Vision therapy at home? Dyslexia?

[Misty]

I have a dd7 who has been evaluated by a developmental optometrist and they say she does need vision therapy... We cannot yet afford this therapy so I need any and all home resources that you all can throw at me. I am desperate to get this child reading fluently.. She is still painfully sounding out CVC words over and over again.. She will even accurately name a letter and then two seconds later call it something else. When doing her Explode the Code workbook earlier today, she was supposed to put an x on the word that matched the word in the first column, which was "tin".. she started to put an x on "nit" until I stopped her.. Then she noticed her mistake and put the x on "tin".

 

We have ruled out CAPD, but not dyslexia. She has Asperger's, OCD, ADHD, SPD, & NVLD. She currently does behavior therapy twice a week, which includes Interactive Metronome, brain-building exercises, neurofeedback, biofeedback, and Makoto (which includes crossing the midline exercises).

 

Do you think vision therapy would fix this since they say she does need vision therapy? Or do you think I should also have her evaluated for dyslexia?

 

Thanks!!

[golfcartmama]

We couldn't afford vt either. Lucking the OT was willing to add some in for us. AND, we were able to buy a book from the dev. OD of different excercises to do at home that are all vision therapies and it was only $25. Does yours offer one? I can email you the name of ours if that would help, maybe there is a used one out there somewhere.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

We couldn't afford vt either. Lucking the OT was willing to add some in for us. AND, we were able to buy a book from the dev. OD of different excercises to do at home that are all vision therapies and it was only $25. Does yours offer one? I can email you the name of ours if that would help, maybe there is a used one out there somewhere.

I'd love to know the title too.

[AngieW in Texas]

I know of two books that may be helpful. I borrowed one from a friend and the other from the library. They are both very good and give you actual exercises to do. The first one is rather expensive, even used. The second one is available for $0.01 plus $4.00 shipping on amazon.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Ocular-Visual-Perceptual-Skills/dp/1556425953/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276056115&sr=8-1

 

http://www.amazon.com/Helping-Children-Overcome-Learning-Difficulties/dp/0802773966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276056167&sr=1-1

[Misty]

I know of two books that may be helpful. I borrowed one from a friend and the other from the library. They are both very good and give you actual exercises to do.

 

Thank you! I just put the 2nd one on hold with my library and I will put the other one on my purchase wish list.. Wish it weren't so pricey!!

 

Thanks again...

[Misty]

we were able to buy a book from the dev. OD of different excercises to do at home that are all vision therapies and it was only $25. Does yours offer one? I can email you the name of ours if that would help, maybe there is a used one out there somewhere.

 

Please do share.. But share the title here so others can benefit as well.. Thanks so much!

[golfcartmama]

It's called "Reversal Errors Theories and Therapy Procedures" by Kenneth A. Lane produced by the Optometric Extension Program Foundation.

 

It contains therapy procedures on Body Imagery, Rhythm, Motor (my son's issue), Directionality, Distinctive features, Letter position, Common reversals (son's other issue) and memory strategy and Orthography excercises. The author provides several pages up front about theories.

 

I don't know what therapies your dc needs, but it's been great for us! HTH!

[microcarter]

Misty,

 

The little bit that you mentioned reminds me of my 7 year old ds who has dyslexia. If your dd does have dyslexia, vision therapy will not help with the dyslexia - only the vision issues. She would need a good Orton-Gillingham based program.

 

Here is one of the best websites that I have found regarding dyslexia. The webcasts videos are long but wonderful. After watching them and checking out the website, I was fairly certain my ds was dyslexic. While the testing we had done confirmed he has dyslexia and was ultimately helpful, we really didn't have to have it done to begin tutoring him in an appropriate way. Hope this info helps.

 

http://www.dys-add.com/

 

BTW, this website also has a section on appropriate testing for dyslexia if you do decide to get that done.

 

Angie

[Iris]

We did VT at our developmental optometrist's office (in No. VA) for a while, and then when we thought we were moving from the area, I purchased some therapy for $100. The name is PTS II: Computerized Perceptual Therapy. The only website listed is for tech support. The phone numbers are 888-810-3937 or 480-983-0857. I don't know whether they will sell directly to you, but it may be worth a shot.

 

Good luck!

 

Iris

[Kristi67]

Try googling Lane Learning Center, they have a couple of workbooks that I considered buying and may still. We did vision therapy for a while, but I wasn't pleased with the practice's lack of continuity (both in staff and in the exercises they gave us).

 

We ended up going to Learning Rx for cognitive skills training for our son and that has been very helpful. I may order these if I think he needs to continue with more vision therapy.

[silliness7]

My son also was recently diagnosed as needing vision therapy. Our doctor has an in-home option where the parents have an intensive visit with the therapist and learn how to do the exercises at home. It was still pricey but not nearly what it would have cost to go in once a week to see the therapist. Then they will re-evaluate him after 12 weeks to see if it's helping.

 

I thought my son my have dyslexia as well. I mentioned this to the doc at our initial visit. He did some sort of test and though my son did not do well on the test (60th percentile) doc said dyslexics score in the 20th so I was happy to rule that out.

 

My son hasn't been diagnosed with any other issues although if he was in a regular classroom he'd probably be on ritalin. However, doc said that his vision problems can manifest themselves behaviorially. He can't rely on his eyes to give him consistent, accurate information about the world so he still uses his body primarily to gain information about his environment. He'll be 10 years old next week and at this age should be moving out of that phase. He's not which makes him look and act like he's ADHD.

