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Welcome!
BABO Members
The British Association of Behavioural Optometrists, founded in 1991, is a United Kingdom based organisation representing Behavioural Optometry. Its aims are to develop, disseminate, and promote training and awareness of the Behavioural approach to vision care, both to the profession of optometry and to the public and other professions at large.
BABO offers many continuing education opportunities throughout the year including their Optometric Vision Therapy course series made up of five separate courses from beginner level to advanced techniques. For more information about BABO and their educational opportunities, visit their website and watch this space as they begin to offer more through the I HEART VT platform.
Upcoming Seminars:
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Through the Looking Glass: Looking Differently at Visual Testing and Training
Presented by Gregory Kitchener, OD
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The British Association of Behavioural Optometrists presents:
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Through the Looking Glass: Looking Differently at Visual Testing and Training
Presented by Gregory Kitchener, OD
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Session 1: Process and Procedure
Session 2: What Do We See in Testing?
Session 3: What is Learning Like?
Session 4: Seeing the "Visual"
Session 5: The VT Ecosystem
25 February 2021
4 March 2021
11 March 2021
18 March 2021
25 March 2021
2:30 pm US ET/7:30 pm GMT
2:30 pm US ET/7:30 pm GMT
2:30 pm US ET/7:30 pm GMT
3:30 pm US ET/7:30 pm GMT
3:30 pm US ET/7:30 pm GMT
1: Process and Procedure
2: What Do We See in Testing?
3: What is Learning Like?
4: Seeing the "Visual"
5: The VT Ecosystem
25 February 2021
4 March 2021
11 March 2021
18 March 2021
25 March 2021
@ 7:30 pm GMT
@ 7:30 pm GMT
@ 7:30 pm GMT
@ 7:30 pm GMT
@ 7:30 pm GMT
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The concepts that direct the practice of Visual Training have changed little over the past 80 years. Certainly, there have been changes and additions in equipment, techniques, and focus, but the fundamentals remain rooted in the same procedures and understanding of the visual process. This series of seminars will look at how we organize those concepts to direct our visual testing and training in order to incorporate newer ideas, better identify the value of “classical” concepts, and possibly open new doors in our own understanding.
This seminar consists of five 90 minute sessions:
In Seminar 1 we will look at visual training from the perspective of Process and Procedures and how these both reflect and affect our understanding of the visual process.
Seminar 2 will discuss the development of our testing routines and how we can optimize our testing to better understand the visual process.
Seminar 3 is focused on Learning as a fundamental process of change and how we can exploit elements of learning for better outcomes.
Seminar 4 will explore our individual understanding of the pervasive nature of the visual process in human behaviour.
Seminar 5 will peer “through the looking glass,” past the figural appearance of individual procedures and uncover the ground structure which ties them all together.
Woven throughout the presentations will be descriptions, demonstrations, examples, and hopefully, your active participation.
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Details:
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Cost: £105
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Payment can be made by Credit Card, Debit Card, or PayPal Account
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Refunds will not be available once the seminar begins.
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Registration includes access to the live seminar sessions, certificate of attendance, and access to the session recordings for 90 days following the final session.
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7 BABO Gold points available for BABO members.
GOC CET points will not be provided.
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This seminar is appropriate for Optometrists and Vision Therapists.
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This seminar is presented in English.
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Open to participants around the world.
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Technical requirements for attending:
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Stable internet connection
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Zoom account
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Speaker Bio:
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Gregory Kitchener graduated from Pacific University College of Optometry following undergraduate work in engineering and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. His early interest in vision and learning developed through his interactions with A.M. Skeffington, Bruce Wolff, John Streff, Robert Kraskin, and educator Sr. Barbara Jinks. He served on the Board of OEPF for 18 years and is a Past-President of that organization. He maintains a private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio and cooperates with several groups to develop and promote interactive learning programs for optometrists.
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How we understand our world:
Current concepts of extra-retinal information and oculomotor control
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This presentation aims to summarize the most pertinent results from 3 decades of research on the oculomotor system. The majority of the research was undertaken at the biomedical research unit at University of South East Norway in collaboration with other academic and medical institutions.
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The various sessions will focus on several aspects of visual perception and aims to provide answers to the following mind-boggling questions:
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The structural and functional organization of the oculomotor system
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1. Extra-retinal information is claimed to be important for a broad variety of visual functions, but where in the oculomotor system do these receptors reside and what kind of eye movements will suffer the most if information from these receptors becomes ambiguous? What are the potential clinical implications of late development and/or developmental arrest of these receptors? Are they implemented in the aetiology of oculomotor anomalies and will surgical manipulation of these receptors have any consequences for the post- operative angle of deviation and the patient’s perceptual experience? What is the potential gain by enhancing the functional capacity of proprioceptive receptors and is it possible to achieve this through various non-invasive methods of treatment?
2. According to previous models of the oculomotor system there is a division of labour between supra-nuclear neural components and sub-nuclear muscular components, where the latter components are claimed to only execute the neural commands initiated by the supra-nuclear components. Is this model consistent with clinical experience or is the sub-nuclear system more sophisticated than previously assumed. Do we have sufficient knowledge of the neural pathway responsible for providing the brain with proprioception and where does the actual signal terminate in the brain? neural structures neurones will receive this information.
