Dr. Kevin Holder is an integrative healthcare practitioner who recently referred a patient to me whose mother was searching for a visual approach that would respect her holistic framework. This encounter reminded me of my original exposure to developmental or holistic practitioners who were natural complements to developmental optometrists. The first such individual was Dr. Larry Palevsky, whose acquaintance I made through Patty Lemer and her wonderful work with DDR.
Through Dr. Palevsky I discovered another Dr. Larry, Lawrence Rosen, who is Chief of Integrative Pediatrics at an area hospital and has a practice named The Whole Child Center nearby. These were clearly broader thinking individuals than the pediatricians I had been exposed to when it came to understanding the concepts in developmental vision and developmental optometry, with particular developmental disorders such as autism.
I had always been impressed the holistic model of Dr. Andrew Weil, and was pleased to see that Dr. Rosen authored a chapter last year for a book in Weil’s Integrative Medicine Library Series. The entire book is a marvelous introduction to the field, and provides good background information for those wishing to learn more. After lecturing on the compatibility of our two fields, I was to invited to write an article about the subject for Optometry Times. All this took me back to the source, which is Dr. Weil’s contention that as marvelous as our medical system is in some regards, it is woefully inadequate when it comes to understanding mind-body interactions. Listen to his interview, and many of the talking points we’ve been blogging about in visionhelp will resonate.
– Leonard J. Press, O.D, FCOVD, FAAO
The VisionHelp Blog 
A NEW CONCEPT IN PAEDRIATTIC OPHTHALMLOGY