 

I might have to check out those books that were mentioned in a pp as well.

[Misty]

If your dd does have dyslexia, vision therapy will not help with the dyslexia - only the vision issues. She would need a good Orton-Gillingham based program.

 

Thank you! This is exactly what I was wanting to know.. Whether or not the vision therapy would "fix" or directly address the dyslexia or not.

 

I do have All About Spelling, which I believe is Orton-Gillingham based.. I think I will pull it out and reintroduce it.

 

Thanks so much!

[Misty]

My son also was recently diagnosed as needing vision therapy. Our doctor has an in-home option where the parents have an intensive visit with the therapist and learn how to do the exercises at home. It was still pricey but not nearly what it would have cost to go in once a week to see the therapist. Then they will re-evaluate him after 12 weeks to see if it's helping.

 

Interesting!! I will have to inquire about this. There are 3 different developmental optometrists in our metro area so maybe at least one of them has this option.. Thanks!

[AngieW in Texas]

My dd had visual efficiency issues that she needed vision therapy for in addition to her dyslexia. It's not always a one or the other thing. They often occur together. Vision therapy fixed her visual efficiency issues, but did nothing for her dyslexia. I don't think we would have made progress in reading without having had VT first though. My dd had a lot of vision issues that were obvious to me from the time she was 3yo, but I didn't find an eye doctor that tested for it until she was 6yo. When a 6yo is covering one eye in order to try to see what's on a page, the eye doctor starts to take you seriously about vision issues even though she can pass the eye chart.

 

My dd had double vision, eye supression, tracking problems, sweeping problems, focus problems, and lots of reversals. VT fixed almost all of that (still had some reversals, although a lot less than before).

 

Once that base level was fixed, we could see that she still had obvious problems. The VT said she thought my dd was dyslexic, so we got her tested and found that she was. In fact, she had dyseidetic dyslexia (visual type).

 

She was reading on grade level by the end of 4th grade and is on grade level for everything now.

[Misty]

Thanks Angie.. This is helpful.. I think I'm going to have her evaluated for dyslexia very soon. My 9yr old is currently going through a psychoeducational eval to weed out any learning disabilities and re-evaluate where she is on the spectrum.. I guess the 7yr old is next!

 

Thanks to everyone for your feedback!

[sbgrace]

Many (maybe not all/not sure) of our doctor's assigned exercises came from this book. http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Ocular-Visual-Perceptual-Skills/dp/1556425953/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276056115&sr=8-1

 

My son really benefited from vision therapy but it won't touch dyslexic areas so yes I would look into that for sure.

[microcarter]

Many of us seem to be or have been where you are, Misty. As AngieW said, "It's not always a one thing or the other thing." Too often with our special kids there are things that are comorbid and they all need to be addressed. My little guy has dyslexia, dysgraphia, some motor planning issues and has an auditory issue. They all affect his educational performance so they all need to be addressed but unfortunately it's not just by one thing. We use an OG program, go to OT and just started Interactive Metronome. In the past year my ds has made great progress.

 

If your dd is dyslexic there is another great forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartofReading/ that helped me get some answers as well. Quite a few on there use All About Spelling. While some seem to say that it can be used for reading & spelling, others seem to insist that it depends on the severity of the dyslexia.

The more severe then the less effective it would be for reading & the more likely it would be better to go with(or also use) something like the Barton Reading & Spelling System or the Wilson Reading System.

 

I have never used All About Spelling so I can't give you any personal input there. However, it definitely sounds like it might be a good place to start.

 

Blessing on your search to help you dd!

 

Angie

[siloam]

Thanks Angie.. This is helpful.. I think I'm going to have her evaluated for dyslexia very soon. My 9yr old is currently going through a psychoeducational eval to weed out any learning disabilities and re-evaluate where she is on the spectrum.. I guess the 7yr old is next!

 

Thanks to everyone for your feedback!

 

I will jump on the it isn't always one thing bandwagon. I took my 2nd dd into a COVD specialist and they said she needed VT. Months later we saw no improvement. But, I am a visual dyslexic and have been diagnosed through Irlen Institute, which comes from the theory that some people see different colors at different speeds, thus their vision can be distorted. Our problems are processing problems not eye problems, but the symptoms are the same, so it basically it becomes a process of elimination. Not fun.

 

Heather

[FlutterbyMommy]

We are currently doing vision therapy for convergence insufficiency. The inlaws paid 75% up front, or we couldn't do it. The rest was broken up into monthly ayments to make it manageable (especially since my DH was laid off last month).

 

We do 5 days a week of therapy at home, along with one day at the clinic. We use a computer program with 3-D glasses to do this therapy. They may have it available for individual purchase, I am not certain. I know we paid $145 for it.

 

Her doctor is David Cook, who is pretty well known in the field and has written a couple of books which might be helpful.

VISUAL FITNESS:

7 Minutes to Better Eyesight and Beyond

 

WHEN YOUR CHILD STRUGGLES:

Myths of 20/20 Vision

 

He has some sample exercises on his site Simple Exercises

 

I imagine that the exercises should be prescribed for for the specific issues of the individual though. I know each person at the clinic does different home exercises on the software and do different things in the clinic.

 

Will the doctor do a payment plan or work with you? I know just in the 2 months my daughter has been doing this, we have seen improvements. Her OT worked with her some in her weekly therapy on this as well. I think some homework may help, but I think it takes a bit more honestly (which is very hard on the pocket book).