DR. DAVID L. COOK, OPTOMETRIST

Who Is Dr. David Cook, FCOVD and Why Do Patients Travel So Far to See Him?
At Cook Vision Therapy Center, Inc., nearly half of our patients come from such local communities as Marietta, Powder Springs, Buckhead, North Atlanta, Roswell, Canton, Kennesaw, Acworth, and Smyrna. The other half travel from an hour or more away to reach us. Routinely, we see patients from Macon, McDonough, Griffin, Newnan, Peachtree City, Douglasville, Villa Rica, Dalton, Jasper, Cumming, Gainesville and Athens. It's not unusual to find patients in our office from Valdosta, Vidalia, Savannah and Americus as well as North Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina. Patients have even come from as far away as California, Oregon, and Maine, not to mention England and Germany.

There's a reason why patients travel such distances.

Dr. David Cook, FCOVD is one of the Nation's leading authorities on vision therapy. He's a former clinical instructor at the State University of New York's College of Optometry. In addition to his books, VISUAL FITNESS and WHEN YOUR CHILD STRUGGLES providing thousands with simple explanations about vision therapy, his professional articles have appeared in the top refereed journals of the optometric profession including the Journal of the American Optometric Association, the American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics, and the Journal of Vision Development. His "Eyesight, infinity and the human heart," which describes the way in which vision therapy changes lives, was voted "Best Non-Technical Article by the Association of Optometric Editors in 1998.

Dr. Cook is a sought-after speaker. He has lectured on the non-surgical treatment of crossed eyes to such national groups as the American Optometric Association, The American Academy of Optometry and the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. In addition he has addressed the International Reading Association, local educators, and the Georgia school occupational therapists. He has appeared on such local television programs as Good Day Atlanta and Noonday.

As optometry students complete their studies, they are required to pass comprehensive standardized tests offered by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry. Dr. Cook served that board for five years as co-chair of the committee which writes the questions on vision and learning.

Optometrists who wish to be board certified in vision therapy have to pass both written and oral examinations. These tests are administered by the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. In addition to passing these requirements himself, Dr. Cook served on the organization's International Examination and Certification Board for six years.

A second advanced testing process in vision therapy is offered by the optometric scientific body, the American Academy of Optometry, Passing this testing makes one a Diplomate in Binocular Vision and Perception. Dr. Cook is one of 39 such Diplomates in the world.

Part of being board certified in vision therapy requires an optometrist to attend 100 hours of post-graduate education. In addition to attending (and providing) such lectures, Dr. Cook is one of fewer than 1 percent of optometrists— the only one in Georgia— to have attended a year-long vision therapy residency and received formal postgraduate training in all areas of vision therapy. After graduating from the Pacific University College of Optometry, he completed the residency at the State University of New York in 1979.

Perhaps the most important ingredient to the success of our therapy programs, is that instead of providing routine eye care, Dr. Cook spends 100 percent of his time testing for, prescribing, monitoring, and fine-tuning vision therapy. Because of his expertise and commitment to excellence, it's no wonder how far patients travel to see us.