Literature on Acquired Brain Injury
COVD has a list of ABI liturature compiled by COVD Past President Lynn Fishman Hellerstein, OD, FCOVD, FAAO.
The National Eye Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, released a statement concerning the effectiveness of office-based vision therapy for treatment of Convergence Insufficiency. Dr. Mitchell Scheiman, FCOVD, has completed the 12-week study, known as the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT), found that approximately 75 percent of those who received in-office therapy by a trained therapist plus at-home treatment reported fewer and less severe symptoms related to reading and other near work after the office-based vision therapy.
"This NEI-funded study compared the effectiveness of treatment options for convergence insufficiency," said Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director of the NEI. "The CITT will provide eye care professionals with the research they need to assist children with this condition."
"There are no visible signs of this condition; it can only be detected and diagnosed during a comprehensive eye examination," said principal investigator Mitchell Scheiman, O.D., FCOVD, of Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University near Philadelphia, PA. "However, as this study shows, once diagnosed, CI can be successfully treated with office-based vision therapy by a trained therapist along with at-home reinforcement."
Read the article in Archives of Ophthalmology
Research on Vision Therapy
COVD has compiled two summaries of research and clinical studies on optometric vision therapy. The Summary of Research and Clinical Studies on Optometric Vision Therapy provides an overview of the literature on the use of vision therapy to treat Accomodative Dysfunction, Vergence Anomalies, Amblyopia and Strabismus. The Summary of Research and Clinical Studies on Vision and Learning contains a listing of the research reports and clinical studies on the relationship of vision to reading and learning ability and the effectiveness of vision therapy in the treatment of learning-related vision problems. Also available to COVD members, the Optometric Clinical Practice Guidelines has additional clinical and research support for the efficacy of vision therapy, which is published by the American Optometric Association.
White Papers on Vision Therapy
One of the challenges optometrists face each day is effective and concise communication with their patients, colleagues and the public. A series of white papers have been developed to assist COVD members in communicating about developmental and behavioral vision care. Topics include vision-based learning problems, vision and autism, vision and dyslexia, bifocals for children, strabismus and amblyopia, myopia, reversals, referral protocol-ethics, and many others.
Position Papers and Joint Organizational Policy Statements
COVD has worked with other organizations to create position papers and joint organizational policy statements.