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3. In recent years, it has been promoted that the plasticity of the brain is greater than previously assumed. How great is this plasticity and are there any limitations in relation to the numerical age of the patient? Are all supra-nuclear structures equally willing to undergo structural changes and alter their functional capacity?
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4. Can increased sensory input to the brain through proprioception stimulate the neural network? Is it possible to increase the proliferation of new synaptic connections and other vital components in the neural network through non-invasive methods? Can anomalies in proprioceptive feedback to the brain lead to decline in cognitive/executive functions.
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Details:
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Cost: $120 USD
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Payment can be made by Credit Card, Debit Card, or PayPal Account
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This seminar is appropriate for Optometrists, Vision Therapists, Optometry Students, and Allied Health Professionals
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This seminar is presented in English
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Speaker Bio:
Dr. Jan Richard Bruenech is a professor of ocular anatomy and the founding director of the Biomedical Research Unit at the faculty of Health and Social Sciences at the University of Southeast Norway.
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He holds a degree in biomedicine as well as a degree in Optometry and Visual Science. He also holds a PhD in ocular anatomy with focus on the neuroanatomical organization of the visual system and the brain's ability to coordinate eye movements. The two latter degrees were obtained at City University in London.
His organizational skills and competence has been obtained through a degree in research leadership at the faculty of medicine at Oslo University, as well as through various administrative positions at the University of Southeast Norway, including head of department, vice Dean and head of research.
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These formal positions along with his dedication and enthusiasm has enabled him to build an extensive academic network. He currently collaborates with medical and academic institutions in both Europe and the USA and has done considerable research on the human central nervous system with emphasis on visual functions. He has also done comparative studies using sophisticated biomedical research methodology, including injection of stem cells into the cerebral cortex of mammals.
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He has published a broad variety of scientific papers and textbook- chapters and has presented his research at scientific and medical conferences worldwide. He is a praised presenter and frequently invited as key speaker at these conferences.
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His research has received a lot of international attention and the Norwegian Research Council and other academic authorities have repeatedly described his work as innovative and novel. This has resulted in a number of grants and awards as well as substantial financial support over the years.
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He currently teaches a variety of biomedical topics to optometry students, nurses, physiotherapists as well as to medical students, at all academic levels. He also supervises Master and PhD students at the faculty in Norway as well as in other European countries.
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Prescribing, From the Inside Out
The power of lenses from the patient's point of view
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Have you ever had a patient complain about their new prescription? Have you ever seen small changes in prescription make huge differences to a patient? Have you grappled with wondering what the long-term implications are of what you prescribe or what factors other than acuity you should consider? Then join us on this course by Dr. Rob Lewis on I HEART VT.
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Speaker Bio:
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Dr. Lewis has been in private practice for 38 years and is co-owner and managing partner of Family Optometry in Chandler, Arizona, USA. He received his bachelor’s degree from Pacific University and his optometry degree from Pacific University College of Optometry. He is a Past-President of the Optometric Extension Program (OEP) and a Fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD). He is a member of the British Association of Behavioral Optometrists (BABO) and a charter member of the Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA).
Dr. Lewis is extensively active in optometric education. He is also an instructor, and co-creator of, the OEP Clinical Curriculum Courses as well as an instructor of the BABO OVT Strabismus and Amblyopia course. He is an adjunct professor for Pacific University College of Optometry and hosts optometry student externs in his practice for part of their fourth-year clinical learning requirements.
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Dr. Lewis teaches and lectures on numerous topics including prescribing, learning related vision problems, strabismus and amblyopia, neuro-optometric rehabilitation, myopia, and more.
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New to I Heart VT?
Follow the steps below to get started
Set up your account
If you have never created an I HEART VT account with:
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Once registered you will be able to pre-register to the BABO seminars listed above. If you'd like access to the complete VT Archive of hundreds of sessions, you can purchase a plan for that here.
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If you already have a paid I HEART VT subscription:
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Once you log in, visit BABO Seminars to access the sessions.
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If you joined us in April but have not logged in since then you will need to first reset your password:
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How to join the sessions
Once you have created your account, pre-registered, and log in, you can click the "BABO Sessions" button below to see the list of sessions. Click the registration link to register before a session begins.
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Join us for more great content!
Once you set up your account, you will be able to access the BABO seminar above as long as you are pre-registered. If you are interested in accessing any of the other wonderful content on the I HEART VT platform you will need to purchase a subscription. This will give you access to all of the content, live and recorded, on the platform! You can choose either a month to month 30 day subscription or a rolling, uninterrupted subscription that automatically renews each month.
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In June we have an exclusive interview with Dr. “Stereo Sue” Barry hosted by Dr. Paul Harris as well as content from speakers David Cook, Richard Bruenech, Curt Baxstrom, Rob Lewis and more!
Problems?
For any questions regarding your I HEART VT access please contact us at iheartvt@seevividly.com​
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