAAO

OVD 1st Optometry Journal Accepted into the DOAJ

Optometry & Vision Development, the official journal of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development,is the first and only optometry journal world-wide to be accepted by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) (http://www.doaj.org/). Dr. Dominick Maino, editor of OVD notes that, “DOAJ is a service that provides access to international quality controlled journals. This comprehensive service wants to list all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use an appropriate quality control /peer review system. DOAJ wants to increase the visibility and ease of use of scientific and scholarly journals and to promote their overall positive affect upon the scientific and clinical care community.” DOAJ currently lists more than 3435 international journals with almost 19000 searchable articles available. This unique service is funded by the Open Society Institute, SPARC [the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition], SPARC Europe, BIBSAM [National Library of Sweden] and the Axiell Library Group.

“OVD’s acceptance by this prestigious online directory”, notes Dr. Dan Fortenbacher, the current president of COVD, “recognizes the tremendous need for easy access by the world community for high quality articles concerning binocular vision, optometric vision therapy, and vision development.”  Ms. Pamela Happ, Executive Director of COVD, says that, “This singular honor recognizes COVD’s ongoing commitment to research and the publication of an outstanding journal that is now easily available to an international audience of scholars, scientists, and clinicians.” “It is no wonder that”, Dr. Maino continues, “with internationally recognized scientists such as Dr. Burkhart Fischer and the USA’s finest vision researchers such as Drs. Ken Ciuffreda and Harold Solan publishing in OVD, and an editorial board comprised of outstanding clinical scholars such as Drs. Garth Christenson, Mitch Scheiman and John Tassinari that we have attained this honor.”

About COVD

The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) is an international, non-profit optometric membership organization that provides education, evaluation and board certification programs in behavioral and developmental vision care, optometric vision therapy and vision rehabilitation. The organization is comprised of doctors of optometry, vision therapists and other vision specialists. For more information on learning-related vision problems, vision therapy, COVD and our open access journal, Optometry & Vision Development, please visit www.covd.org. 

Noted NY Doctor Speaks about InfantSEE

Dr. Andrea Thau, a Fellow of COVD and noted New York City optometrist, spoke about the American Optometric Association's InfantSEE program recently in a radio interview. In this podcast from that interview, she also talks about the different types of eye care professionals and the pressing need for children to have their vision evaluated.

Download WBAI-FM_Dr.Thau.5.9.08.mp3