VT text book?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert (Bob) Hohendorf OD on February 27, 2012 at 10:18pm

Hi Nikki,

    What it is, is personal, just like your vision is to each person. I can give you a number of different things you can get from each procedure. Which one you need and is key to you is personal. Only you can decide and figure that out.

    I also have found that telling someone is never as effective as having them figure it out (almost as if) by themselves. Ownership from personally figuring out the puzzle presented to you is a big piece of each persons recovery. A good therapist or coach is not their to tell you how to solve the problem presented, but to prepare the pathway or the best way to solve the problem of self solution. The solution is within each good procedure. It is usually  the best way to solve the problem the VT procedure presents to you.

   It would be nice if there were a book for everyone. Kind of like an owners manual for our own bodies, brains and visual process. I am afraid we have to each write our own book, but good professional guidance can help us get back on the best path once we have lost it.

 

Bob H

Permalink Reply by Nikki Lichtner on February 28, 2012 at 3:53am

Hi Bob - thanks for your reply. It is really helpful to know that the process and content of vision training can vary dramatically from one person to the next. Maybe that will help me to follow and have faith in the exercises without necessarily understanding their purpose. I do find though that once I understand more or less what the exercise is trying to achieve (in my brain or visual system), I can perform it much more effectively and even find ways to make it suit me personally, or to take it a step further.

Are there any resources out there that help with the more objective parts of the vision training process for strabismus patients? A bit of background reading. E.g. What's is going on in the eye and brain when we learn to converge or diverge for the first time at the age of 35. What is happening in the eye and brain when we start to see double or start to have a fuller peripheral vision.

Permalink Reply by Susanna Z on February 28, 2012 at 1:46pm

I agree with Dr. Bob. Even though many of my exercises are boring, especially when I have to repeat them over and over again, I don't think an explanation before-hand would have been a good idea because I probably would not have understood much of what the doctor was telling me anyway. For those of us who have never used both eyes together, getting a description from a doctor is really confusing because it's hard to imagine something we've never experienced or have never seen anyone else do. It's different to explain physical therapy procedures to someone re-learning to walk because he/she knows how his or her legs move. But the inner machinations of our brains are a mystery. 

I think Sue Barry does a good job explaining the neuroscience of what's happening in vision therapy in her book "Fixing my Gaze". 
 

Permalink Reply by Susan Hall on February 29, 2012 at 7:07pm

Hi Nikki, I think I do understand your need to "understand" what's happening. I've not used my eyes together for 50 yrs, so  I know I have a lot of mental blocks to using them better. I realize I need to grow new neurons as well as new habits, but sometimes, if I understand the exercises' goals or method better, it helps the stubborn part of my intellect to allow my brain to do what it needs to  (if that makes any sense). But I do agree with Suzanna, of course, that Sue's book does a great job explaining the neuroscience.

As for me, I do have a medical background as well as a lifetime interest in the physics of vision, so I just searched for textbooks on strabismus online!!

Permalink Reply by Nikki Lichtner on March 1, 2012 at 4:01am

Thanks Susan and Susanna for your replies. I have "Fixing my Gaze" on the shelf and it has answered so many of my questions already, but it looks a little lonely up there. It is definitely time I did some more reading and made the effort to find some more good resources. Obviously I'm not going to get this on a plate. Sue, I understand exactly what you mean by getting the stubborn part of your intellect to allow your brain to do what it needs to. That sums it up perfectly!

I have just opened Sue Barry's book and found that there is a brilliant Notes section at the back. It not only includes the full reference details but also gives a summary of what you will find in each.  There are plenty of really useful looking articles addressing convergence and divergence, peripheral vision, fusion and other strabismus processes from a neurological perspective.

Permalink Reply by Susan Hall on March 1, 2012 at 7:23pm

Huh....never noticed the "notes" section of the book. I'll have to get it off the shelf and look myself!