Vision Therapy

As most of you know, Garret has been wearing glasses since he turned 3.  He has been dx’d as being far sighted, having a astigmatism and amblyopia in his right eye.

I have been very diligent in getting him care (constant vision checkups, prescriptions changed, eye patches, etc) over the last 5 years and he now has 20/20 vision with his glasses on.

Over the past 2-3 years, I have been meeting with teachers and have been discussing G’s progress in school.  He is very smart, but I always felt like he was stumbling somewhere.  Losing his place when he reads, having trouble taking tests, etc.   At each meeting I have asked, do you think there is something wrong with his vision?  Each time I was told no; could be maturity, maybe ADD, etc.

This past year, G has been graced with an exceptional teacher, Ms. Piper!  One that I wish he could have the remainder of his time in elementary.  When I brought these things up and why I could not get him in Occupational Therapy through the school (504 plan)….she immediately jumped on it.  After he met with the OT, she actually suggested that he see a vision therapist (finally someone agreed with me) and that they would help him strengthen his eyes.

Over the month of May, Garret and I made 2 trips to Harrisburg to meet with a specialist.  They did a vision exam, to make sure his prescription was correct and the 2nd for him to go through a series of tests.

Last week, Tony and I went back to Harrisburg to meet with the doctor and discuss their findings.  The doctor is very impressed by G (has not met him yet) and said that G is very smart (and can’t wait to meet him!).  He scored very high on a lot of his tests and some not so much.  The ones that he did not score well on, they could tell from them that G has double vision and that he sees letters MUCH different from the rest of us and is probably getting terrible headaches and fatigue at school (just to name a few).  I can tell you this made me very sad to hear.   It is hard to hear that your child has been struggling and we did not know.  🙁

What they told us is that when Garret was little and his eye started to turn, basically his brain gave up on the right eye and solely started using only his left.   Which caused the eye to cross more and the poor vision.  What they need to do now is re-train his brain to start using the right again.  It will take about 6 months of intense therapy (twice a week) and the doctor is positive that Garret’s eyes (with glasses) will greatly improve.  Not only are we excited, but so is G.

The doctor has also taken the initiative to start getting G some added help at school.  Must sit in the front of the class, teacher needs to print out all learning material for him each day (vs. white board), he needs to sit in a room alone for testing and given extra time and when doing state testing his test should be on paper with someone reading it to him, tilt table……..

I will keep everybody posted of his progress, but for now below is some info.

Tony and I are very excited!!

http://www.familyeyecarepc.com/Content/visiontherapy/whatisvisiontherapy.aspx

http://www.familyeyecarepc.com/AboutUs/eye-doctor/index.aspx