Gemstone Educational Management
LLC was founded in 1998 by concerned doctors,
educators and scientists to bring a fundamental
part of visual system function into the schools.
Wilson Riles, Superintendent of Public Instruction
for the State of California from 1971-1983 agreed that each child should not
only be checked for the need for glasses,
but also for his or her ability to move the
eyes properly during reading.
Since then the Gemstone team, augmented by
computer and internet experts, has screened
over 8000 individuals from age 6 to 70, and
found that when they complain of reading problems
(or their teachers notice poor reading performance
in school) there is a good chance that they
suffer from visual skills deficits-the inability
to move the eyes efficiently while tracking
or viewing text with both eyes. In fact, there
is about a 50-50 chance that a child who reads
poorly has visual skill problems, even if
he or she is 20/20!
One of Gemstone's Founding Partners is David
Grisham, OD, MS, FAAO, Senior Lecturer and Clinical Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Optometry in Berkeley California.
Dr. Grisham has devoted his career to understanding
how binocular vision problems can affect learning,
and he routinely treats children and adults
with reading problems in his private practice
in San Rafael, California. Dr. Grisham is co-author
of the authoritative textbook Binocular Vision
Anomalies, published by Butterworth in the
4th edition in 2002.
Phillip Riles, served as the Associate Director with
Wilson Riles and Associate, Inc., beginning in 1988
and became the firms Director in 1999. A strong
family tradition steeped in education provides Mr.
Riles a strong background with which he has carved out
an impressive career and public service record. He
provides a wide array of services to University,
County and City district schools and educational
institutions, oversees executive searches conducted by
the firm, and supervises a variety of innovative
programs that provide aid to educators and to
students. Prior to 1988, Phillip served as a
Consultant to the San Francisco Mayor's Commission on
Juvenile Delinquency and as an and Administrative
Assistant to the Speaker of the Assembly in
Sacramento. Mr. Riles holds a Master's Degree from
Occidental College in Los Angeles and a B.A. Degree
from Stanford University. Mr. Riles has been on
numerous boards including the Boys and Girls Club of
Greater Sacramento, Sacramento Public Library
Foundation, and Capital City Radio and has been a
member of Phi Delta Kappa International, Sacramento
Chapter CA since 2002. Mr. Riles directs the
following projects and services for Wilson Riles and
Associates: School Board/Superintendent
Relationships, Executive Searches, Intercultural
Relations, School Improvement Strategies, Product
development through Corporate Services and the Wilson
C Riles Scholarship Fund.
The C.E.O. of Gemstone is
Dr.Maureen Powers,
PhD, FCOVD-R, a research vision scientist
with a long career in the field. She was Professor
of Psychology at Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tennessee, for 20 years, where
her research was supported by the National
Institutes of Health, the National Science
Foundation, and other entities. She founded
and directed the Vanderbilt Vision Research
Center, which continues to thrive. Dr. Powers
is the author or co-author on over 100 articles
and abstracts, and continues to publish actively.
The entire Gemstone staff is dedicated to
providing quality visual skills training with
exceptional customer support. Contact us today.
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