New Book on Vision Therapy

I don't have my copy of the book yet but this is an interview with a mom who wrote a book about her child's experience in VT. I look forward to reading it soon. It helps to get a personal account to motivate me and my staff to work harder to help more people. Thanks to Dr. Nate for the interview, Jillian and her mom for taking the time to share their story.

Video Library

Here is a very quick video from The Doctors tv show demonstrating some of the problems with not having both eyes work together as a team:
Video Library

Thank you Dr. Fortenbacher for a great post on eye movements

One of the most common problems we see in children who come in with reading problems:
http://visionhelp.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/visual-tracking-and-academic-performance-part-1/

Great Review of the role of vision in reading

Thanks Dr. Press for a nice review of a great article: http://visionhelp.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/understanding-the-visual-nature-of-dyslexia-and-readingattention-problems/

ADHD Misdiagnosis Common and expensive

New study finds problems with the frequent diagnosis of ADHD in young children. 

Nearly 1 million children potentially misdiagnosed with ADHD, study finds

Great Talk by Dr. Sue Barry

 Here is a link to Sue Barry's recent talk about children's vision.

Autism Vision Link

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=autism-relatives-symptoms&sc=HLTH_20100803

Bill Nye Comments on Computer Vision Syndrome

3-D TV and Movies Look to Attract Viewers But Not Everyone Can 'See' What All the Hype is About

A very nice article from AOA regarding 3-D movies:
3-D TV and Movies Look to Attract Viewers But Not Everyone Can 'See' What All the Hype is About

Factual knowledge must precede skill

I am back to finally review Chapter 2 of Daniel Willingham's book.

It is a commonly held but erroneous concept that we should focus on teaching critical thinking skills but not be concerned with teaching factual knowledge. Willingham gives many quotes to illustrate how common this feeling was among great men of our society. Many of us did not enjoy memorizing facts that we would not use again but when we look at the science of learning it is clear that factual knowledge is critical for learning.

This is the simple model he uses to discuss the thinking process.

Working memory is the site of awareness and thinking. Thinking is combining knowledge in a new way. We can alter both the environment and our long term memory in order to allow us to think more efficiently.

He first uses the example of reading to show how prior knowledge is critical to that task. If you look at even some very simple text you can see that writers leave gaps in knowledge. They assume the reader knows many things. He uses an example of someone describing the players on a baseball field making a double play. If you know baseball the sentence is simple but if not you have to think very hard to follow along. You could get a sense of this with any novel if you open it to the middle and start reading. It is unlikely that you would understand much of what was going on if you miss the first part of the story.

One of the key mental techniques we all use is chunking. This is when we encounter a large group of facts and see them as a whole. We do not have to think hard but rely on our long term memory. A good illustration is to compare how easy it would be to memorize these letter groups:

• KZB
  
• QAF
  
• AXT
  

Compared to:

• CIA
• FBI
  
• CNN
  

You probably sense that you could remember the second group better because they are not random sets of three letters but three memorable "chunks" of information that you have some knowledge of.

He then points out how prior factual knowledge allows readers to retain a higher percentage of the information read. It is a classic case of the rich getting richer. Studies show that even poor readers with a high degree of knowledge will retain more than good readers with low knowledge.

Four ways that background knowledge is important to reading (he admits that there are more than these four).

1. Better vocabulary
2. Allows reader to bridge the logical gaps left by the writer
   
3. It allows chunking
   
4. Guides interpretation of ambiguous sentences

Background knowledge is needed for cognitive skills as well as reading

He gives a great example using chess players. It turns out that if you force really good chess players to go very fast the outcome is the same as if they go very slow. The better players still win. The reason for this is that they don't use a great deal of working memory to make their next move. They rely heavily on their long term memory to choose from options. They don't think through all the different moves the way a beginner might do.

Factual knowledge improves your memory

This is very simple - The more facts you know the more new facts you will retain.

Science has looked at the question of where to go for content and it has some bad news for our generation. It turns out that TV, Internet and video games are very poor at giving us the information we need to expand our factual knowledge. Newspapers, magazines and books are still much better tools if our goal is to be better readers and thinkers.


