"I Got It!” — The Moment That Changed How I Do Vision Therapy Forever

At First, Check The Message From Our Team in Honor of Dr. Bob Sanet

I remember just sitting there—waiting, watching—and thinking to myself, “How long is he going to keep going with this?”

We were at the Sanet Seminar Series, and Dr. Robert Sanet was in the middle of a vision therapy demo he called the stereo massage. The activity was simple on the surface: take a Quoit vectogram and slowly move it back and forth between the “A” and the “3” and try and get the patient to see stereo…depth perception.  And yet…the activity just kept going on.

Way longer than I felt comfortable with.

Sure, Bob (as everyone affectionately calls him) was gently coaching her:“Pay attention to your peripheral vision.”“Take that pointer and loop it around the rope.”

But he wasn’t rushing. Not even a little. He was just there—present, patient, calm.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, it happened.

The patient in front of the class suddenly jolted—almost jumped out of her chair.“I GOT IT!” she shouted. “I can see the depth!”. It was electric. The whole room felt it.

What made it even more incredible was that Bob had intentionally asked for a volunteer who had never been able to see depth with vectograms. And there she was—seeing it, feeling it—for the first time. One of many unforgettable lessons I walked away with from that seminar.

Before that moment, if one of my own patients struggled with an activity, I’d try for a bit... but honestly? I’d often move on pretty quickly.

Part of it was concern that they’d get frustrated. But if I’m really being honest, the bigger fear was me losing credibility. I worried they'd start to doubt me if it didn’t work right away.

But Bob showed us something profound that day:

Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do as a vision therapist is just sit with the patient—and wait.

Because the brain? It needs time. Neural pathways don’t always fire on the first try. And change doesn’t always look dramatic—until it does.

I flew down to San Diego five times that year to attend the full Sanet Seminar Series. I started as someone who knew I wanted to build a VT practice—but had no clue how to start, let alone confidently treat a patient start to finish.  This is just something you never get the chance to do in optometry school.

By the end of the seminar series, I didn’t just feel ready to start. I felt ready to take on the most complex, challenging patients walking through the door.

👉 Click here and start learning proven VT methods now!