Stop the Presses! 3D actually GOOD for children?

....This should make some industry insiders very very happy. The American Optometric Association (AOA) is releasing a report called 3D in the Classroom subtitled “See Well, Learn Well”. (See the announcement by clicking here).

Contrary to recent gloom-and-doom reports about the perils of 3D—including headaches, nausea, and damage to the vision of young children—the AOA is asserting that its research shows not only does use of 3D significantly enhance learning in the classroom, it’s useful in early identification of vision problems for early intervention and treatment.....

 

Reducing Crowding by Weakening Inhibitory Lateral Interactions in the Periphery with Perceptual Learning

....We investigated whether lateral masking in the near-periphery, due to inhibitory lateral interactions at an early level of central visual processing, could be weakened by perceptual learning and whether learning transferred to an untrained, higher-level lateral masking known as crowding. ..... These results have important implications for the rehabilitation of low-vision patients who must use peripheral vision to perform tasks, such as reading and refined figure-ground segmentation, which normal sighted subjects perform in the fovea. ....

 Comments: Full text article is available by clicking on the title above.  DM

Optometric Education Journal Now Online!

Optometric Education

vol 37 #1 2011

 Check out all the articles including:

ASCOTech: Educator, Preceptor, Researcher, Author and . . . Techno-Geek!
Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A
Geoffrey W. Goodfellow, OD, FAAO

Maino & Goodfellow: Educator, Preceptor, Researcher, Author and ...Techno-Geek

View more documents from Dominick Maino

Study shows convergence insufficiency treatment improves performance 

 ....Significant improvements were found in academic behaviors and attention as a result of accommodative therapy for convergence insufficiency.

Eric Borsting, OD, MS, FAAO, FCOVD, reported at a press conference during Academy 2011 Boston that this pilot study, which was conducted under the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial, involved 45 children between 9 and 17 years old with symptoms of convergence insufficiency....

There's More to 3D than Meets the Eye

If you experience the 3D's of 3D Viewing: Discomfort, Dizziness and Lack of Depth...You need to remember the 4th D...Call Your Doctor of Optometry today to be evaluated and treated so that you can enjoy all that your vision gives to you.

To find a doctor that can help go to http://www.AOA.org today!

For additional information about binocular vision dysfunction and optometric vision therapy, go to

The Collge of Optometrists in Vision Development website at http://www.covd.org.



New Journal in Clinical Neuroscience

The following new journal from Les Laboratoires Servier has been added to PubMed Central:

    Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience

    ISSN: 1294-8322  (print) 1958-5969 (electronic)

    URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/1550/

    Archive includes volume 1 (1999) to the current issue

    Note: There is no embargo delay for this journal.

Yale Autism Seminar - Videoby Yale Child Study Center

Yale Autism Seminar - Video

by Yale Child Study Center

The Yale Seminar on Autism and Related Disorders is the United States' first undergraduate course of its kind. The goal of this series is to make all of the lecture content and supporting materials available online for free for anyone who desires to learn about Autsim Spectrum Disorders. For Yale undergraduates, the class consists of a weekly seminar on diagnosis and assessment, etiology and treatment of children, adolescents and adults with autism and related disorders of socialization. This collection contains the full video of the course.

Comments: The link will take you to the iTunes Podcast area so you can download this series of lectures. This is very well done and a must see for those optometrists just now starting to work with those with Autism....or even for many of us who have worked with these individuals for some time. They do not mention the role of vision and optometric vision therapy....but it's a good start on learning more about ASD. DM

New AOA Report Examines ‘3D in the Classroom’

New AOA Report Examines ‘3D in the Classroom’

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Optometric Association (AOA), in partnership with the 3D@Home Consortium, has published a comprehensive report for administrators and teachers that describes and explains the optimal uses of 3D in the classroom, including how 3D approaches to learning can enhance teaching and improve assurance of student school readiness.

The first-of-its-kind report was developed in collaboration with educators, vision researchers and specialist advisors from across the 3D industry. Among its key findings is that children often learn faster and retain more information in the 3D environment, and their ability to perceive 3D and learn in 3D requires precise elements of “vision fitness.” 3D vision fitness skills associated with eye alignment, eye tracking, and balanced and corrected refractive errors are also associated with improved overall reading and learning abilities, according to the report.

“Good vision is important for everyone,” commented AOA president Dori Carlson, OD. “For a growing child, good vision and eye health plays a vital role in enabling the child to make the most of his or her innate abilities while learning to read, write and participate comfortably and confidently in the classroom environment. These exciting and bold opportunities in the 3D learning experience are nothing less than a game changer.”

Yet the AOA points out that as many as one in four U.S. students may be unable to partake in 3D learning activities due to under performance of various aspects of the vision system that have gone undetected and untreated. “The recent emergence of 3D presentation technologies and 3D content in movie theaters, in the home, in video games and now in the classroom, perhaps surprisingly, provides a unique public health opportunity,” explained Dr. Carlson. “The ability to perceive depth in a 3D presentation—known as “stereopsis”—turns out to be a highly sensitive test of a range of vision health indicators. It is much more sensitive than the standard eye chart, because it requires that both eyes function in a coordinated manner, as they converge, focus and track the 3D image.”

In addition to practical notes for teachers on the viewing of 3D in the classroom, the report also includes a detailed timeline of the history of 3D, fun facts about vision in nature, common causes of 3D viewing challenges, how 3D displays work, 3D’s impact on careers in the future, and a detailed appendix listing glossary of terms and references.

Optometrists may download a copy of the report here.