Leonard J. Press – Visual Development Processing Therapy Series

Dr. Leonard Press will show you how to differentiate visual efficiency from visual processing as well as effective screening tools to identify visual problems. Sample procedures will also be demonstrated, enabling you to help a wide variety of patients having difficulty with visual processing. By the end of this training you will become well versed in all areas of vision therapy:Visual Efficiency

• The neurodevelopment of eye tracking, accommodation and binocular vision

Visual Processing

• How the eyes interface with the rest of the brain and body
• Vision problems as neurodevelopmental disorders
• Vision problems as sensory processing disorders
• Visual perceptual testing: Standardized and observational

How Developmental Optometry Relates to Occupational Therapy and Other Disciplines

• A. Jean Ayres, Brain Gym and developmental vision
• Collaboration between therapeutic interventions
• Signs and symptoms of undiagnosed or untreated vision disorders
• Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS)
• Optometric application of lenses and prisms

The Neuroplasticity and Neuroadaptability of the Visual System

• What goes wrong visually, why it goes wrong, and what we can do about it
• Is there an age at which it’s too early or late to intervene?
• Visual problems as early red flags for autism spectrum disorder
• Learning-based vision problems and academic performance
• Post-trauma vision disorder and other problems of acquired brain injury

Hands-on Demonstration of Screening Procedures

• PLRG the penlight red/green standardized convergence insufficiency screening
• Visual tracking and head movement
• Visual tracking and the midline plane
• Near-far focusing flexibility
• Information for referral and collaboration

Overview of Sample Therapeutic Activities

• Nearpoint of convergence and touch
• Physiological diplopia and divided attention
• Hart Chart Saccadic
• Pointer-in-straw in three dimensions
• Central/peripheral awareness
• Press Lites

Vision is our dominant sense for learning, but not all eye doctors provide in-depth testing for developmental and functional vision problems and the relevant treatment, such as vision therapy. Developmental Optometrists’ approach to vision care is directed at correcting existing vision problems and enhancing visual abilities. 20/20 is NOT perfect vision. Nor does this test evaluate many other important measures of normal vision, including: eye focusing, eye teaming and coordination, eye movement, and visual perceptual skills. Once you have an understanding of these basic skills, and their impact on development, you’ll be able to better identify those patients and students whose academic and therapeutic progress has been delayed as a result, and offer potential solutions to these roadblocks.

Over 80% of how we learn comes in through the visual system. One in ten children has a visual problem interfering with learning. Typical screenings will miss over half of these patients. Learn the most effective screening tools and history checklists to better identify patients with both visual efficiency and visual processing roadblocks. Being able to identify, and offer therapeutic intervention, will allow for more successful patient outcomes therapeutically, as well as faster academic progress.

People with autism have difficulty processing and responding to information from their senses, including their most dominant sense — the visual system. This can also be true, to a lesser extent, of those who have Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD. Through first-hand demonstrations you will learn therapeutic techniques to help improve central and peripheral vision coordination for better outcomes in clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

If you are seeing patients with brain injury, vision should be a part of the rehabilitation. The majority of the hardwiring of the brain involves the visual pathway, so it is very common to experience a visual problem after a brain injury or concussion. If visual deficits do exist, they can result in significant difficulty with reading, mobility, and balance, which can prevent your clients from returning to their baseline level of function and independence. Fortunately, neuroplasticity of the visual system exists, and after learning about basic neuro-anatomy, you will be able to accommodate the needs of these patients more effectively.