Implications for the classroom

• How to evaluate which knowledge to instill
  • For general reading the knowledge most beneficial is what the writer will assume most people know. This is generally superficial knowledge.
    
  • For technical knowledge it requires much more depth. It would be best to go very deep in a few concepts so that the material will be maintained.
    
• Be sure that the knowledge base is mostly in place when you require critical thinking
  
• Shallow knowledge is better than no knowledge
  
• Do whatever you can to get kids to read
  
• Knowledge acquisition can be incidental
  
• Start early
  
• Knowledge must be meaningful
  

I think this chapter most people would not find too surprising. It does show the need to fix any sensory integration problems as soon as possible. We see many patients who built enough ability to read at a slow level but not with speed. They are at a significant disadvantage to those who have read a large amount of material. It is truly a game of the rich getting richer. If you want your child to succeed do whatever you can to help them to read as much as possible. It is a very powerful brain builder.




 

"People are not good thinkers"

His first principle is:

"People are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking."

This is a principle well known in vision therapy. It is critical to have a patient engaged in the task but not overwhelmed. If the task is too easy they will get bored and if the task is too complicated they will give up. It is very helpful to understand that humans do not thrive on thinking. He points out that humans are not good at thinking but good at avoiding thinking. Humans are good at adapting to a task. This is discussed in detail in regards to reading in a book I am starting (Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf). Reading is new to humans and shows our incredible ability to adapt to a new task.

He points out that thinking has three unfavorable characteristics:

• It is slow
  
• It requires effort
  
• It is uncertain
  

Therefore, most people rely on memory and only think when it is necessary. People do enjoy working at mental tasks if they can solve the problem. If it is too complex they will not stay engaged and too easy they will be bored. It is critical for a student to be right at that point of being challenged just enough to stay engaged but not give up.



If you are a teacher he gives sound advice at the end of each chapter on how to integrate this information in the classroom. I will list the advice here in hope that it will interest some to get the book for the details:

• Be Sure That There Are Problems to Be Solved
  
• Respect Student's Cognitive Limits
  
• Clarifying the Problems to be Solved
  
• Reconsider When to Puzzle Students
  
• Accept and Act on Variation in Student Preparation
  
• Change the Pace
  
• Keep a Diary
  

 

Why Don’t Students Like School?

By Daniel T. Willingham

Daniel Willingham is a cognitive scientist who is writing this book mainly for teachers. He uses nine principles to break down some myths about how we learn that are fairly commonly held. A brief paraphrasing of his principles are as follows:

1. Humans are not good at thinking
   
2. Factual knowledge must precede skill
   
3. Memory is the residue of thought (one of my favorites)
   
4. We understand new things by their analogy to things we concretely know
   
5. Practice is important
   
6. Thinking is different if you are new to a subject than if you are an expert
   
7. Children are more alike than different in terms of how they think and learn (or there are not "Learning Styles" the way most people understand this term)
   
8. Intelligence can be changed
   
9. Teaching must be practiced to be improved
   

I will go through my understanding of his book by each principle and relate it to what we see in students with visual processing problems. It will be impossible to fully understand the reasoning behind his principles without getting the book and working through some of the problems and stories he uses to illustrate the science behind the principles. I hope that some readers get his book and benefit from it.

My Stack of Stuff

Dr. Willingham is reviews much of the current science behind how we learn. In doing so he breaks down several myths about learning. I find it a fascinating read and it makes sense based on the experience we have working with people with leaning problems. I look forward to sharing some of what is in his book. I would highly recommend this book for any teacher. He writes in a very casual style that is easy to read.

The Purpose of VLC blog

I am interested in many topics related to how we as humans develop our vision. This topic has relates to many aspects of human behavior. I will focus mostly on the books and scientific literature I read related to visual processing. I hope to share some thoughts that may be of value to those who work with people with learning problems or who are interested in how to we can help all people enhance their reading and learning abilities.