We have been taking L to vision therapy since early January. All the anti-vision therapy comments I received on the post about vision therapy had me mighty freaked out about wasting thousands of dollars on quackery. Mr. A and I decided to go ahead with the first block of 7 sessions to see if we thought they were at all effective.
This morning, L had her first vision therapy progress evaluation. The results were good. Very good. Even the doctor seemed surprised by the progress L has made in only one block of therapy (a block is 7 sessions with a vision therapist, followed by one evaluation by the doctor).
When she was first evaluated, L had a very difficult time scanning her eyes from side to side. Her eyes would involuntarily pause in the middle, then jerk over to the object she was supposed to be following. She had difficulties tracking an object as it moved in her field of vision. She also flunked the visual-motor portion of the exam.
This first block of sessions focused primarily on tracking and moving her eyes. The therapy involves practicing shifting her eyes from one object to another, scanning a field of shapes or letters to find a specific one, and wearing special red/green glasses and red/green plastic sheets over the pages to force her eyes and brain to learn to work together more effectively.
In the past few weeks, we have noticed L really beginning to use her eyes in a way she hadn’t before. She had always been disinterested in the pictures in books (probably because what she was seeing didn’t make sense), but now she is starting to notice them and see how they are related to the story. She was frustrated with me last week and she resorted to a big sigh and eye roll to show me. She couldn’t control her eyes like that before. She can follow moving objects using her eyes without budging her head. It may not sound like a lot, but it is a huge accomplishment.
We didn’t follow the doctor’s suggestions 100%: we cut back from two appointments a week to only one because they are so freaking expensive. One appointment a week brings the monthly cost to about $300, which is much more manageable than $600. We also began the process of having L evaluated by an occupational therapist. If she qualifies for therapy, we are hopeful our insurance will actually cover those sessions. Already, the therapist has mentioned that L has issues with her vestibulo-ocular reflex, which goes hand in hand with the vision issues we already knew about. There are also some other areas where L might benefit from additional OT work.
So far, I am really pleased with the progress L has made. I am so glad we started this work now, while her brain is so plastic. It seems like she is just soaking up the skills we are asking her to learn. I am glad we caught this problem early, before it caused her problems in school (which it most certainly would have, because she couldn’t track across a page). I have even made my peace with the cost of the therapy. It is better to pay it now, rather than spending tons of money on tutors later.
I’m so glad that you’ve found something that helps her! It must be great for you and for her to see that you’re making progress. I also agree that sooner rather than later is a very good thing for intervention like this.
I am so pleased that it has gone even better than anticipated! Thinking of you and wishing you the best
Good!! Glad things are going well.
That is great news! So glad it is working for L. Yay!
we are looking into this for Lulu.
I am so glad you went with your gut.It is amazing how quickly their little brains can be retrained at this age. My 5-year-old has been patching for about 9 months. Her eyes were crossing, she could hardly see anything out of her right eye and her left wasn’t much better. Her left eye has gotten much stronger just from glasses (she’s worn since she was 3) – and the right eye is nearly corrected. No more cross eyes:)
We go back next week for an evaluation and I think we may be done. Granted we patched as much or more than the doctor said to – and Amelia was great with it – but we are SO thrilled with the results!
Good luck with the insurance. If it’s helpful, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned. It took a year, but S finally had an OT evaluation at The Children’s Hospital here last month and was identified with sensory modulation dysfunction and sensory defensiveness-both of which I had figured out on my own before we finally got the referral approved. The recommendation was for weekly therapy for 6-12 months-insurance approved 6 visits, and we are on a wait list for appointment. I’m considering going self pay, but can’t afford TCH and am nervous about getting too far off track with an independent OT. Our ped admitted that she is personally skeptical of sensory issues, but trying to be open minded about S’s needs. ~lmc
Great news! Keep up the good work L!
I am glad to hear L is making such progress. Awesome.
So glad to hear the good news. My daughter (age 7) started vision therapy at about the same time. She won’t have her progress evaluation until after visit 10, though, which is next month. While I was waiting for her, another mom just raved about the progress her son had made.
I remember that post and was shocked to go back and see so many anti-vision therapy comments. My family had SUCH a good experience with my nephew’s vision therapy. I’m so glad it’s also working well for L.
Glad to hear that L is having such success with the vision therapy. Good for you for going with your gut on this.
Congrats! L should be proud of herself for her success during her first block! Vision therapy can be so rewarding!
I am a developmental optometrist and I am thrilled to read about the success your daughter is having with vision therapy. It’s so important that parents keep their an open mind, and work with the doctor to maximize the outcomes. It sounds like you are doing that. Good luck to you and your family!
Good for you. We didn’t figure out that this was a problem for my daughter until she was 14, and began struggling with algebra when she got to the part with negative exponents and other little bits that just ran together. She was never much of a reader, but we thought it was her personality, as she is very bright and clearly compensated well. Also, and unusually, she learned to read at 4 1/2. After intense (and expensive) therapy for 6 months, she is so much better, happier, etc etc etc. But I wish we could have learned about vision therapy when she was younger.
[...] for L. It is kind of hard to remember how significant the changes were, but I made a post here after she had done vision therapy for about 6 weeks. Here is a post when she graduated from [...]