WHAT MAKES THE COMPREHENSIVE VISION THERAPY CENTER UNIQUE?
BRAIN INJURY
Approximately 70 percent of all sensory input fibers to the brain begin in the eye. This is more than twice the neural input of all the other senses combined. For perspective, the auditory nerve contains 30,000 neurons compared to the 1,000,000 neurons in the optic nerve.
VISION THERAPY
Vision therapy is a sequence of therapeutic procedures that develop efficient visual skills and visual processing. An integral part of vision therapy is an individually prescribed program monitored by a doctor using lenses, filters, occluders, specialized instruments and computer programs. Our Lindamood Bell Program trained staff can incorporate that training into the vision therapy program for those patients who will benefit.
EXAMINATIONS
We spend a significant amount of time with every examination
of our patient because of our belief in a holistic approach to eye care. To us, providing specialized vision care means listening carefully to ascertain your visual problems and needs. As my colleague Dr. Lisa Harvey (who also specializes in neurodevelopmental optometry) likes to say, “We are opto-sleuths!”
Helping You Use Your Vision to its Highest Potential.
When it comes to your vision, seeing clearly and having healthy eyes is just the beginning. The goal of our practice is to maximize your vision through deliberate, patient-centered care in a comfortable and caring atmosphere. In doing so, we strive to help you achieve your highest potential.
Our practice is focused on providing specialty services in neuro-optometry, as well as diagnosis and treatment of functional developmental vision deficits (over the lifespan). We do this through careful diagnosis, as well as therapeutic treatment using lenses, prisms, specific tints, partial patches, and vision therapy to develop the visual skills required to function comfortably and efficiently.
SERVICES WE PROVIDE
- Learning-Related Vision Problems
- Vision and Visual Integration Deficits Arising From Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Differences
- Vision Deficits Related to Reading and Attention Difficulties, Such as Eye Teaming and Tracking, as Well as Visual Perception and Visual Memory Deficits using Vision Therapy and Lindamood Bell based instruction.
- Eye Teaming and Focusing Problems Causing Eyestrain, Double Vision, or Headache.
- Eyeturns and Lazy Eye (AKA Amblyopia)
- Sports Vision Testing and Training
- Neuro-Optometry
- Visual Field Loss
- Visual Spatial Neglect
- Double Vision
- Dizziness
- Balance and Orientation Problems
- Reading Difficulties
- Visual Memory Loss
Workups for Non-Vestibular Imbalance, Dizziness, and Disorientation
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We now have Lindamood Bell Program trained staff. This makes it possible to enhance our Vision Therapy Program by integrating Lindamood Bell Program-based instruction and materials for those patients who can benefit from it. By combining the two programs, we are able to treat the vision based learning deficits and, for those children who will benefit, apply the Lindamood Bell Program to help them generalize their new found vision skills to the reading process.
In the November 11 edition of the American Optometric Association bulletin, “AOA First Look”, Dr. Suter was recognized for writing a blog titled, “Hemianopia or Spatial Neglect—Can You Tell the Difference?” This blog is a contribution to the launch of a new blog series by the Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA), in conjunction with the Primary Care Optometry News.
Optometrist Discusses The Visual Causes Of Dizziness
Penelope Suter, OD, an optometrist in private practice in Bakersfield, wrote in a piece for the optometry blog on 9/4 that dizziness often has vestibular causes, but people sometimes use the word “dizzy” to describe symptoms with visual causes. For example, “visual midline shift syndrome after brain injury can give patients a feeling of dizziness because their perception of what is straight ahead in space is out of sync with reality.” Dr. Suter also discusses how subtle vertical phorias, or misalignments, can cause people to feel dizzy.
Patient and provider health and safety are a priority of the Comprehensive Vision Therapy Center during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal, state, and local governments, including public health agencies, continue to recommend social distancing and other precautions associated with preventing the spread of COVID-19. We are complying with CDC and California Optometric Society recommendations. We have implemented strict safety protocols accordingly for both the safety of our patients and staff. Patients are required to wear masks without netting or vents. We will not knowingly provide services to patients with COVID-19, or highly at-risk individuals.
Dr. Penelope S. Suter and staff are proud to serve patients in Bakersfield as well as surrounding communities such as Arvin, Delano, Frazier Park, Lake Isabella, Lamont, Lancaster, Palmdale, Porterville, Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi, Visalia, Wasco, and many more. Our services include, but are not limited to, diagnosis and treatment of vision issues that result in reading, spelling, and other learning deficits, as well as vision dysfunction that results from autism spectrum disorder, brain injury, or other neurological compromise. Treatment may include lenses, prisms, colored filters, vision therapy, and post brain injury vision rehabilitation.