Young Children With Eyeturns More Likely To Be Excluded From Birthday Parties

...Six year old children with strabismus (visible squint) are much less likely to be invited to birthday parties than other children of the same age, ....children with a squint should undergo corrective surgery before they are six years old - the age when discrimination seems to start. ...

Comments: Remember that depending upon what type of strabismus is present, glasses, bifocal lenses, prisms and optometric vision therapy should usually be tried before surgery. Strabismus surgery outcomes are not always what you would like (search strabismus surgery outcomes above left for additional info) DM

Children Report Better Vision-Related Quality Of Life With Contact Lenses Vs. Glasses

...Contact lenses improve vision-related quality of life in children compared with glasses, especially in the areas of appearance and athletics,...

Comments: Don't forget....every contact lens patient needs a current pair of glasses as well as contacts....DM

ADHD Could Be Misdiagnosed In Nearly 1 Million US Kids

Recently published studies ...suggest there could be something wrong with the way ADHD is diagnosed in young children ... one found that nearly 1 million kids are potentially misdiagnosed just because they are the youngest in their kindergarten year, ... while the other study confirmed that whether children were born just before or just after the kindergarten cutoff date significantly affected their chances of being diagnosed with ADHD....

Comments: Neither of these studies look at children diagnosed as having ADHD when they really have a binocular vision dysfunction! Dm

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Plus Medication Better Than Medication Alone For ADHD Adult Patients

...An adult with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who takes targeted medication combined with 1-on-1 sessions of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) is likely to experience significantly greater improvement of symptoms compared to an ADHD adult patient who only has the medication....

Genetic susceptibility to advanced retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)

...Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vascular vitreoretinopathy that affects infants
with short gestational age and low birth-weight. The condition is a multifactorial disease....that can lead to vitreoretinal traction, retinal detachment and other complications resulting in blindness. ... ROP remains a major cause of childhood
blindness in developed countries....

Comments: Read full PDF of paper by clicking on the title above. DM

APHA's Get Ready Video teaches the importance of emergency preparedness

Kids' concussions need follow-up after ER visit

...More than 100,000 U.S. children visit the emergency room for a concussion each year, with many discharged without instructions to get needed follow-up care...

Researchers urge reclassification of traumatic brain injury as chronic disease

....traumatic brain injury should be defined and managed as a chronic disease to ensure that patients receive appropriate care and that future research is directed at discovering therapies that may interrupt the disease processes months or even years after the initiating injury,....

Dr. Jason Clopton on TV

My colleague and friend pediatric Optometrist, Dr. Jason Clopton of the Center of Vision Development joins host Cindy Putman on House Call. Watch this TV show to find out about eye health, correction of vision problems and spotting signs and symptoms of sight problems in children. DM

The Artists of Casa Italia 2010: ConNeXxions Art Exhibition

The Artists of Casa Italia
Present
ConNeXxions:Inspired by Forebearers

Gala Opening & Artists’ Reception Chandelier Room
Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia
1621 N. 39th Ave. Stone Park, IL 60165
708-345-5933

The Artists

Walter S. Arnold, John Baggio, Horacio Baggio, Laura Baggio, Wayne Bertola, John Bucci, Mary Jo Bruno, Christina Caruso, Vincent Coppola, Giovanna Cecchi-Hopkins, Franco Demonte, Dominick M. Maino, Louis F. Mustari, Tom Palazzolo, Thomas Amato, Lenice Colangelo, Gloria Rigoni

This is the 21st art exhibit sponsored by the Italian Cultural Center in its forty year history. Fine art was at the core of the Cultural Center mission in the early days under Father August Feccia. In later years John Bucci, Leonora LiPuma and I continued the tradition under the sponsorship of Unico's Festa Italiana on the Lakefront. Other venues for our shows include the Daley Civic Center, the Cook County Treasurer's Office, the Addison Village Hall, and the Park Ridge Library. The thousand artists whose works have appeared in our exhibits include famous professionals like Virginio Ferrari, Mario Spampinato, Domenico Mazzone, John Bucci, Christopher Buocio, Dominic Vignola, Rita Dianni-Kaleel, Julia Oemke, Vito Davi, Robert Buono, Luigi Sampiere and Tom Palazzolo. Many other young artists found Cultural Center art exhibits to be their first opportunity to share their talent and passion for art with a wider audience. The tradition of the Italian Cultural Center Group Art Show represents a core value of Italian culture---respect for and celebration of fine art. Italian society is based on the idea that every person has the capacity to appreciate and create artistic beauty. All of us at Casa Italia are proud to play a part in continuing this tradition.

