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Neurobiologist

Neurobiologist

Susan R. Barry, Ph.D., is a professor of neurobiology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Mount Holyoke College. She had been cross-eyed and stereoblind since early infancy but learned to see in three dimensions at age forty-eight by retraining her visual system with optometric vision therapy. Her story was first described by Oliver Sacks in his New Yorker article, Stereo Sue, and then greatly expanded by Sue in her book, Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey Into Seeing in Three Dimensions. Sue's book challenges the conventional wisdom that the brain is permanently wired for basic perceptual skills during a "critical period" in early childhood and offers instead a revelatory account of the brain's capacity for change.


Susan Barry: It’s a good idea to see a developmental optometrist and determine whether or not binocular vision issues are impacting your child’s ability to read.