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Overview

Developmental/behavioral optometry is a model or philosophy of care that sees vision as being much more than a set of healthy eyeballs. Rather, it sees vision as a multi-level brain process that includes how efficiently you take in and process visual information, how you coordinate it with other systems and, ultimately, how you use that information.

6-3-13 198While routine optometric exams are usually comprised of diagnostic tests to check eyesight and the physical health of the eyes, our role as developmental optometrists means this is just the beginning. Of equal concern, is whether our patients’ vision allows them to function optimally in work, school, athletically or socially. That is, whether poor tracking, eye teaming, focusing or spatial awareness is making it difficult for our patients to live their best lives.

IMG_3394With the goal of evaluating every patient within the developmental optometric model, we spend a significant amount of time with our patients to better understand their visual demands. A typical appointment includes a thorough eye health evaluation, an eyesight assessment to detect changes in refraction status (nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism) and visual system tests to measure spatial awareness, stereopsis, eye teaming, fixation, depth perception, visual focusing and peripheral vision. We also spend time going over any symptoms you may have, such as fatigue, eye strain, blurred vision, double vision, dizziness and headaches – all of which can be attributed to vision problems.

Chessie photoshoot 006Through this comprehensive assessment, we are able to determine a treatment plan that is best suited to your individual needs – whether it be corrective lenses, a personalized optometric vision therapy plan or both.

My husband and I were concerned about what we observed as a turning in of our son’s eye. We had taken him to see someone our pediatrician had recommended and the doctor said he found nothing unusual. Once we found Dr. Ruggiero, we immediately felt like we were in good hands. Our son is doing great and we recommend Dr. Ruggiero to everyone…including our pediatrician!

Parents of Noah

Florence, MA

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