Sunflower Vision Development Center

10/07/2025

"Vision is both a motor skill and a sense. Our ocular motor skills must develop and our perceptions depend on this fastest and most accurate of our motor skills. Inadequate development influences all we do. The following on learning to ride a bike is analogous to the development of our vision, but vision must be more precise and faster.

From the first moment you begin learning to ride a bike, you are creating a network of connections in your brain unique to that activity. This ‘cycling network’ involves all the different components of the brain needed to balance on two wheels, from our sense of sight and touch, our balance system all integrating to the control of the multitude of muscles needed to keep you upright. At first all these different parts of the brain are functioning independently of each other but each time we practice, each time we fall and get up again, we repeatedly fire the same neural pathways, and gradually this causes the connections between these disparate areas of the brain to strengthen and start forming a network…. It is this process that, once complete, creates the miraculous moment when the impossible becomes possible, when all the effort becomes effortless and we fly off on two wheels never to look back again. Vision development, and vision development for reading, follows a similar pattern."

https://gwilliamsfamilyeye.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/visual-intelligence-2/

09/25/2025

We are extremely proud of this patient's hard work, dedication, and progress!!! 🌟

09/22/2025

"Dr. Hess published a seminal review in the January 2025 issue of Vision Research pointing out the limitations of the monocular approach and strongly advocates the binocular approach. After reading the paper, it would be difficult to understand how anyone could be comfortable with the monocular approach as the principal intervention. Dr. Hess concludes:

'Binocular dysfunction lies at the heart of the amblyopia problem, both in terms of its etiology and the everyday impact of the resultant visual disability. Even though the monocular visual acuity deficit is obvious and easily measured doesn’t mean our efforts should be solely concentrated on it, as they have been for the last 200 years. The acuity loss is a secondary consequence of the binocular loss and has minimal contribution to the everyday visual disability experienced by amblyopes. The therapy must be directed at the primary problem and the therapeutic success must be in terms of binocular function because this underlies the functional disability. While this information is clear cut and is supported by decades of basic science, its application in the clinic is still in its early stages. Re-establishing binocular fusion is the first step, fusional training may be useful in strengthening it.'"

You may recall that earlier this year we blogged about an article that Dr. Fortenbacher and I co-authored in the the journal Clinical Insights in Eyecare, published by the American Academy of Optom…

09/09/2025

"Bob’s raison d’etre has been to help people. He understands, better than most, the exponential nature of inspiring optometrists who in turn render care to thousands of patients who impact lives in the way his life was impacted by vision therapy. It is no coincidence that the first time he ever got an 'A' in anything was in graduate school when he attained the top grade in a neuro course in his second year of Optometry. It would prove to be prophetic, as the neurology spoke to Bob, and Bob would speak to the neurology to increasingly greater degrees throughout the years."

How Dr. Fisher treats, educates, and completes therapy with patients is in part due to invaluable courses taught by Dr. Bob Sanet!

Let’s begin with the end of what Bob posted on the DOC-L listserve today. After detailing his health challenges which have made his outlook for survival bleak in the short term, he wrote: & #8…

08/12/2025

To help children reach their full potential, get their eyes checked!

08/07/2025

👀📚 Children’s Vision & Learning Month is HERE! Did you know that as much as 80% of what a child learns in school comes through their eyes? When vision isn’t working efficiently, learning can feel like climbing a mountain with no summit in sight. This month, we’re raising awareness about the vital connection between vision and academic success. Let’s make sure every child has the visual skills they need to thrive in the classroom and beyond. 🌟

Want to learn more? Start Here: https://www.covd.org/page/August_VL

07/22/2025

Dr. Fisher recently received the sweetest handmade card from one of her thoughtful, young patients, and it made her day/week/month!!! 💞

07/15/2025

"I took Dr. Angela Peddle’s new book to the beach last weekend, expecting it to be a breezy read of 168 soft cover pages. It was more intense than I had anticipated. Let’s begin with the Preface. Dr. Peddle writes that she had trained at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry due to their advanced pediatric track and left there glowing. She then undertook a residency at SUNY College of Optometry which lit an even deeper fire, and was the single most important choice she made in her career. She returned to her native Canada filled with purpose and anticipation. I have known and admired Dr. Peddle from afar through the years, and presumed the book would reflect what I perceived to be her smooth and steady ascent to stardom.

But as it turned out, not long after Dr. Peddle began her practice, she hit a wall.

