Frequently asked questions by referring optometrists

Dr. Neufeld understands that your chair time is very  valuable.  What has worked in several offices is that the referring  optometrist, in their case discussion, makes the strong recommendation  for additional testing for their condition(s).

An example for a child who is struggling with reading, even though they have 20/20 sight:

"Mrs. X, your daughter Mary is struggling with  learning to read.  She was told that she should get her eyes checked.   My initial testing suggests that she has adequate sight, yet she is  still struggling with learning to read.  There are additional tests that  can be administered to see if how Mary uses her eyes to take in  information is working efficiently even though she can see the text  clearly.  This testing is done at Calgary Vision Therapy, an office that  specializes in this area of vision and learning.  I am going to refer  Mary to Calgary Vision Therapy and they will contact you with an  appointment time and provide you with all the details.  This will be an  important step in looking into Mary's difficulty in her ability to  read."

An example for a child with convergence insufficiency:

"Mrs. X, your son Paul is having difficulty  keeping the coordination of his eyes when he looks at material within  arms reach.  This can cause Paul to see movement of print or doubling of  print or it may cause Paul to suppress information from one of his  eyes.  Glasses may be used to help manage one aspect of this difficulty  but it does not correct it.  Paul's condition is called convergence  insufficiency.  Vision Therapy has been shown to be the best treatment  option for convergence insufficiency so I will be referring Paul to  Calgary Vision Therapy who provides the required therapeutic treatment  services.  They will contact you and provide you with more details very  soon."

Need any more specific or general ideas?  Contact Dr. Neufeld at Calgary Vision Therapy @ 403-242-1800 to discuss your questions.

Do you really need to spend much time on details about vision therapy when VT is not your forte?

When relating this to ophthalmological care, when  we refer a client for ARMD injections, how much detail do we go into?   Do we need to tell the patient what drug they would be injecting, how  often the injections would occur, how long it will take before they see  results, whether the procedure is covered under AHC, or do we need to  tell them specific details of the actual procedure?  I would hazard a  guess that we do not answer many of those valid questions listed above.   Why?  Because each individual case is different and the ophthalmologist  will provide those answers to the patient once they have examined their  eye health.  I look at referring to Calgary Vision Therapy for vision  therapy evaluations/services in the same manner.  Save your chair time  in trying to answer such questions, make the strong referral to Calgary  Vision Therapy, and let Dr. Neufeld and his vision therapists discuss each individual case with each individual patient after the evaluation has been provided.