Normanie Ricks, MS, OTR/L: OT in Vision Therapy
In this post we will be learning about an occupational therapy practitioner in vision therapy. Normanie McKenzie Ricks, MS, OTR/L is an Occupational Therapist who has a passion for helping individuals with neurological and vision deficits, particularly those with learning-related vision problems. She is a graduate of The University of Alabama at Birmingham and UCLA. As a proud veteran and Officer in the United States Navy, she provided Occupational Therapy Intervention to service members and their families and addressed neurological issues so that they could return to full duty and fulfilled lives. She is a member of the Lions Club which serves and advocates for the blind and visually impaired through its local and global initiatives She also travels internationally and provides instruction for educators at their schools for the blind and developmentally disabled. Normanie's personal passion for the field hits really close to home. As a third-grader her very own daughter began to have difficulty with reading comprehension, reporting daily headaches, and struggling with standardized assessments. After vision therapy, she now reads above grade level and scored at the ninth-grade level on her writing assessments as a fifth-grader. She continues to excel in her academic endeavors.
Q & A with Normanie:
Please tell us a little about yourself and a few favorite occupations.
I am an occupational therapist who enjoys all aspects of outpatient occupational therapy. I enjoy orthopedic and neurological rehab.
What motivated you to contribute to this podcast series?
I have a passion for vision as it pertains to the "whole person" approach to OT.
Please describe the Uncommon OT work that you do and the setting in which you work, the population you serve and the needs that you address.
I work with individuals of all ages needing therapy due to stroke, concussion, brain injury, cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, learning disabilities, visual processing disorders, and binocular vision issues.
What inspired you or drew you to this type of OT work?
At the Navy Medical Center in San Diego, I began providing occupational therapy intervention to service members who had sustained traumatic brain injuries and concussions. An optometrist trained me and my staff on vision therapy because we noticed that their greatest struggle was visual disturbances. After I was discharged from the Navy, I began working as a school-based OT and noticed that a lot of my children who were being referred for dysgraphia had severe visual perceptual issues. As a third-grader, my own daughter began to have difficulty with her vision. She was reporting daily headaches and struggling with standardized assessments. After a diagnosis of convergence insufficiency and accommodative disorder, she began getting vision therapy services. After, vision therapy she now reads above grade level and scored at the ninth-grade level on her writing assessments as a fifth-grader. She continues to excel in her academic endeavors.
How did you get there? Can you describe your path?
I was first introduced to low vision rehab while attending The University of Alabama at Birmingham's Occupational Therapy program. The pioneer in Low Vision Rehabilitation and protocols was my professor. I was then mentored by optometrists and neurologists while working as a team member for the Wounded Warrior program while serving in the Navy. At that point, I met Dr. Mitchell Scheiman, who was conducting a research study on our service members who had sustained traumatic brain injuries. He is a pioneer in the field of vision rehabilitation as well. I took several of his vision therapy certification courses. His wife is an Occupational Therapist and they have written several books on the topic.
Please describe a typical day or OT session in your uncommon setting? What OT skills do you utilize?
We work on: Increasing safety during ambulation and transfers Improving the performance of ADLs Improving reading and comprehension Increasing functional independence Improving depth perception Eliminating double vision Improving peripheral awareness Expanding visual fields Functional compensation strategies Visual accommodations Visual field scanning Binocular vision exercises
Can you talk about some recent highs (successes) and lows (challenges) of your current role?
My main challenge is informing the public of vision therapy services and advocating for vision therapy for my patients. Most medical professionals don't refer patients because they do not know that the service exists. But, my recent highs are being able to get on podcasts and speak at conferences about what I do and how vision therapy has improved the lives of so many.
How do you continue to learn in order to stay on top of things within your role?
Dr. Robert Constantine is an occupational therapist who offers several online trainings for other therapists interested in learning more about incorporating vision therapy into their practice. I love his courses. They help me to stay current.
Can you share a little bit about salary and compensation in this setting? How do OT or the services you provide get funded?
I am reimbursed by insurance for the services that I provide.
Any career advice for our followers and listeners on how to get started on this path?
There are a lot of great Universities out there that have programs in vision therapy. I highly recommend Salus University and the University of Cincinnati has a great program as well.
What’s a common myth or misconception about your job/role you’d like to call out or demystify?
OTs can't perform vision therapy. This is not true! There are so many assessments out there that we can utilize to test visual perception and visual-motor integration. Some of these tests were produced in the 60s. That's how long OTs have been addressing vision.
How do we find you, follow you, be in touch with you, and promote your unique work?
Facebook: Achieve Vision Center
Instagram: @AchieveVisionCenter
Please list any resources you would like me to include with your Show Notes (courses, articles, assessments, tools, etc.)
Amazon link for book: https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Therapy-Manual-Parent-Teachers/dp/1098376544/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1W4R0BIZBR9PG&keywords=normanie+mckenzie&qid=1647287509&sprefix=normanie+mckenzie%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-1
Another way to buy the book: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/visiontherapymanual
Dr. Mitchell Scheiman, OD, PhD is a nationally known optometric educator, lecturer, author, and private practitioner. He is the author of “Understanding and Managing Visual Deficits: A Guide for Occupational Therapists”, and Low Vision Rehabilitation: A Guide for Occupational Therapists” published by Slack Incorporated. Dr. Scheiman has a long and close relationship with occupational therapists. He works closely with occupational and physical therapists in his practice co-managing patients and has lectured therapists on numerous occasions. He has specialized in vision therapy for the past 45 years. Dr. Scheiman is currently Dean of Research at Salus University. He has written three books for optometrists covering the topics of binocular vision and vision therapy, pediatric optometry, and learning-related vision problems and he has published over 225 articles in the professional literature. He is a Diplomate in Binocular Vision and Perception and a Fellow in the College of Optometrists in Vision Development
Penny Stack, OTD, OTR/L, CLT is the founder of Dyslexia Center of Tulsa and host of the Educate to Advocate podcast. She is the parent of a child with dyslexia who also has demonstrated improved reading capabilities thanks to the Dyslexia Center of Tulsa. In the quest to research the best possible services for her own child, she brought the Dyslexia Center of Tulsa to the Tulsa area.
Sports Vision account on IG: @mrmentalmuscle A.K.A Nick Davenport. Nick is the owner of Mind-Body 1 where he works on cognitive conditioning and hand-eye coordination for athletes.
As always, I welcome any feedback & ideas from all of you or if you are interested in being a guest on future episodes, please do not hesitate to contact Patricia Motus at transitionsot@gmail.com or DM via Instagram @transitionsot
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