In this, my last effort as director of the Cultural Center Art Show, I have asked the artists to reflect on THEIR Italian American experience. This show, "ConNeXxions---Inspired by Forebearers", contains many striking images that evoke the courage, hard work, and integrity of our immigrant ancestors in a medium that goes beyond words.
Dominic Candeloro, PhD

Acknowledgements: The following volunteers contributed their time and talents that made ConNeXxions possible: Jeaneatte Risatti Viehman for providing the refreshments for the opening night reception, Dominick Maino, design/production of the program, Horacio and John Baggio for constructing the display units, Robert Proce for design of the display units, Josette Mentesana Weber, Chair of Cultural, Programs at Casa Italia, Darrell Marchioretto and Nancy Cometa, Casa Italia Staff, and Franco DeMont & Vincenzo Devito of the mounting committee.

Comments: This is an outstanding group of artists... many of national and international renown, who come together to celebrate all things Italian-American. I am thrilled that I was able to participate in this exhibition alongside men and women of great talent. They are inspiring to all. Their art is incredible. Their dedication to making our world beautiful, more interesting, and meaningful astounding. Enjoy! DM

A Dog's Life

...Do you treat your dog like a member of the family? A recent study found that people who think of animals as children tend to have a city background...

Comments: I know, I know...this blog usually gives info about children's vision, but if you own a pet you could not let this one slide. I have an 80 pound pitbull and a long hair cat. The pitbull thinks he's a lap dog and the cat thinks she owns the whole house. I do not think of them as my children....but rather as an experiment on the peculiarities of life. The little bitty cat will "box" my huge dog's face....my dog will look down most puzzled...probably thinking "I could take one bite and have you as an appetizer. Nah, that would probably upset my humans and they wouldn't feed me my entree! But wait...maybe I will have her as a dessert?" BTW this study was done with "humans" and pets in Indiana. No comment. DM

Can Your Child See, Really See?

From EducationNews.org ..."Many children have 20/20 eyesight, yet still have vision problems. They can read an eye chart just fine. But they can’t read a book,” says Dr. Lynn F. Hellerstein, optometrist and author of See It. Say It. Do It! “More than 15 visual skills are required for learning and reading. Vision is the dominant learning sense and greatly impacts a child’s ability to read, learn and succeed in school. One in four children has vision problems.”...

Back To School Eye Examinations

...According to the Better Vision Institute, one in four children who entered kindergarten in the United States last year are suffering from an undiagnosed vision disorder. ...

Autism Diagnosed with a Fifteen Minute Brain Scan (Video)

...A new technique ...uses a fifteen minute MRI scan to diagnose autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The scan is used to analyze the structure of grey matter in the brain, ... it can identify individuals already diagnosed with autism with 90% accuracy.....

Autistic kids process sound, vision differently than others

...Scientists have found solid evidence that kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) process sensory information such as sound, touch and vision differently than typically developing children....

iPad Apps for Autism and Asperger's Syndrome from a Mom

O. Ivar Lovaas, Pioneer in Developing Therapies for Autism, Dies at 83

...O. Ivar Lovaas, a psychologist who developed one of the most widely used therapies for children with autism, and in doing so helped change the treatment and the public perception of the condition, died on Aug. 2 in Lancaster, Calif. He was 83. ...

Sledding Injuries Common in Kids, Can Be Severe

...Between 1997 and 2007, almost 230,000 patients were treated in U.S. emergency departments for sledding injuries, for an average of 20,820 injuries each winter,....More than one-third of injuries involved the head, and children four years of age and younger were four times more likely than older children to sustain a head injury....

Strabismus In Childhood May Bring Discrimination From Other Children (News Video)

...Children begin to notice and possibly discriminate against children with strabismus starting at about age 6, according to research published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology....

Comments: Early diagnosis and treatment of strabimus is critical. Remember that there are options to strabismus surgery however. Type in "strabismus surgery outcomes" in the search box above and to the left and you will see why surgery may not always be the best nor the first solution that parents should investigate. DM

UV Rays May Cause Significant Damage To Unprotected Eyes.

HealthDay (8/20, Thompson) reported that "ultraviolet, or UV, rays can cause significant damage to unprotected eyes, resulting in a number of illnesses and disorders that can rob people of their sight." Over the long term, UV exposure can play a role in the development of cataracts, macular degeneration, and even cancer. "The eye tends to develop melanoma, while the eyelids usually are inflicted with basal cell carcinoma." Eye experts recommend that people wear sunglasses "rated to absorb 99 to 100 percent of both UV-A and UV-B radiation." And, because the majority of sun exposure happens early in life, parents should make sure their children wear sunglasses, too.

Comments: UV radiation can put your eyes at risk....even your children's eyes. All should have sunglasses....yes....even infants if they spend a good amount of time outdoors. DM

UV Exposure To Eye May Cause A Pterygium. In a related story, HealthDay (8/20, Thompson) reported that cumulative UV exposure to the eye may cause "a pterygium, a non-cancerous growth that forms on the clear, thin tissue that covers the white part of the eye. ... If left alone, they eventually can grow large enough to cover the cornea and impair sight." The growths can be surgically removed.