Customer Reviews

Seeing Through New Eyes: Changing the Lives of Children with Autism, Asperger Syndrome and other Developmental Disabilities through Vision Therapy

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Seeing Through New Eyes is an introduction to the treatment of visual conditions that go beyond 20/20 eyesight. Developmental or behavioral vision care can have a significant impact on behavioral, social and learning problems associated with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities. Poor eye contact and other behaviors are often the result of difficulty with "ambient vision" that drives spatial awareness, visual organization and balance/coordination. Dr. Kaplan gives guidance on how to identify the visual deficits of nonverbal children, select performance lenses that will alter ambient vision and how to create individual vision management programs in order to assist each individual in achieving maximum success in life. This book is essential reading for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and professionals in the fields of autism, optometry, ophthalmology, psychology and education.

This is not just an autism (or spectrum) issue! I read the book. Bought copies and shared the book. My children are also being treated by Dr. Kaplan. Having tried "vision therapy" locally, I now know it isn't all the same. If you scoff at vision therapy or have had an unproductive experience, try Dr. Kaplan! Or find someone who had read his work and is following his approach. After 2 years of intensive reading and remedial reading work with my son who has no behavioral problems, no developmental disorders, is very good at sports, and has good social skills, I concluded he was too bright and working too hard to be reading two years below grade level. His eye doctor said he had no visual issues and had 20/20 vision. The reading specialist suggested reading is hard and to just keep working on it then recommended new exercises (which were good). Dr. Kaplan examined my son, put him in a pair of prism lenses, gave him a reading paragraph (above grade level) he had never seen before and asked him to read. My son read fluently and quickly- better than he's ever read- and most importantly he read without stress! Every teacher should read this book.

Dr. Melvin Kaplan is a leader in the field of vision therapy. This book is an excellent resource for parents and professionals to understand how and why vision therapy works. Dr. Stephen M. Edelson the Director of the Autism Research Institute has conducted over 30 years of research in the field of autism writes the forward to this book. As a retired pediatric registered nurse and mother of a son with autism I am so thankful we have such dedicated professionals helping our children reach their potential. Both these two men are so dedicated to helping our kids and I know first hand how much vision therapy from Dr. Kaplan helped my son. The results were amazing, my son was afraid to catch a ball or play sports of any kind, after vision therapy he played sports (floor hockey and basketball), he no longer walked on his toes or flapped his hands and no longer had difficulty maintaining his space when standing in the school lineup. He also won a spotlight dance contest with a girl in his class (prior to vision therapy he was not able to stand close to the other children without being agitated because he had a great deal of difficulty with his depth perception - this was corrected with vision therapy). This book is a must read for any parent of a child with autism or other developmental disabilities.
Marie Douglas

We are regret to spend so much money to see this eye doctor (Melvin Kaplan).
Before the visit, I thought it was worthy of trying because my child has some visual depth problems and his book seems to be encouraging. However, his service turned out to be terrible. We paid $900 for 90 min eye exam. but remember, the real time he spend on my child is less than 30 min. He spent quite a lot of time on his stories to explain how good he is. The worst part is, the new glasses is not working for my child at all. and when I called them, there is no way to contact melvin Kaplan directly. He will neither answer your phone nor call you back.

After I met with some other parents later on, they had negative experiences with this eye doctor too. I wish I should know this earlier so I won't waste money and time on him.

This is a great book on a treatment that most people are unaware of. My 2 1/2 year old son who has Autism had a habbit of looking at the t.v. with his head tilted to the right. He would also intertwine his hands and look through the holes while on the computer or watching t.v. I was told that this was just a normal Autistic quirk. But after seeing a specialist in the Chicagoland area, I found out that it doesn't have to be a quirk. Arm Flapping, toe walking and other sensory issues can be resolved by putting his sensory vision and hearing back into sync. I just received his prism lenses yesterday, what I've noticed so far is that they actually seem to calm his need for sensory overstimulation. Example: When he is on the computer he is usually like a gymnist, climbing on the chair, the desk ect the entire time. But with the glasses on, he sat still, very still and just watched his videos on the computer. Wow. I am actually going to order 4 more books today to give to his therapists as Christmas presents. There is no better gift than the gift of knowledge.

One of the most interesting book in the field of vision, behavior, posture and
much more.
Thousand thanks to Dr M.KAPLAN.

This book has brought us all so much hope for Billy, a close friend's 12 yr old that is severely autistic.
This book explains how the "stims" of the autistic are the clue's of how they're seeing; and how ambiant prism lenses with vision therapy can reprogram the faulty visiual neurological connections that create a fearful world they see.

Billy's only been to the evaluation and one Dr.'s appt and had immediate positive response, his face beaming with confidence and changes in toe-walking. I also recommended it for my 30 yr old nephew that has reading difficulty, as so much is explained for other problems with reading disabilities that are undiagnosed.

I think Dr Kaplan's work is groundbreaking information and am telling everyone about it.

This book really adds a new perspective on some of the behaviors that are typically associated with autism, such as toe walking and the rocking. The book addressed some out of the box ideas on how to evaluate a child with autism. If your area is like mine and does not have a specialist (Developmental Optometrist) then I think it would be beneficial to share some of Dr. Kaplan's ideas with your local optomtrist. The other thing that I liked about the book is that it described some activities that you could try with your child if you didn't have a doctor close by or one that is open to using yolked prism glasses.

I became aware of this book when I enrolled my 7-year-old son in private handwriting therapy. This book describes a variety of ambient vision issues that are unique to children on the autistic spectrum. The good news is that with proper diagnosis, these issues can be effectively treated and often resolved! The handwriting therapist gave my son a basic ambient vision test (which he failed), so he was then referred to a Behavioral/Developmental Optometrist (which is more specialized than a Family Optometrist). My son, with 20/20 focal vision, was diagnosed with convergence/divergence and tracking deficiencies. Vision therapy has made an amazing difference with his fine and gross-motor skills, handwriting, reading, and visual-motor skills which has affected his development in profound ways.

I read this book and then jumped on a plane to see Dr. Kaplan. My daughter has Autism and a lazy eye. He will charge you a CRAZY amount of money to see your child and then the parent is asked to do exercises two times a day.The exercises were way to difficult for my daughter and it was a big waste of time. Yes, the prism glasses help for a few months to straighten the eyes but then they don't work. Maybe a very high Functioning child would do better than mine.