Peripheral Stability

Since Autism Awareness month was in April, I have been doing more research on how vision is affected by the diagnosis. As you might remember in this blog,"The goals of treatment may be to help the autistic patient organize visual space and gain peripheral stability so that he or she can better attend to and appreciate central vision and gain more efficient eye coordination and visual information processing."

The main phrase that stood out to me was "peripheral stability." I emailed some fellow Vision Therapist on ways I can incorporate more fun peripheral vision exercises into our treatment.  From there I looked for articles about peripheral vision and found an article by Dr. Gallop, titled "The Peripheral Visual Awareness: The Central Issue". The article had so much great information that I thought I would share a few tidbits that helped me a lot.

"Peripheral vision is the lion’s share of vision and, is also a big part of life. It is involved with detecting and understanding the big picture – the context and changes in our environment. At least visually speaking, it helps to keep us in touch with our relationship to everything with which we share visual space. Peripheral vision is at the heart of awareness of, and response to, the total space volume of our visual environment and all its inhabitants. Without the involvement and guidance of peripheral awareness the fovea would, for the most part, be “lost in space,” not knowing where to turn."

"This may also contribute to attention problems because without sufficient peripheral awareness, the context of visual space is lost and it becomes difficult to distinguish figure from ground. The environment becomes a series of unconnected, unrelated details to be dealt with one at a time – the background is practically non-existent."

"It is important to note that the real importance of peripheral awareness is not in the receiving of information as much as is it is in the response to that information. Knowing what is in our surroundings is important in the context of action for survival. While it is certainly important to know what is going on out there, it is equally important to know what needs to be done and how to go about doing it in response to what is going on out there. Peripheral vision provides an early warning system and is what guides our movements in response."

"Peripheral vision supplies us with information about our relationship to our surroundings. It tells us where we are in relation to people, places and things in our immediate vicinity. It can provide significant information about who they are, what they are doing, and how that may affect us at that moment and in the near future. When functioning comfortably and effectively it can provide accurate information regarding size, shape, direction of movement, and even intent."

"Just as improvements achieved through vision training often transfer into improvements in areas such as problem solving, concentration and self-esteem, improvements in peripheral processing may transfer into more so-called peripheral aspects of our lives."

Our peripheral vision is not something to mess around with. It is an important for our survival! Loved this article! Next week I will gather up some great peripheral vision awareness exercises that you can do at home. 

CNN article

One of my favorite news apps on my phone is the CNN app. I like the quick videos, and articles of the current events happening around the world. I will say, the "Distraction" videos on CNN are always a favorite. Like this one:



While reading some articles, I stumbled upon this: Man: 3-D movie changed my sight for the better. It is about a man who "had poor depth perception. His eyes pointed outward and did not allow him to see, in stereo, a single image with both eyes." One day he went to see Hugo in 3-D and "to his amazement, the characters and scenery in this film jumped out at him in greater stereo vision than he had experienced before." And even after the movie ended, "perception of the real world was enhanced as well. A lamppost jumped out from the background, and the trees, cars and people looked somehow more vivid."

Did the 3-D movie cure his poor depth perception and make his eyes point in the same direction? Read the rest of the article to see what happens! Stereo Sue makes an appearance in the article too!

It was a very interesting article, that I was so excited to read! Has anyone else found any great articles, that you were excited to see that related to Vision Therapy? Pass it along!

Have a happy 4th of July! 

Workin' the Vestibular System

Today's blog is about balance. As you might expect, our visual system play a big role. And when we work our visual systems, our balance/coordination gets better. For more information on that, check out this blog, and this blog.

How can we speed up the process (per se) and incorporate balance either in everyday things or with our Vision Therapy exercises? Lucky you, I am going to give you some fun ideas:

• Put a letter (or shape, picture, number, arrow) chart at eye level and walk heel toe, heel toe forward, and then backward. Basically, walk a straight line while reading a letter chart.

• Walk a straight line while tossing a bean bag (or ball or scarf) from right to left hand.  Take it to the next level and add a letter chart while doing all that!  
• Reading a letter (or shape, picture, number, arrow) chart while bouncing (not too high) on a mini-trampoline.
• While jumping on a mini-trampoline catch bean bags, and different sizes/types of balls. 

• Jump on the mini-trampoline to a beat. Metronomes work great! Crank it up a notch and add a letter chart. Read letters and jump to the beat. Whoa!
• When reading or doing homework, sit on an exercise ball. You will find, that (No. 1) it is very comfortable, (No. 2) helps your attention and (No. 3) works that vestibular system.
• Go to the play ground and use the balance beams. 
• Stand on one foot and read the letter chart. Alternate feet between every 5-10 lines. 
• Balance boards are a great tool: catch bean bags, catch/bounce balls, read the letter chart while balancing!
• Balance boards with an arrow chart: shift your weight on the balance board  in the direction the arrow tells you. Just like the video above! 

 

• Stand on the Balance board while hitting a balloon in the air. Don't let that balloon hit the ground! 
• Wii Fit balance board games!

