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oh, eye see
(Tulare Advance-Register)Optometrist treats vision problems with patient's entire body
By Mike Hazelwood
Staff writer
It was quite an hour for 7-year-old Emily Hill.
She jumped on a trampoline while reading a chalkboard. She was facedown on the ground, stretching her arms and legs upward in what seemed like a reverse game of "Twister." She played cards. She balanced herself on a seesaw while pushing flashing lights on a wall.
And she giggled.
Boy, did she giggle.
For Emily, this wasn't school recess or some after-school hangout.
This was a trip to her optometrist.
You see, last year - as a first-grader - Emily had a little bit of trouble reading. She was mixing up letters, her mom says.
So Emily started seeing Dr. Clifford Fukushima, who practices what he calls "behavioral optometry" - an out-of-the-box approach that includes all of the exercises Emily did.
And much more.
"It's a little strange, a little different, but it's worth a try," says Brenda Hill, noting that her daughter's reading skills have indeed improved since seeing Fukushima and his team.
"She loves it," Brenda Hill says. "They make it fun for her."
For Fukushima, it's not just about the eyes; it's about the patient's entire visual system, which is connected to both mind and body.
He works with patients on their gross motor skills, right down to basics such as walking and crawling.
Such skills relate to balance and focus, he says.
All the exercises Emily did during her hour of treatment are designed to get the body and mind in tune with the eyes.
It's pretty complicated, dealing with such weighty issues as right-brain function vs. left-brain function.
See Vision/8B
But it all boils down to relieving stress on the visual system.
"There's more to reading than just reading," Fukushima says.
To help, Fukushima and his team use a variety of tools. There's a set of goggles with sensors that detect eye movement.
The sensors can determine whether the wearer is skipping words, backtracking on sentences or fixating on certain words too long.
The goggles work on children and adults, he says.
Behavioral therapy has answers for problems ranging from reading below grade level to lazy eye, says Fukushima, who has been practicing these techniques for 26 years.
"We want to make sure the body and eyes link up," Fukushima says.
i The reporter can be reached at mhazelwo@visalia.gannett.com.
Vision therapy
Vision therapy can help those with the following conditions, according to Fukushima:
i Eye fatigue
i Headaches
i Poor school performance
i Poor handwriting
i Reading below grade level
i Trouble paying attention
i Computer induced fatigue
i Trouble following directions.
Information
For more information on vision therapy, contact Dr. Clifford Fukushima's office at 625-5465 or visit the Optometric Extension Program Foundation's Web site, www.oep.org.
(w/2 photos)
Photos by Johanna Coyne/Advance-Register
Above: Collin Fernandez, 11, wears prism glasses for an exercise with Shea Gowin, vision therapy manager at Dr. Clifford Fukushima's office in Visalia. Below: Jessica Lozano-Delgado, vision therapy aide, works with Emily Hill, 7.
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