AAVC Chairside Testing – Online Modules

AAVC Chairside Testing - ONLINE MODULES

Available from: 4/04/2025 (AEDT)

Where to publish: https://learn.acbo.org.au/event?eventid=4bfe3796-d9a7-4f82-917f-51b201e02ef4

Provider: ACBO

Contact: Sarah Edwards, [E] info@acbo.org.au, [P] 03 9614 3400

Activity Outline

Chairside Testing
Increasing your knowledge, skills and confidence in the examination and assessment processes of complex patients and bringing a behavioural perspective to the standard testing you provide.
This unit of the AAVC program aims to prepare you with the assessment and diagnostic skills to gather the necessary background data to make a clear diagnosis and treatment plan for children and adults who have congenital, developmental or acquired vision disorders. The course will cover history/interview methods from both a developmental and behavioural perspective; discuss the inter-relatedness of tests probes and the importance of arranging testing sequence and instructional sets. Discussion will cover the benefits of both free-space testing and in-instrument testing and a combination of the two. A scientific basis for appreciating the value of a comprehensive assessment and the impact of accommodative dysfunction on the total action system of the body is provided. We explore the diagnostic value of testing eye movements in free space or using standardised tests to confidently explain performance to parents when a child struggles.

Additional screening tests will be covered to explore other factors comprising visual perceptual skills and reflexes, including the expected performance, to understand how reduced performance influences every day challenges or adaptations.

The workshop will demonstrate many of the tests, with hands on exploration being an important part. Case examples are planned with findings, treatments and outcomes followed by practical exploration of Yoked Prism. After this, we will have group exploration and discussion of record keeping, case presentation and report writing.

Chairside Testing is comprised of 36 online seminars which can be watched at your convenience, with each followed by Modified Clinical Questions attracting CPD hours and culminating in a 3-day workshop which also attracts CPD hours.

Learning Objectives

• Discuss chairside testing and testing styles for developmental stages for different age groups
• Building rapport for challenging patients and help the child that can see clearly but not process well
• Know about movement development, acute vs. chronic issues, visual spatial development and the use of questionnaires
• Understand that children with medical and natal issues have high functional vision needs and recognise various syndromes and vision problems
• Recognise that infections, metabolic disturbances, and chronic diseases need to be considered when a child presents for a behavioural vision consultation with “learning problems”
• Explore ADHD or ASD with any vision problems that are diagnosed addressing academic performance and other aspects of your patient’s life
• Know the important initial entrance tests, habitual acuity, and the importance of recognizing observations during measurement
• Differentiate between reduced visual acuity indicating amblyopia or other pathologies
• Know the common phoria tests and AC/A ratio measurements is essential to communicate with colleagues so procedures for cover tests, as well as von Graefe and Howell cards
• Know the various methods to test the NPC and convergence and other issues in the vergence system
• Understand the psychophysics of eye movements and describe psychometric testing, including standardized tests like the Pierce Saccade Test, the King Devick, the DEM, and the Readalyzer.
• Know clinical tests including the original Pacific University College of Optometry and the Southern California Vision Performance Test and others
• Grade pursuits, saccades, and fixation to assess visual maturity and other diagnostic eye movement testing
• Use various tests, including the Worth 4 Dot and Keystone skills, Brock String, Vectograms, and Red Lens Test to evaluate suppression and stereopsis to help understand the quality of binocular vision
• Understand the differences between phoropter and trial frame methods, appropriate lighting for a more behavioural approach, the use of Blur Function to manage anisometropia and refractive amblyopia
• Discuss conventional vergence testing methods, including both smooth vergence and vergence facility, and the importance of reliable testing protocols
• Discuss classical accommodative testing methods both conventionally and from an integrative analysis approach
• Diagnose Duane-White syndromes, Schieman and Wick's classification of binocular anomalies and know theories on Divergence including Duane’s theory, Flax theory, and Cooper theory
• Know the advantages of spot vs. streak retinoscope and explore behavioural retinoscopy techniques
• Understand the inter-relationship between accommodation and convergence together with fixation disparity, to scientifically appreciate the behavioural model
• Describe the sequence and method to follow the OEP Analytical, control accommodation and provide consistent and reliable testing both distance and near
• Explore different Skeffington diagnoses related to accommodation’s influence on convergence and the treatment options and prognoses
• Discuss directives for lens prescribing, based on embeddedness and deterioration gathered from accommodation, convergence, and equilibrium findings, with an emphasis on therapeutic benefits
• Explore various models of vision and testing protocols that resemble the OEP diagnoses
• Explore spatial awareness as well as indicate engagement so that the quality of responses predicts processing potential and stress management
• Diagnose information about projection into space, stability of fixation, peripheral awareness, personal space limitations and more, using Cheiroscopic tracing
• Explore the importance of vertical discrepancies, including testing and lens application, incomitance associated with a vertical misalignment and Cyclophoria
• Understand Yoked Prism in optometry to influence visual and postural organization including convergence insufficiency, excess, developmentally challenged children, and issues in spatial perception
• Describe tests for vertical and horizontal yoked prisms
• Discuss the two optometric perceptual system classifications- - Visual integration subsets and SUNY Measure
• Understand chairside tests for visual processing screening, for visual analysis and the importance of understanding shape and form for recall, recognition, and mental manipulation
• Explores Visual-Motor Integration
• Screen for Visual-Auditory Integration
• Explore observations about movement during vision testing ,and understand of the sequence of developmental milestones and tests that assess body control
• Describe the effects of retained primitive reflexes such as the Moro, TLR, and Spinal Galant on their impact in learning in the classroom, vision therapy progress and visual system dependencies
• Explore the influence on retained ATNR and the STNR reflexes on vision and motor skills

Max CPD hours awarded: 33

Session Information