How is that for fun, fun, fun!!! Give these a try and crank up that home therapy. Make it interactive, and be creative. Have any questions? Email me: VT@rdeyes.com

Skydiving

My fellow teammate has helped me get more organized with my blogs. When looking at the blog scheduled for this week, the subject is "Personal Connection Blog." I wanted to blog about something fun or exciting that I have done and relate it to what I do... Vision Therapy!

Over Memorial Day weekend, I headed south to Mississippi to visit my niece and then couple days later I met up with my in-laws. Don't worry it gets more exciting. I went skydiving. Yes, you heard right, I jumped out of a perfectly functioning airplane.

But don't worry, I did it for a good cause - I jumped out of an airplane to support and to celebrate my mother in-law's 60th birthday. Not only that, I helped her cross out an item off her bucket list. After we safely landed and we calmed our nerves, we talked about the jump. She mentioned that months leading up to the jump, all she visualized (great VT word!) floating in the air and seeing what the birds saw. What she didn't visualize was the process of jumping out of an airplane. As much as my mother-law enjoyed it, she said she would never do it again (case in point with picture down below).

You are probably thinking, how is this going to relate to Vision Therapy? Here's a good quote I found (bold text is my emphasis):



-Any process of personal growth and healing requires us periodically to let go of what we have or of what we know and sit with the anxiety that comes with being in uncharted territory. We come to points where we recognize that what we are doing or clinging to no longer serves us. 

We must let go of what we have that no longer works for us in order to make room for the better and healthier. We can’t wait until the newer and better are here to let go of the old—we must let go and hang out in the space in-between.

It’s like jumping out of an airplane and being in free fall, waiting for the parachute to open. With time and experience, it becomes not so much terrifying as it is exhilarating, and we let go more readily of the old and are more comfortable in the space between, as we wait to discover what comes next.-

When embarking into our Vision Therapy program (uncharted territory), the experience can be terrifying (especially for a child). You have to let go of your normal to-do's and open up room for new to-do's (like home therapy and weekly visits). But with time and experience in the program, you begin to discover a whole new world. 

Closing the School Year

Tis the season for school parties, signing yearbooks and graduation celebrations. Sounds to me like the end of the school year - and final report cards. This can be a relief, or it can bring on frustrations.

How did your child do this year? If your child did poorly, what is the next step? Push them along, summer school, tutoring? There are a lot of options.

Has your child ever had an Comprehensive Eye Exam? If not, a trip to your local optometrist could help come next fall. Why? Check out how vision and learning are linked here.


Does your child have any of these symptoms?

If your child is experiencing some of these symptoms it can cause challenges in the school setting and in everyday life. Don't worry, there is a solution - Vision Therapy! Vision Therapy helps you develop the visual skills necessary for good vision. We use optical devices and exercises to change the way that the brain uses the eyes in order to improve visual skills. For our success stories, check them out here.

Don't wait any longer, and get your child scheduled for an Comprehensive Eye exam. During the dog days of summer, it is a great time to prepare for the new school year. If you have any questions, call: (615) 386-3036 or email: VT@rdeyes.com.

Wii Fit

It’s new equipment time at the office again!

Our most recent VT addition might surprise you—it’s a Wii Fit!
I’m still learning all the in and outs of the new programs that the Wii provides us with here, but what from what I’ve seen so far, this is a fantastic addition to our therapy program!

Many of the Wii Fit programs emphasize the importance of balance to good vision. I’ll explain the link between the vestibular (relating to balance) and visual system in more detail in a future blog, but the key point is that there IS a relationship between the two systems. Several of the Wii activities require the player to stand on the Wii Balance Board. By shifting your weight on the board, you can move a cross on the screen. The goal is to keep that cross in the middle of a target on the screen, while performing other visual tasks at the same time. It takes practice!

Some ways that you can incorporate this same type of thing at home? Well, if you have a Wii Fit, you can do a ton of balancing games in your very own home! No Wii Fit? No problem! Things as simple as doing home exercises while standing on one foot work on the connection between the vestibular and visual systems. Balance beams at playgrounds are another way to beef up that connection—but be careful! Be sure to mix it up—you don’t want to be staring at a TV screen all day!

I’ll keep you updated as we get more into depth with all of the new features, but until then, play on!

It is Library Time

This week, I have had a lot my parents talk about how they took their children to the library. That inspired me to write about how the library is a great resource!

This quote sums it up great:

By providing a wide range of material and activities, public libraries provide an opportunity for children to experience the enjoyment of reading and the excitement of discovering knowledge and works of imagination. The Public Library Service – IFLA/UNES CO Guidelines for development, 2001

My favorite thing about this quote is how one of the guidelines for the Public Library, is to expand a child's imagination! I believe that imagination goes hand-in-hand with visualization. What's not to like about that! I wrote about how Visualization is so important in learning.

This week, go the library and check out some Magic Eye Books! The book are know as "aerobics for the eyes." And it is said that they improve vision, relax the body and calm the mind! These books will help you focus your eyes together to see a 3D image pop. It is fun!

Support your local library and let your children's imagination run wild!

Click the link to see what's going on at the Nashville Public Library.