How long can your child with visual issues work?

[summerreading]

We are in our 20th week now of vision therapy. DS asked to do one lesson a day, instead of doing half of each every day. We are just focusing on math and reading right now. I notice after about 15 minutes of math, when we are just about done anyway, he says he is tired of writing and starts covering one eye and his eyes are watering.

 

Does that seem normal for how long we have been doing VT now? Of course everyone is different. But wondering based on other's VT experience when they seem to develop a bit more endurance?

 

Thanks :)

[OneStepAtATime]

DS had serious endurance issues when required to look at a lot of math during VT, especially if there was a lot on the page.  Black and white was sometimes an issue, too, so adding a bit of color sometimes helped as long as it wasn't overwhelming.  I literally would take a crayon and add a splash of color upon occasion.

 

Using a large dry erase board with colored markers, helped, BTW.  I would set up the problems the night before then he would work on them with me.

[summerreading]

DS had serious endurance issues when required to look at a lot of math during VT, especially if there was a lot on the page.  Black and white was sometimes an issue, too, so adding a bit of color sometimes helped as long as it wasn't overwhelming.  I literally would take a crayon and add a splash of color upon occasion.

 

Using a large dry erase board with colored markers, helped, BTW.  I would set up the problems the night before then he would work on them with me.

 

Setting it up the night before is a great idea. We are using CLE and there is so much repetition. I'm sure I could skip some problems and have it not be an issue too.

 

[PeterPan]

Has he had an OT eval?  And did they check to see if he needs a scrip?  Dd didn't need a scrip before VT and did afterward.  Then, after a year or two, she said she didn't need them anymore and she literally didn't.  Now she wears bifocal contacts, which give her just enough boost to resolve the focusing issues (for which we just couldn't keep doing therapy forever), and that seems to be enough for her.

 

I'd talk with the optometrist and discuss progress, see how it's going compared to where he started, and what the trajectory might be.  Sure there could have been something missed (OT issues, whatever) or it could be he's going to take a long time.  Is he actually making progress?  I'd want to see quantifiable progress by that point.  *Some* kids with serious OT issues will not respond well to traditional VT and need much more hands-on, whole-body VT to progress.  If you're not seeing progress, there's soemthing up that needs to be addressed.  Not every VT doc is capable of handling the hardest cases.  Paper VT doesn't solve things for everybody.

[MerryAtHope]

Setting it up the night before is a great idea. We are using CLE and there is so much repetition. I'm sure I could skip some problems and have it not be an issue too.

 

 

We did Horizons which also had tons of repetition, and I did cut down on the number of problems (we did the problems that pertained to a new concept but only 1/3 to 1/2 of the problems that were reviewing previous concepts. Otherwise it was just too much). 

 

 

I'd talk with the optometrist and discuss progress, see how it's going compared to where he started, and what the trajectory might be.  Sure there could have been something missed (OT issues, whatever) or it could be he's going to take a long time.  Is he actually making progress?  I'd want to see quantifiable progress by that point.  *Some* kids with serious OT issues will not respond well to traditional VT and need much more hands-on, whole-body VT to progress.  If you're not seeing progress, there's soemthing up that needs to be addressed.  Not every VT doc is capable of handling the hardest cases.  Paper VT doesn't solve things for everybody.

 

Yes, I'd want to know the trajectory. My ds at 20 weeks was still working on integrating primitive reflexes (and our VT felt that was critical to a student's success with therapy--which lines up with what I've read about successes and failures with VT also). So at that point he was doing some vision exercises, but he had some really stubborn reflexes that didn't want to budge, and it took a long time to work through those. They didn't expect to see a lot of vision progress until after that point. (He did see some). Sure enough, once he was through all of the reflexes, he took off on the VT exercises and they seemed to go very fast. Suddenly he didn't want audio book help with science because he could read faster than they could speak, and so on.

 

Some of those VT exercises can be really exhausting too, and that affects a student's stamina.  

[summerreading]

We did Horizons which also had tons of repetition, and I did cut down on the number of problems (we did the problems that pertained to a new concept but only 1/3 to 1/2 of the problems that were reviewing previous concepts. Otherwise it was just too much). 

 

 

Yes, I'd want to know the trajectory. My ds at 20 weeks was still working on integrating primitive reflexes (and our VT felt that was critical to a student's success with therapy--which lines up with what I've read about successes and failures with VT also). So at that point he was doing some vision exercises, but he had some really stubborn reflexes that didn't want to budge, and it took a long time to work through those. They didn't expect to see a lot of vision progress until after that point. (He did see some). Sure enough, once he was through all of the reflexes, he took off on the VT exercises and they seemed to go very fast. Suddenly he didn't want audio book help with science because he could read faster than they could speak, and so on.

 

Some of those VT exercises can be really exhausting too, and that affects a student's stamina. 

 

 

He has been making progress. He has progress evals scheduled for every 13 weeks and the VT doc said Vt would take about 9 months. At his first eval he has shown improvement in depth perception and got up to age level on some other test. I think it was reading in a column. After this eval, he started working both eyes together, no more patching. She said this is when we would really see him improve with reading.

 

His tracking and tracing homework just began to be timed this week, so I guess she feels he is ready to start picking up the pace. I'm very happy with his doctor, so I'm not worried about how well the therapy is planned out. I guess I'm wondering if he is having a harder time than he should and how to make it go smoother.

 

I am getting the bigger picture with him. Close work is just going to be a challenge for some time. Last year, he had a subscription to AhaScience and AhaMath. I need something like this again where he can just watch and listen and absorb. He retains a lot this way.

[PeterPan]

Sounds like you're making progress, so patience is the name of the game!  :)

[geodob]

What could be helpful, is to make the font larger on his worksheets?

So that he can sit a bit further back from the worksheets.

Which would reduce the strain on his eyes.

[summerreading]

Has he had an OT eval?  And did they check to see if he needs a scrip?  Dd didn't need a scrip before VT and did afterward.  Then, after a year or two, she said she didn't need them anymore and she literally didn't.  Now she wears bifocal contacts, which give her just enough boost to resolve the focusing issues (for which we just couldn't keep doing therapy forever), and that seems to be enough for her.

No OT eval yet. I can't budget any more evals or therapy at the moment. We do finally have health insurance, well the kids not me and dh. So hopefully if we need it, it's something we could do through insurance.

 

 

Well today was much better with math. I cut out half the repetitive problems, did half of the rest orally and the rest on the white board. No complaints. It cut our time down so much I might try to sneak in cursive with him on those days later in the day. p/q confusion is still an issue and that should help with that. I haven't seen him flip a d upside down into a q in a while so maybe some progress is being made.

 

We also got a mini trampoline this week. The therapist has one in her office and he loves it. It helps get the wiggles out and he does his circle line jump homework on it too.