AURORA, Ohio, Oct. 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Australasian College of Behavioural Optometry (ACBO), the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD), and the Optometric Extension Program Foundation (OEPF) announce the publication of a new journal, Optometry & Visual Performance (OVP). OVP is an international, peer reviewed journal that is dedicated to the functional, developmental, behavioral, and vision therapy aspects of optometry. It is designed to disseminate the science behind optometry's role in the remediation, enhancement and rehabilitation of visual performance. OVP is a free, internet based, open access publication which aims to increase the availability of clinically relevant information to better serve patients and doctors alike. OVP is published bi-monthly and is designed primarily as an online publication with all the extra features this allows. A print version will be available by subscription. OVP is supplemented by VP Today. This quarterly publication provides book reviews, viewpoint articles, news coverage of events in the field worldwide, as well as organizational news for each of the sponsoring organizations.
COVD's Optometry & Vision Development (OVD) and the Journal of Behavioral Optometry (JBO), jointly sponsored by OEPF and ACBO, will discontinue publication at the end of the 2012 publication year. Bimonthly publication of OVP will begin in 2013. A committee of representatives from each of the organizations will oversee the management of these new publications. OVP founding editors are Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A, Professor of Pediatrics/Binocular Vision at the Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute and former OVD editor and Marc Taub, OD, MS, FAAO, FCOVD, Assistant Professor/Chief of Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation Services at the Southern College of Optometry and former JBO editor.
The pre-publication print and online issue of OVP will highlight the 2011 award winners from the predecessor publications, JBO and OVD. The first place article for OVD was awarded to Janna Iyer, OD; Marc B. Taub, OD, MS; and WC Maples, OD, MS, for The Vision Print System: A New Tool in the Diagnosis of Ocular Motor Dysfunction. The first place article for JBO was awarded to Sue Barry, PhD, for The Work and Wisdom of Dr. Frederick Brock. OVP online will feature the second place article for JBO by John Shelley-Tremblay, PhD, The Effects of Magno-Parvocellular Integration Training on Fluency and Visual Evoked Potentials in Poor Readers. These honors will be awarded at the 42nd COVD Annual Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas.
The launch issue of OVP also includes an introduction by Dr. David A. Damari, COVD President, Dr. Greg Kitchener, OEPF President and Adrian Bell, ACBO Immediate-Past President. In coming together to create a world class journal emphasizing clinical topics, the leadership of each organization has demonstrated an exceptional level of cooperation necessary to achieve this common goal. As behavioral, developmental and functional vision care continued gaining wider acceptance due to NEI-funded clinical trials (Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial, Amblyopia Treatment Study) and social media exposure, it became clear that a strong platform for the science behind functional optometry was needed. The leaders agreed it was time for a unified forum for the science of optometric vision therapy and therapeutic vision care through lenses and prisms.
About ACBO
The Australasian College of Behavioural Optometrists (ACBO) is an Australian based international, non-profit optometric membership organization that provides Continuing Education, Fellowship and Vision Therapist accreditation programs to its members. ACBO provides a range of membership levels for Optometrists, Vision Therapists and Students, and is the Trustee of the Susan Larter Vision Trust which has been established to provide funded vision therapy for those in necessitous circumstances. For more information on ACBO, please visit the ACBO website at www.acbo.org.au
CONTACT: Veronica Kypros
ACBO Executive Officer
Phone; +61 3 9614 3400
Email: veronica@acbo.org.au
Website: www.acbo.org.au
About COVD
The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) is an international, non-profit optometric membership organization that provides education, evaluation, and board certification programs in behavioral and developmental vision care, optometric vision therapy, and visual rehabilitation. The organization is comprised of doctors of optometry, vision therapists, and other vision specialists. For more information on learning-related vision problems, optometric vision therapy, and COVD please visit www.covd.org or call 888.268.3770.
CONTACT: Pamela R. Happ, CAE
COVD Executive Director
Phone: 888.268.3770
Email: phapp@covd.org
Website: www.covd.org
About OEPF
The Optometric Extension Program Foundation (OEPF) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the discipline of optometry through the gathering and dissemination of information on vision and the visual process. Our mission is to advance human progress through research and education on vision, the visual process, and clinical care. The Foundation educates optometrists and their staff in the concepts of clinical vision care, encourages research into human vision and the visual process, and provides access to instruments, equipment, publications, and materials supportive of the discipline of optometry. Additionally OEPF educates the public and professions about the importance of visual health and hygiene, the prevention of visual and ocular problems, an understanding of visual development, visual rehabilitation, etc. For more information visit www.oepf.org or call 800.250.8070.
CONTACT: Robert Williams,
OEPF Executive Director
Phone: 800.250.8070.
Email: RWilliams@oep.org
Website: www.oepf.org
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| [Image] | OVP Launch Issue 10-2012 |