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BEHAVIORAL OPTOMETRY INSIGHTS

BEHAVIORAL OPTOMETRY INSIGHTS
Keeping Our Vision Practice Relevant in a Changing World

“Vision is the deriving of meaning and direction of action as triggered by light.”

— OEPF VT1 Course

In a world being reshaped by artificial intelligence, digital screens, and rapid environmental change, this foundational definition from our OEPF curriculum deserves renewed attention. Vision is not simply sight — it is a dynamic, meaning-making process. Understanding this distinction is what has always set behavioral optometry apart, and it may be exactly what makes our discipline most relevant in the decade ahead.
Why This Definition Still Matters

Skeffington’s Four Circles model — Centering, Identification, Antigravity, and Speech/Auditory — reminds us that vision emerges from the intersection of multiple body systems. It is not a passive receiver of light; it is an active organizer of experience.

This is precisely what AI cannot replicate alone. Algorithms can process visual data at extraordinary speeds, but deriving meaning and directing action in a living, embodied, gravity-bound organism is the province of human vision — and our job to support and develop.

The Skeffington Lens in 2026

Consider each of Skeffington’s circles against today’s clinical landscape:
The AI Opportunity for Behavioral ODs

AI tools are increasingly entering clinical optometry — from retinal imaging to refractive algorithms. For behavioral practitioners, this is an opportunity, not a threat. As AI handles routine screening, we are freed to do what we do best:

•    Assess the whole visual system, not just acuity
•    Identify how a patient derives meaning from their world
•    Guide vision therapy for learning, attention, and performance
•    Connect visual processing to posture, movement, and language

None of these require replacing AI. All of them require being profoundly human.

From Our Courses

Our upcoming Calendar and CC courses revisit these foundations with fresh eyes. Highlights include:

  • Vision development across the lifespan in a digital environment
  • Integrating AI screening tools into a behavioral workflow
  • VT protocols updated for post-pandemic patient profiles

Communicating behavioral optometry’s value to patients and referral sources

Quote from Dr. Ingersoll:
“AI is to VT as the 21point exam and accompanying graphical analysis is to the seasoned optometrist and the cookbook is to the master chef.”

A QUESTION FOR YOUR PRACTICE

When your patient struggles to read, focus, or connect with the world around them — are you asking only what they see, or are you asking what their vision means to them?

That question is at the heart of every Calendar course, every CC module, and every vision therapy session we guide our patients through.

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