Pediatric eye health is a critical aspect of a child’s life and development. Good vision is not just about clarity […]
Purpose
To evaluate the effectiveness of a perceptual learning technique for improving reading performance of patients with central vision loss and to explore whether this learning generalizes to other visual functions.
Methods
Ten patients with central vision loss were trained binocularly, in four consecutive sessions, with serially presented words printed at each patient’s reading acuity limit. Patients read 10 blocks of 100 words in each session. They were encouraged to read the whole word and were discouraged to read letter by letter. Assessment sessions before and after training measured fixation stability, monocular and binocular visual acuity, as well as reading acuity, critical print size, and maximum reading speed with continuous text. Another six patients with central vision loss were included in a test-retest control group and were tested twice, 1 week apart, with no intervention.
Results
The average time required to read a block of trials decreased significantly with each training session. After training, continuous text reading improved in terms of reading acuity (p = 0.017) and maximum reading speed (p = 0.01), but critical print size did not change. Binocular acuity improved significantly from an average of 0.54 logMAR before training to 0.44 logMAR after training. Binocular ratio (better eye acuity/binocular acuity) increased from an average of 1.0 before training to 1.17 after training. There was a 62% improvement in fixation stability in the better eye and 58% in the worse eye. There were no changes in the outcome measures for the test-retest control group.
Conclusions
The technique described in this article can be used for vision rehabilitation of patients with central vision loss. When training is done with size threshold stimuli, learning generalizes to visual acuity, continuous text reading, and fixation stability.
At Amplify with Dr Wernick I was seeking help for seemingly intractable, probably age-related dryness. I've seen other doctors about it, and that has been helpful, but what he explained to me about it and the careful way he answered all my questions gave me so much more of a clear understanding of what is going on (and is not) that I am more able to implement all his and others' recommendations than I was before. And he gave me additional resources for further follow-up. I am most grateful.
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Dr. Kavner is a gifted diagnostician and orthoptic therapist. He treated me several decades ago for a condition similar to dyslexia. I was having migraines five times per week. I worked with him for about a year and I experienced tremendous improvement (down to 3-4 per year) that has lasted.
Dr. Kavner recommended two types of eye therapy for my daughter. One of them using bio-feedback. In just three sessions she is seeing considerably better. She shouted this morning: Ooh my God! I could not see these letters with my glasses on, and now I can see them without my glasses. If you are willing and able to invest in improving your vision, this is a good place to go to!
Dr. Kavner recommended two types of eye therapy for my daughter. One of them using bio-feedback. In just three sessions she is seeing considerably better. She shouted this morning: Ooh my God! I could not see these letters with my glasses on, and now I can see them without my glasses. If you are willing and able to invest in improving your vision, this is a good place to go to!
I have always found Dr Kavner's work, expertise and wisdom of the highest caliber. As one of the fathers of OT, occupational othomology, his depth and breadth of knowledge about the eyes' health and wellbeing of the patient is exemplary. Cannot say enough good things about him.
Pediatric eye health is a critical aspect of a child’s life and development. Good vision is not just about clarity […]
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