Fellowship in Vision Therapy : The Sankara Nethralaya Academy

Hospital Location	Sankara Nethralaya, 18.College Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai – 600 006
Course Director	Ms. Jameel Rizwana H Binocular Vision/ Vision Therapy clinic Sankara Nethralaya, 18; College Road, Chennai – 600 006 Phone: 044-28271616/ 42271518/42271511 Fax: 044-28254180 e-mail id: rizwana@snmail.org/orthoptics@snmail.org
Number of Positions	2
Duration of fellowship	6 months
Start date	January/ July
Course fee (in INR)	50,000
Completion Acknowledgement	Certificate with grades
Prerequisites	BS degree in optometry ( or) Diploma in Optometry/ Refraction with minimum 2 years of clinical experience Competitive Mark in the course previously done
Application Deadline	5th Nov / 5th May
Evaluation Criteria	Pre test and Post tests Case analysis skills Log Book maintenance Evaluation of submitted case reports

Mission

The Vision therapy fellowship program is a 6 month program designed to provide intensive clinical, teaching and research experience in behavioral and developmental vision care, binocular vision, and vision therapy protocols. The fellow will have the opportunity to work with the diverse population at the Binocular Vision/ Vision therapy clinic and at the Pediatric clinic. The fellow will also be trained in clinical teaching and research and have the opportunity to teach undergraduate students.

Goals and Fellows Responsibilities

1. The Fellowship program will be a six months program, and the minimum amount of time to be devoted to clinical work will be 6 days per week. This clinical work will consist primarily of clinical posting in the Binocular Vision / Vision Therapy clinic / with pediatric optometrists / ophthalmologists and independent patient care. At least 85 percent of the clinical time must be in the Vision therapy specialty, with the additional time determined in consultation with an advisor. Teaching and other requirements will fill the remainder of the week.

2. There will be one advisor to assist the fellow in activities related to the program. The advisor will act as an advocate for the fellow and will provide ongoing guidance to the fellow during the program.

3. The fellow will actively participate in Pediatric department weekly meetings, Pediatric grand rounds, Special Interest Group Discussions and Optometry grand rounds.

4. A paper of publishable quality has to be submitted prior to and as a condition of the completion of the fellowship program. This can be a case report, original article, or a literature review, and will be written with the assistance of the Fellowship advisor. It is expected that this paper will be submitted to a scholarly journal for publication.

5. A journal club specific to the Vision therapy program will be held every fortnight during the programme. The fellow will prepare and present lectures in the journal club.

6. The fellow will be involved in maintaining a logbook of the activities done during the programme period. The fellow will submit the filled logbook at the end of the third month and end of the sixth month to the advisor for comments.

7. The fellow will also submit one interesting case report to the advisor every week starting from the third month of the fellowship.

8. The teaching programme will include: Studying pertinent literature as advised by the advisor, attending didactic lectures and evaluation of the patients. Ongoing quiz and case discussion will be done in regular interval.

9. At the end of the programme the student would have observed 100 cases and independently handled at least 100 cases.

10. The fellow will spend approximately 2 days in a month (12 days overall) in school vision screening Programme. The Administrative staff of the Elite School of Optometry will provide assistance when needed.

List of the topics covered in the programme

I. Strabismus

II. Amblyopia

III. Eye movements

IV. Accommodation & Vergence interactions

V. Sensory and Motor evaluation

VI. Diagnosis of accommodative, Vergence and oculomotor anomalies

VII. Visual information processing and visual perceptual disorders

VIII. Vision therapy techniques

IX. Special clinical conditions (example : Nystagmus, Acquired brain injury, Learning disability, etc)

X. Vision screening for binocular vision anomalies

XI. Hands on training on Binocular vision assessment, developing protocols for management and administration of Vision therapy

XII. Case analysis

I. Course modules

II. Scheiman M, Wick B. Clinical Management of Binocular Vision – Heterophoric, Accommodative, and eye movement disorders, 2nd edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2002.

III. Press L J. Applied Concepts in Vision Therapy. St. Louis: Mosby, 1997.

IV. Clinical Practice guidelines of AOA on

	Care of the patient with Accommodative and Vergence dysfunction (CPG – 18)
	Care of the patient with amblyopia (CPG – 4)
	Care of the patient with strabismus (CPG – 12)
	Care of the patient with learning disability (CPG 20)
	Care of the patient with pediatric eye and vision examination (CPG 2)

Two Months: Orientation
	Posting with the optometrist in the Vision therapy clinic
	Attending Vision screening Camps
	Attending Didactic lectures
	Reading Assignments
	Attending Pediatric/ Vision therapy meet/ Special Interest Group Discussions
	Attending Optometry Grand rounds

One month:
	Posting with Pediatric Ophthalmologist
	Attending Vision screening Camps
	Attending Didactic lectures
	Reading Assignments
	Attending Pediatric/ Vision therapy meet/ Special Interest Group Discussions
	Attending Optometry Grand rounds

Fourth to sixth Month:
	Independent practice
	Attending Vision screening Camps
	Case discussion
	Case report writing
	Journal reading
	Teaching Undergraduate students
	Attending Pediatric/ Vision therapy meet/ Special Interest Group Discussions
	Attending Optometry Grand rounds
	Submitting of Publishable paper (case series/case report or literature search) to a journal through the advisors.

Evaluation
	The fellow will be assessed on a continuous basis through the submission of case reports, maintenance of Log book and the self discipline followed in the clinics and with the colleagues
	Regular Viva Voce/ surprise components will be conducted at any part of the fellowship
	The final assessment is based on a presentation made by the fellow to the Under-graduate students/ Optometrists, a written exam and Viva voce
	Certificate with grades will be issued upon satisfactory performance of the candidate

How to Apply for VT Fellowship Programme?

The application for the fellowship can be downloaded from the website. Please write to the Academic Officer stating your interest to join VT Fellowship at SN along with a copy of your filled application form, college transcript, and degree/diploma certificate. In the case of two year diploma holders, evidence for two years of clinical experience is expected for further processing of the application. In addition send 2 letters of recommendation. Selection committee is composed of the Academic Officer, VT fellowship Director, and Head of the Optometry Department. All candidates will be notified in writing whether they have been short listed for the interview within 10 days of the application deadline.

Download Course Brochure

Download Course Handout

Download Application

For more details, contact

Mr. Mahalingam A
Academic Officer – The SN Academy
No. 29/8, Jayalakshmi Estates – 1st Floor
Haddows Road, Nungambakkam
Chennai - 600 006, Tamil Nadu, India.
Ph No: 044 - 4308 4111 / 4308 4222 ( 9 am to 5 pm)
Mobile No: 097104 85295
Fax No: 044 - 2820 5819
e-mail id: info@thesnacademy.ac.in / snacademy@snmail.org
Websites: www.thesnacademy.ac.in / www.thesnacademy.edu.in