'Not a gentle resistance', she writes. 'A brick wall of skepticism, dismissal, and shaming … just the phrase ‘vision therapy’ was enough to be labeled. Vision therapy? Snake oil. You’re in it for the money. There’s no evidence … no one wanted to hear it. I wasn’t welcome in my own profession. So I cried. I doubted. I tried to shrink.'"

I took Dr. Angela Peddle’s new book to the beach last weekend, expecting it to be a breezy read of 168 soft cover pages. It was more intense than I had anticipated. Let’s begin with the…

07/02/2025

Vision Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

"Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if vision therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI) related visual dysfunctions improves post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Methods: Three veterans with comorbid PTSD and TBI were selected for a retrospective single-subject A-B study design (i.e., baseline-intervention). A chart review consisted of PTSD checklist (PCL) scores, College of Optometrists in Vision Development-Quality of Life (COVD-QOL) survey scores, and Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test times. Each outcome measure was analyzed pre- and post- vision therapy. A reliable change index for PCL scores was calculated for each subject. Results: All veterans undergoing vision therapy for TBI related visual dysfunctions showed an improvement in COVD-QOL survey scores and DEM test times. The reliable change index for the PCL score of each veteran was significantly lower from the pre- to post-treatment conditions, indicating decreased symptoms of PTSD. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest a relationship between vision therapy and PTSD, with decreased symptoms reported on the PCL after treatment. The added benefit of including an eye-movement component in therapy for PTSD, which is utilized in evidence-based treatments such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), has long been debated in the literature. Given the encouraging results of this study, further research is needed to investigate the efficacy of eye movements and vision therapy as a component of more comprehensive treatment for PTSD."

Request PDF | Vision Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. | Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if vision therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI) related visual dysfunctions improves... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Resear...

06/25/2025

"In that article he wrote: 'The lower starting values of required prism power in the case series above can be explained by residual fusional convergence, divergence, or vertical vergence amplitudes, and accordingly, the required prism power is often far less than the maximum deviation measured after full dissociation with PACT. Thus, for patients demonstrating fusion with symptomatic phorias or intermittent strabismus, start with lower prism values and increase as necessary to resolve symptoms.'"

Prism occupies my thoughts considerably these days, as it increasingly factors into my decision-making (see here, for example, the second article in what will be a trilogy). That’s why this r…

06/19/2025

"The first few lines of the abstract are intriguing:

'We provide a summary of the research conducted in our laboratory on the relationship between ocular proprioception, general proprioception, and dyslexia. Dyslexic children show a marked proprioceptive deficit which affects motor control, attention and spatial perception. The spatial disturbances are expressed by the presence of a vertical microheterophoria which has very specific characteristics. It is associated with abnormal tone of the oblique muscles and can be modified by means of very low powered prisms and/or remote sensory stimulation.'"

On the DOC-L (formerly VT-OD) list serve, Dr. Qiaoqiao (Chelsea) Wang shared an article published last month in the open access journal Vision: Ocular and General Proprioception in Dyslexic Childre…

06/13/2025

"Digital screens are pervasive, not only at work but in our homes, schools and shops. An estimated 104 million Americans of working age spend more than seven hours a day in front of screens, according to the American Optometric Association. All that screen time can take a toll.

Too much exposure to screens can lead to dry or watery eyes, fuzzy vision and headaches. It can also lead to myopia, or nearsightedness, in some people, especially children. Some technology workers even describe short bouts of vertigo when they look at screens for too long.

One reason for the discomfort is that staring closely at screens for prolonged periods causes the muscle that helps eye focus to tighten up.

'That muscle’s not supposed to stay tight all day long. And if it does, it’s like picking up a light weight and trying to hold it over your head for hours,' American Optometric Association President Steven Reed said. 'It’s not hard to pick it up. But after a while, even though it’s not a heavy lift, your body just gets tired.'"

https://apnews.com/article/computer-screens-eye-health-e0c99719204526ed5f08423f1b15f557?utm_source=fb_paid&utm_medium=Facebook_Mobile_Feed&utm_campaign=AP+News+-+Content+Promotion+-+2025&utm_term=35%2B+News+Interests&utm_content=Screen+fatigue+is+real.+Experts+share+tips+to+find+relief&fbclid=IwY2xjawKme7pleHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQAAAYTSyT8nwEeVLbzHXdQvCB19d-SAV8XYq0_s06fFFe__gipz7iQm_tJI20m3INyNKYhlto_aem_p4EbBbDjsNYNpSMwCt2m7w&utm_id=6664512304447

Digital screens are pervasive at work and in homes and schools stores. The American Optometric Association says an estimated 104 million Americans of working age spend more than seven hours a day in front of screens.