It’s Not Just the Facts, It’s the Interaction

I’ve had a fabulous time, twice over the past two weeks, giving a day long seminar to occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech-language pathologists. Our field has been blessed with colleagues who do a marvelous job of this, in particular Drs. Appelbaum, Hellerstein, Hillier and Scheiman. Although I’ve been asked to put seminars like this together before, I’ve shied away due to time constraints.

Venturing first up the Hudson River along the Palisades Parkway to do the seminar in Spring Valley, and then down the New Jersey Turnpike for a gathering in Princeton, I had a blast. One of the best things about having an interactive seminar with “the big three” therapies of OT, PT and Speech, the ones who are part and parcel of early intervention services, is that they get it. There’s no need to convince any of the attendees of the importance of VT, only to work out a framework in which they can feel comfortable collaborating.

Here is what we covered:

seminar-visual-processing-and-therapy-oct-2010

I’m happy to share this information, though it isn’t as much the facts that makes the seminar special as it is the interaction. In contrast with some professions who don’t grasp the science and substance of optometric vision therapy, those in attendance at these seminars grasped the concepts almost intuitively. Ideas about the balance between structure and function, between reductionist disease models and holistic developmental models, and between the senses and the senseless resonated with each of the attendees.

My seminars are highly interactive, and though the PowerPoint slides in the hyperlink above will give you a feel for what we covered, it really is the interaction that is priceless. Though I’m referring principally to hands-on workshop demonstrations, a subject that comes up frequently is how best to advise parents to obtain a consult with a developmental optometrist. To steer clear of school system and health care politics, I suggest that therapists simply guide parents to the wealth of information at http://www.covd.org, http://www.oep.org, http://www.aoa.org, http://www.njsop.org and http://www.visionhelp.com.

Build it, and they will come. Interact, and they will process the facts – with the public as the ultimate beneficiaries.

– Leonard J. Press, O.D., FCOVD, FAAO

8 thoughts on “It’s Not Just the Facts, It’s the Interaction”

Sounds like a great program, Leonard. Could you tell us how you put the program together, and how you reached out to these three different disciplines? We’d like to do something similiar in our area, and we’re interested in how you pulled the program together.

Len

January 19, 2013 at 4:28 pm Reply

Hi Greg – Sorry I overlooked replying to you originally on this. It was actually a national CE company who reached out to me. They have been a pleasure to collaborate with, and it is they who do the mailings for and coordaination of the seminar. Here is a sample: http://www.pesi.com/search/detail/index.asp?eventid=15360

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Thanks so much for sharing Len! I have done similar lectures to the rehab depts at our local hospitals as well as offering free in office seminars. Just contacting the OT departments and offering to do this type of presentation is usually well accepted.

Thanks for sharing your presentation. It came across as a wonderful time of sharing and learning for everyone. Great job!!

Len,

I’m happy to see that you are also promoting an understanding that vestibular development is a critical foundation for visual development. I’ll be doing this again at COVD Las Vegas, and drawing the relationship between vestibular development, embodied cognition and mirror neurons – as you know, there is a compelling link between these systems, our motor repertoire and theory of mind. The application here for helping those with autism is significant, let alone those without it.

Carl

Excellent, Carl! Keep up the great work on your end as well. What I particularly like about Zoi Kapoula’s work is that it taps into very basic vergence mechanisms that (even) classicists can relate to. But the generalized neurobehavioral networking and functioning is, as you noted, integral.

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