Customer Reviews

Eye Power: An Updated Report on Vision Therapy

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Eye Power should be read by educators, parents particularly those whose children struggle in school, athletes, people who are cross-eyed, walleyed, or have a lazy eye, and individuals who have suffered from a stroke or other brain injury. How can one book appeal to so many different people? Because Eye Power is about vision and visual skills, and we need these skills to read, hit a baseball, focus our attention while also taking in the space around us, and move with accuracy. This book describes how optometric vision therapy can improve visual skills and, in so doing, vastly improve a person's life. The home vision therapy procedures described at the end of the book are fun to do and illustrate the book's general principles. Not only is Eye Power clearly written but the Resources section and Glossary are very helpful, the general layout is attractive and playful, and the illustrations are simple and clear.

If you want an easy to read, comprehensive book to learn how vision affects everything that we do and what can be done to treat vision problems, then this is the book to read. Eye Power outlines the vision skills necessary for learning, attention and sports performance, discusses impediments to these skills including brain injury, autism and developmental delays and gives concrete, proven methods of improving those skills in vision therapy. A wonderful resource for educators, parents and professionals alike, Eye Power is a great addition to your library.

Perhaps I was expecting too much, but I found this book very simplistic, and poorly written. I am a professional and have found in some of my patients many of the problems described in the book. I was hoping for a more in depth explanation than what was provided. This book is definitely written for non professionals, and presents vision therapy as an important treatment for a number of conditions. Yet, there is little to no substantiating evidence presented, and if one accepts everything at face value, they might assume possibly complex medical problems can be explained by poor vision alone.

The book is filled with anecdotal stories and vague references such as "research has shown", without providing enough details of such research from which to determine how effective their treatment actually was. At times the authors use terms that they do not define and are not listed in either the glossary or the index.

I was hoping that at a minimum, some of the exercises could be useful for some of my patients. However, the instructions are not clear and incomplete. For example, The Peripheral Expansion exercise refers to a chart in the book with the instructions to stare at the dot in the center of the chart while looking at surrounding letters. However, there is no dot in the center of the chart.

Another exercise, the Infinity Walk describes walking in a figure eight while "looking at a specific object in the room-a visual
target". However, there is no explanation of where that target should be (e.g. In front, to the side, eye level, ground level), nor what to do with the gaze when turning around.

It's too bad the book wasn't better written as there is a need for this information. Unfortunately, the style in which it is written makes it easy for critically thinking patients and professionals to dismiss the content.

As a young practicing optometrist, I understood the importance vision played in our everyday lives, yet little was written on this topic. Today, Eye Power clearly and simply explains how vision affects our ability to learn, our scholastic and athletic performances and occupational efficiency. I strongly recommend this book to individuals desiring a deeper understanding of how our vision works and methods on how to possibly improve visual skills.

Nick Despotidis, OD, FAAO

Eye Power is the result of a wonderful collaboration between Ann Hoopes and Dr. Stan Appelbaum. Blending information from a lay person's point of view, as well as easy-to-read technical information, makes this an enjoyable and informative guide to the benefits of vision therapy. This cutting edge report ranges in topics from ADHD to Autism, to Learning Disorders and Sports Vision. Inset boxes titled "The Doctor Says" makes it easy to flip to points of particular interest to readers. Ms. Hoopes and Dr. Appelbaum provide welcome information to parents and patients who want a fact-filled and understandable overview of vision therapy.

For your childrens' sake, read this book. You want to give your children every advantage in life: you teach them to do all the right things; you help them grow up, one step at a time; you take them to the doctor's office and get regular immunizations; you teach them to brush their teeth; you show them how to wash properly; you send them to school to be educated and help them with their homework. Why wouldn't you want them to have proper vision skills as well? Seriously! This is important, and all too often it is overlooked by mainstream physicians. Drugs are not the answer. Go "see" a trained vision therapist before your child takes drugs. This system works.

If you are looking for a book to provide you with basic information on vision and vision therapy with regard to eyes. This is the book for you. It keeps everything as simple as possible, but still provides all the information you need. Great book!!!

Power to the People is a song written by John Lennon in the 1970s, the same decade that witnessed the first edition of Eye Power, a cutting edge report on vision therapy from Ann Hoopes and Dr. Stanley Appelbaum. Two years ago the authors teamed up again for a second edition, and it's a must read particularly for their updated information on vision and ADHD, brain injury, and autism. You'll love two features of the book that make it easy yet informative reading. One is the cases that illustrate points in each chapter. The second is "The Doctor Says" boxes that have quotes from authoritative sources liberally sprinkled throughout the book. Great to see that this valuable resource is now available in Kindle version!

Leonard J. Press, O.D., FCOVD, FAAO
Fair Lawn, New Jersey
pressvision.com
201-794-7977

There are lots of self-help books out there for vision development, and finally this one works; and it goes beyond self help, but really it creates an understanding of the visual process underlying all that we in the 21st century have to engage in! Thanks for putting this together!

As a professional who had the perception that vision therapy is frustrating and often has dubious outcome,this book has obviously altered my perception. The information is simple but, both very rich and motivational.
It is quite helpful for the child,parents, educationists and the clinician.