Dr. Siwoff
The Siwoff Low Vision Center, which opened in March 2002 as the first and only private practice of its kind in New Jersey, is named for its director, Dr. Ronald Siwoff, O.D., F.A.A.O. An internationally known leader in the low-vision field, with over 25 years of helping people who have serious visual impairments, Dr. Siwoff opened the Siwoff Low Vision Center after serving for several years as Director of the Gerald E. Fonda Low Vision Center at St. Barnabas Medical Center. He was also Director of the Low Vision Center at United Hospital of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and a clinical assistant professor of opthamology at UMDNJ.
Cognitive Vision Rehabilitation
Our practice is different from other low vision practices in many ways, but one of the most unique services we offer is cognitive vision rehabilitation. Cognitive vision rehab is a way of treating vision holistically. The eye does not operate in a vacuum. The act of seeing is intricately connected with the overall health of the patient, the oculomotor muscle system, the neuro-receptors and visual perceptual processing in the brain.
All patients require some degree of instruction and practice to learn new visual skills to read, walk, view TV and computers, drive and just pay attention to their environment. At Siwoff Low Vision Center, we provide strategies, aids, lessons and homework, geared to increase functional vision for home and community activities of daily living and work.
Our doctor, Ronald Siwoff, O.D., F.A.A.O., assesses the medical, physical and visual health of each patient. He designs and creates custom low vision aids, spectacles, contact lenses, special tints for lenses, and intervention strategies to enhance vision.
Rachel Rose Siwoff, MA-LPC, a cognitive therapist with more than 30 years of experience in the field, assesses cognitive, physical and environmental obstacles to visual function and processing. She designs compensatory strategies to minimize the effect of obstacles to maximize visual function.