The Visuality of Reading

Dr. Len Press, my esteemed colleague, writes in his blog about Oliver Sach’s latest “A Neurologist Notebook” piece  in the New Yorker Magazine (June 28, 2010).  Per Dr. Press’ blog:

“Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and man of letters, is well-known to the vision community through his essays in The New Yorker Magazine.  Oliver’s depiction of “Stereo Sue” in June, 2006 brushed optometric vision therapy into the public consciousness, and set the tone for Sue Barry’s extraordinary book, “Fixing My Gaze”.

Four years onward, in his latest “A Neurologist’s Notebook” piece in The New Yorker (June 28, 2010), Oliver delves into what he dubs “the visuality of reading”.  While this has direct bearing on visual rehabilitation after stroke, it also has deep implications for the role of vision in the process of learning to read and reading to learn …

“As Dr. Sacks notes, reading begins with vision, though it certainly does not end there.  The visual word form area has intimate connections to the auditory and speech areas of the brain  in addition to areas involved with memories, emotions, intellectual, and executive functions.  The visual word form area, Sacks writes, “is a critical node in a complex cerebral network of reciprocal connections”…

“A good colleague of ours, Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, has formalized a program that aids visualization in her book, See It. Say It. Do It! The solutions found by Oliver’s patients are typically serendipitous.   With guidance from a developmental optometrist, they needn’t be.”

Thank you Dr. Press for your beautiful insights and for referencing See It. Say It. Do It!

To read the rest of Dr. Press’ Blog, click here.