Comments on: Behavioral optometric training

By: kellyharmsen

kellyharmsen — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 01:59:24 +0000

John,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I am recommending it to parents for children who have to patch for any reason really. As long as they keep the patch on then that is the goal. I have kids who have amblyopia, strabismus, cataracts and they all benefit from it. I’m sure that children with learning disabilities would benefit from it also. It is a fun DVD that the children enjoy while they are patching. I have been receiving e-mails from parents across the country telling me how much this is helping their children and the whole family. There is less fighting this way which makes for a better home life as a result.

Kelly Harmsen
Bjort & Company, Inc.
http://www.bjortandcompany.com
info@bjortandcompany.com

By: JohnL

JohnL — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 12:43:44 +0000

Kelly, thanks again for commenting on the LDBlog.com post.
I understand the potential value of patching for amblyopia. Are you recommending your product for that purpose or for helping children with reading problems to wear patches?

By: kellyharmsen

kellyharmsen — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 03:47:51 +0000

There is no data as of yet. However, patching can be a very difficult situation for the whole family. There is alot of resistance from the child in wearing an eye patch. I went through this with my son. That is where I came up with the idea to make a DVD that encourages the child to wear the eye patch. The puppets are all wearing eye patches and singing and dancing. Throughout the DVD they keep telling the child to put it on to be like them. It really works. The child also has fun while watching it. My son was a changed kid after seeing it. In turn there was less fighting about wearing it and less stress on the child and parents. I also put a segment on the DVD menu called “The Eye Patch Promise” where the child makes a promise with the puppet to keep their eye patch on until their parents tell them to take it off. I have had parents across the country e-mail me telling me how much this has helped them with patching their child. It is really nice to be able to help these kids out during a difficult situation.

Kelly Harmsen
Bjort & Company, Inc.
http://www.bjortandcompany.com
info@bjortandcompany.com

By: JohnL

JohnL — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 19:51:36 +0000

Kelly,

Thanks for the comment. As I understand the research, patching for amblyopia is one of the practices that has proven effective. However, benefits for reading and Learning Disabilities is another matter and the research does not support this latter application. It would be interesting to know whether your system for promoting the use of patches for treating amblyopia actually causes behavioral change among children. Has anyone collected systematic data to evaluate it?

By: kellyharmsen

kellyharmsen — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 13:54:25 +0000

I think that they should see my DVD called “The Eye Patch Kids” to encourage patching in children who have amblyopia. It helped my son out so much. My website is http://www.bjortandcompany.com if you are interested. Diagnosing vision problems is one thing, but, it’s another thing to get them to patch to help it.

Kelly H.
Bjort & Company, Inc.
http://www.bjortandcompany.com
info@bjortandcompany.com