A surprising number of kids fail their eye exams and that could be a sign of serious problems. Dr. Bruce Rosenthal explains the warning signs and also suggest solutions for your children.

He also promotes Enhanced Vision’s Amigo as a great solution for your children’s low vision and how the device can help in the classroom.

Please click this link to view the clip:  http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=91151@wcbs.dayport.com&cid=4

Hard labour, as a lifestyle choice, has more to recommend it than I could have guessed. From those first few hours of holding Sophia, my firstborn, curled on my forearm learning to breastfeed, to the most recent round of pre-breakfast Ride a Cockhorse, bouncing two “fine ladies” on my tired knees, I have been a fan.

But I always knew that parenting would present different challenges for me, compared with more mainstream mothers because I have been blind since 1997.

The practicalities of bringing up children without eyesight are not, for the most part, nearly as hard as you might think. Changing nappies isn’t especially difficult if you’re used to doing everything by touch. There’s no mystery about it. I don’t explore faecal matter with my fingers, neither do I leave my baby half-cleaned. I simply use a combination of touch and smell to determine how cleaning is progressing, and if it gets out of hand and I begin to lose the will to live, well, 10 minutes suffices for a bath and change of clothes: foolproof.

Feeding is also achievable, if slightly more exciting. In the early days of weaning, I would collect a spoonful of food with my right hand while lightly resting my left hand on her right shoulder. In this way I could monitor the position of her head and use my thumb to assess the in (and especially out) flow. I didn’t aim the spoon directly in but used my fingertips to detect her mouth and its degree of openness.

Next would come the lightning transition from obliquely hovering spoonful to precisely administered tasty mouthful without jabbing the gums, touching the soft palate or twanging the lips or tongue.

Running my household is more complex, yet still not impossible. Recently, for instance, while sorting laundry, I flicked the corner of a duvet cover into Sophia’s abandoned water cup, tipping it on to the floor. I reached for the kitchen roll and knocked over a brand new bottle of multi-surface cleaner which, defying its “sealed” status, sloshed its contents liberally over the kitchen’s cork tiles.

Source for complete article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/08/blind-motherhood-disability

Five-year-old Iliana is visually impaired, but when she has trouble, her preschool classmate Lulu is there to help.

“I like to come with Iliana because I want to help her,” Lulu said. “I hold her hand because sometimes, sometimes she needs help.”

Iliana and Lulu’s simple camaraderie, perhaps uncommon at most schools, is normal at the Lighthouse International preschool in New York City, where several blind students are taught alongside sighted students. The school is part of Lighthouse International’s nonprofit mission to prevent blindness and to provide services for those already living with visual impairment.

“The kids that are visually impaired, they’re getting a regular preschool experience just like every other child should get,” Lighthouse International School principal Gregory Santamoor told “Good Morning America.”  Santamoor said the preschool runs with a “little extra adaptation” for the students with visual impairment.  The paper the kids use is raised so the students can actually feel their work. Every book the school has in print, they also have in braille. Whatever the sighted students learn, the visually impaired students learn right along with them.

We have the letters of the week. So, as the children are learning their print letter of the week, the child who is blind is learning their braille letter of the week,” teacher Regina D’Ambrosio explained.  The school has six integrated classrooms with kids ages 3 to 5. All of them follow a standard preschool curriculum.

Some parents, like Lulu’s father Rocky Kenworthy, were hesitant about enrolling their child in a school that makes a point to teach all children as similarly as possible.  “In the beginning, I was thinking, ‘Is she not going to get the attention she might get at another school even if it were a little bigger classroom because of the special needs that these children might need,” Kenworthy said.

But with 12 kids and three teachers in each class, the kids do not want for attention and Kenworthy said the school also teaches an early lesson in compassion.  “They learn that it’s good to be kind,” D’Ambrosio said. “It’s good to help people and help your friends, and then they get exposed to that at a very young age… It’s a life lesson learned.”

The visually impaired also benefit from the joint education, according to a small study published in the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness in 2002, which said it helps blind children be more social….

Source for complete article: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=8043258&page=2

Pebble’s small lightweight design makes it the perfect companion whether you’re travelling or at home. Easily read labels, prescriptions, price tags, menus, bus schedules and so much more with this ultra-portable video magnifier. Carry Pebble in your pocket, purse or strap it onto your belt, the only time you’ll know it’s there is when you need it.

Pebble Features:

• Adjustable magnification of 2x to 10x
• Lightweight 7.7 ounce design
• 3.5” high resolution LCD display
• Physical Dimensions:
  • 4.4”L x 3.1”W x 1.4”H (with handle closed)
  • 8.7”L x 3.1”W x 1.4”H (with handle fully extended)
• Adjustable brightness
• Easy-to-use tactile controls
• 6 viewing modes
• Freeze Image feature with capability to magnify
• Foldable and adjustable telescopic handle with comfort grip
• Easy writing capability
• Over 2 hours battery life (2 rechargeable batteries included)
• Carrying case included
• 2 year warranty

People with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) should eat oily fish at least twice a week to keep their eye disease at bay, say scientists.

Omega-3 fatty acids found in abundance in fish like mackerel and salmon appear to slow or even halt the progress of both early and late stage disease.

The researchers base their findings on almost 3,000 people taking part in a trial of vitamins and supplements.

The findings are published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

An estimated 500,000 people in the UK suffer from AMD, which destroys central vision.

Source for complete article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8088860.stm

“I think I’m the only blind principal in Los Angeles,” stated Connie Gibson after she developed diabetic retinopathy, which later led to sudden vision loss after complications from laser surgery. Now age 59, Gibson is currently legally blind, but has been able to move forward with her life. She continues working and living an active lifestyle despite her disability.

Vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy affects one in every 12 people with diabetes who are 40 or older. According to the National Eye Institute, it is one of the most common eye diseases among Americans age 40 and over that leads to some form of visual impairment like low vision, along with age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts….

Source for complete article: http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/05/05/6180/tips-and-solutions-for-diabetic-retinopathy-and-low-vision/

You could turn that daily walk into eye protection just by adding a few minutes of jogging each day.

Research shows that a little vigorous exercise can lower the risk of developing two kinds of sight stealers: macular degeneration and cataracts…

Source for complete article: http://www.realage.com/ct/shape-up-slim-down/workouts/tip/8624/cbr/TWTTR01