Background: People with a learning disability experience challenges accessing primary health care services, including eye care services. Methods: Eye care needs of people with a learning disability, and how well they are met by existing services in England, were explored. Barriers and enablers to accessing these services were investigated. This…

This article presents a critical review of the literature surrounding the potential impact of undiagnosed and untreated vision impairment on reading development in the early years of primary school. Despite pre-school screening programmes, it is still possible for children to enter school with undiagnosed, uncorrected vision impairments. This can…

This review aims to document the efficacy and validity of vision therapy for modifying and improving vision functioning. The paper describes the essential components of the visual system and disorders which can be physiologically and clinically identified. Vision therapy is defined as a clinical approach for correcting and ameliorating the effects…

In view of popular press coverage of controversial approaches to treating learning disabilities, the article briefly reviews evidence concerning the following: neurophysiological retraining (patterning, optometric visual training, cerebellar-vestibular remediation, and applied kinesiology); and orthomolecular medicine (concerning megavitamins,…

Aside from essential managerial information realized from faculty load studies, there exist two underlying fundamental principles: that equity is important (among individual faculty members, departments, and institutions); and there is a relationship between workload and the quality of education. (MLW)

The increasing emphasis on accountability and continuing competency in the health professions, particularly optometry, is examined. The focus of various competency programs and the role of continuing education as a means of maintaining competency are discussed. (Author/JMD)

High-impact trends in optometric practice are examined including looks at several different approaches to practice (narrow scope, broad scope, primary care, and specialty practice), alternatives and predictions, and specific curricular recommendations. (MSE)

Questions are raised about the effectiveness of the traditional lecture method in meeting the objectives of optometric education, and the use of problem-based learning as an alternative approach is examined. (MSE)

This article translates research from the fields of optometry, ophthalmology, neurology, and medicine on the efficacy of tinted lenses for students with reading disabilities into understandable information for lay people. The paper concludes that the treatment does not significantly improve reading, although some reports indicate improvement in a…

Studies from various institutions report faculty spend from 25 to 41 hours per week in teaching activities. The variability in total hourly work week reported tends to be a function of time spent in research endeavors rather than assigned teaching load. (MLW)

A review of the literature addressing the subject of faculty workload under three topics is presented: (1) defining faculty workload; (2) elements of faculty workload and their relative weighting; and (3) faculty load formulas. Five "load laws" to be observed in the design of a faculty workload system are detailed. (MLW)