We’re thrilled about the next session in our Mastering VT Educational Online Workshop Series! Join us on November 18th at 1 pm Pacific as Robert Nurisio, COVT, presents Celebrating Sanet: Past, Present, and Future. Register now (only $25) at emergentvt.com/masteringvt, and if you can’t attend live, don’t worry—a recording will be available. Learn more here.
We’re honored to welcome Dr. Leonard Press, OD, FCOVD, FAAO, as a distinguished guest for this session. Dr. Press, an acclaimed author and scientist, is a recognized authority in vision development and vision therapy. With over 100 published articles in scientific journals, three textbooks, and more than 1,000 blog posts, Dr. Press brings unparalleled expertise.
Last year, we began offering the online version of Robert Sanet’s internationally renowned five-weekend seminar series. Professionally recorded in 2017 by Survivor producer Joe Lia, the course now includes a comprehensive 600-page commentary by Dr. Press, filled with insights and explanations. This commentary, previously only available with the course, is now offered as a standalone product.
Here is information on that commentary in Dr. Press' own words:
There are 600 pages of commentary that I wrote, averaging 120 pages on each of the five weekends that comprise the Online Sanet Seminar Series. Although the commentary accompanies the course when you purchase it, not until the good people at Emergent printed a copy in its entirety did I fully appreciate the scope of the commentaries, it’s screen-shot photos, graphic images, and numerous links.
When you go to the website for the Series (https://emergent.teachable.com/p/online-sanet-seminar-series) you’ll see a sample of the Commentary, and you can also watch a video that provides context and background. Doctors and therapists tell us that they use the commentary as a stand-alone guide, and well as to navigate the videos whether engaged in staff training, or as a prep course for OVDRA certification.
Therefore, my goal here is to give you more of a flavor of what the commentary actually provides so that you can better appreciate its value. It is now available for purchase through Emergent as a stand-alone print resource.
Weekend 1 – Models of Vision and Foundational Concepts and Principles
* We introduce the concept of the “Einstellung”. How do you create changes not only within your patient, but within yourself?
* Differentiating three principal models: Classical Structural vs. Visual Functional vs. Visual Neuro-cognitive, the latter incorporating a deep dive from Harry Wachs’ into the neurology of the visual pathways.
* An in-depth discussion about the optometric evaluation. What further insights do you gain from symptom questionnaires? What information beyond visual acuity is observable during visual acuity testing? Bob rarely employs information from auto-refraction or cycloplegia but I derive a great deal of information from both. How can you resolve that apparent discrepancy to come way with further insights? What are the neurological nuances of the data we gather in terms of ranges of comfort while documenting blur, break, and recovery in 2-D space on the x-y axes, or spatial localization on the z-axis in 3-D space?
* Yoked prisms: low power, high power, prescribing micro prism: disruptive concepts in vision therapy/rehabilitation, neuro-therapeutic effects through Rx-ing. We delve into this, link to blogs that I wrote on the concept, and provide other resources to go to for further information.
* Patient communication: preparing reports, conducting a conference, presenting goals, quoting fees. It’s all streamlined for you.
Weekend 2 – Generalized Visual Skills and Approaches to Therapy
* Bob shares a self-report from one of the attendees on how he incorporated micro prism into his own Rx and experienced significant symptomatic relief from headaches. Was this just a placebo effect? We explore that in detail.
* There are many resources on approaches to vision therapy, ranging from OEP courses and grids to the information in Applied Concepts in Vision Therapy 2.0. What are the underlying approaches common to successful therapy?
* How can we make the most use of Skeffington’s four circle model of vision? Bob introduces neuro-cognitive concepts that broaden the original functional model, yet at the same time simplifies its applications.
* We detail “Visual Thinking through the Ocular Motor System”. You’ll see detailed examples of moving from low level to high level thinking through prism jumps, pegboard rotator, Marsden ball, saccades, line counting, space fixator (the photos of this alone are worth the price of admission!).
* Then detail on “Visual Thinking through the Accommodative System” incorporating lens discrimination, split pupil rock, Hart charts, and Wachs mental minus.
* We proceed to “Visual Thinking through the Binocular System”, encompassing Kraskin eye control, Brock sting (in more ways than you ever imagined), vectogram stereopsis massage, BOP/BIM and SILO, stereoscope, aperture rule, life savers, mental vergence, and in-office vs. at-home considerations for all of the above.
Weekend 3 – Visual Information Processing
* Inventory and questionnaires, along with considerations in test selection: standardized versus observational, and combining the best of both.
* Overview of areas tested and specific tests including primitive reflexes, bilateral integration, developmental eye movements, directional concepts, motor-free, visual-motor integrative, information span and memory, and auditory-visual integration. In what ways does my approach complement Bob’s, in what ways does it differ, and how can you apply these clinical pearls to your approach?
* Arranging conditions for learning: content learning vs. concept learning, and concepts in communication during the VT process.
* VT procedures: Bilateral integration, Randolph Shuffle, chalkboard circles, vision and balance, heel lifts, finger thinking and digital discrimination, paper tear, Vulcan salute, pencil extensions, Palmer method, Linda Sanet on Parquetry featuring Harry Wachs’ Developmental Hierarchy (with screen shots of all of the levels!), visual memory, auditory jam, attribute blocks and sorting, cognitive style and tempo, multi-matrix featuring Carl Hillier,
* I have to mention that there are over 50 pages Linda Sanet’s and Carl Hillier’s procedures, and the screen shots enable you to process this at your own pace which is very important since during the video itself there is a massive amount of information to keep track of. It challenges your own own ability to process processing, in a growth oriented way.
Weekend 4 – Amblyopia and Strabismus
* Big paradigm shift here on conceptualizing amblyopia as a binocular problem with monocular manifestations instead of as a monocular problem with binocular manifestations.
* Behavioral neuro-optometric treatment, and here I supply a lot of research and links that build on the model that Bob, Pilar Vergara and I put together for optimal treatment of amblyopia
* Behavioral/neurofunctional lens Rx and its significance, and the application of graded occlusion rather than full occlusion. Major emphasis in placed on MFBF procedures.
* Strabismus as a neurodevelopmental problem and the inexactness of strabismus surgery. The role of pre- and post-surgical vision therapy. I add a lot of clinical pearls and links here.
* Handling concomitant strabismus and the variety of syndromes. Factoring eccentric fixation and anomalous correspondence into the picture.
* Considerations in binasal occlusion and working peripheral fusion to improve binocular integration.
Weekend 5 – Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)
* How do we talk to the neurology of the brain? The mixed blessing of vision being pervasive in the brain, and implications for management of ABI.
* Bob and I co-authored a chapter in the Suter and and Harvey text on Vision Rehabilitation following Brain Injury, and the commentary makes use of many of the principles in this chapter.
* Visual neglect, inattention, the ins and outs of visual field awareness, Press Lites and so much more.
* Fixed mindset versus Growth Mindset and it applications to vision therapy for this population.
* Metacognition, and how to use language in the VT room that facilitates recovery.
* Emphasis on free space assessment, prescribing, and therapy to tap into the full spectrum of deficit and recovery.
* Visual midline shift, dynamic visual acuity, and helping the patient take a more active role in his or her progress.
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