Vision therapy - how long?

[razorbackmama]

My 12yo and 10yo may need vision therapy. My 12yo seems to have [insert name I've forgotten, but he doesn't move his eyes from point A to point B very well], and my 10yo seems to have convergence insufficiency. They have not had a full blown developmental analysis done yet, but that's next in the process.

 

The dr. said if they do end up needing it then they'll need in-office therapy once a week. It is $125 per session. I'm just trying to get a feel for how much this might cost me. I know everyone is different, but I'm not sure if I need to be expecting something like 2 months or 2 years, KWIM?

[wapiti]

I think 6 months is a fairly standard amount of time to start with. Rarely have I heard it being less than that; occasionally it is longer. Three years ago, we paid in the ballpark of $2600 for 24 weekly therapy visits. That included occasional progress checks with the optometrist.

 

Keep in mind that the daily home exercises are critical to the success of the program.

[anewday]

Ours was for 9 sessions. Once a week. We ended up completing 7 only because she had improved drastically in that time frame. I was thrilled not to have to pay the $100something for those 2! LOL

[razorbackmama]

I think 6 months is a fairly standard amount of time to start with. Rarely have I heard it being less than that; occasionally it is longer. Three years ago, we paid in the ballpark of $2600 for 24 weekly therapy visits. That included occasional progress checks with the optometrist.

 

Keep in mind that the daily home exercises are critical to the success of the program.

Oh yes, I will become very Nazi-like about those, I'm afraid. LOL! I'm curious about the home exercises. Do they require someone to do them WITH the person receiving therapy? The reason I ask...I think I'm worse off than my dd when it comes to the convergence thing.:tongue_smilie: So would I need someone to work with me at home, or would I be able to do them on me own?

 

Ours was for 9 sessions. Once a week. We ended up completing 7 only because she had improved drastically in that time frame. I was thrilled not to have to pay the $100something for those 2! LOL

 

I BET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My sweet 10yo said she could start beading and selling the things she makes so we can afford it.:001_wub:

[melmichigan]

I think 6 months is a fairly standard amount of time to start with. Rarely have I heard it being less than that; occasionally it is longer. Three years ago, we paid in the ballpark of $2600 for 24 weekly therapy visits. That included occasional progress checks with the optometrist.

 

Keep in mind that the daily home exercises are critical to the success of the program.

 

:001_unsure: Wow, that is expensive. We are still paying on OT and PT.

[razorbackmama]

Yes, vision therapy is expensive. Sigh. And not covered by insurance...at least not ours. We CAN use our flexible savings plan for it, but I only put $3000 in it this year. That will be used up in 12 weeks of therapy for 2 kids.:tongue_smilie:

[Dobela]

My son's VT lasted 18 months. THe VT did some screening and reassessing every 6 weeks because our insurance would only pay for 6 weeks at a time and those had to be preapproved.

 

Oh yes, I will become very Nazi-like about those, I'm afraid. LOL! I'm curious about the home exercises. Do they require someone to do them WITH the person receiving therapy? The reason I ask...I think I'm worse off than my dd when it comes to the convergence thing.:tongue_smilie: So would I need someone to work with me at home, or would I be able to do them on me own?

 

 

I never actually did any of the exercises myself but I did time them, look for correct answers and correct form... And know that your child may be absolutely exhausted from the exercises. My son would just go lay down for a long time afterward. his brain and his eyes needed the break.

[wapiti]

Oh yes, I will become very Nazi-like about those, I'm afraid. LOL! I'm curious about the home exercises. Do they require someone to do them WITH the person receiving therapy? The reason I ask...I think I'm worse off than my dd when it comes to the convergence thing.:tongue_smilie: So would I need someone to work with me at home, or would I be able to do them on me own?

 

The exercises may often require someone to help hold something at a certain distance, move something around in the air in a certain manner that they have to follow with their eyes, and/or generally direct the exercises, but not to actually DO them, LOL. My ability to do pencil-pushups, for example, is terrible! The optometrist said it's just because I'm so old :D. (gee thanks, doc!) My dd can now do weird things with her eyes that makes mine hurt just watching.

 

:001_unsure: Wow, that is expensive. We are still paying on OT and PT.

 

You ain't kiddin'. We had two kids do PT and two do speech that same year. I try not to think about it (that's DH's department).

 

I believe that what we paid for VT is in the usual ballpark per session. One option might be to discuss the hardship with them and see if you could go every other week instead, and get sets of homework for two weeks each time.

[wapiti]

And know that your child may be absolutely exhausted from the exercises. My son would just go lay down for a long time afterward. his brain and his eyes needed the break.

:iagree: This is a great point. Try not to leave it for right before bed. The morning is the best time. Or, you can break it up, some in the morning and some in the afternoon.

[peacefully]

.

[sixpence1978]

My DD is working through 36 weeks of VT. Down here in the Castle Rock/Parker area, that is the standard length it seems. We get a little bit of a $ break because we can come in during non-peak hours. So we pay $100 each week.

 

The exercises do need me to help her with them. I'm like you. I have vision problems myself that probably could benefit from VT, but can't afford it at the same time. It hasn't been a problem though. My part is the easy part...hitting a ball, timing her reading, being there for her to look at my nose :)

 

You could always get one child started for this year and see if you could delay the other one until next year to account for it in your FSA.

 

Oh, and we also do the exercises in the morning. I feel it is the most important part of our current curriculum, plus her eyes are freshest in the morning. The few times we have done the exercises later in the day, it doesn't work out as well.

[razorbackmama]

You could always get one child started for this year and see if you could delay the other one until next year to account for it in your FSA.

 

That's EXACTLY what I think I've decided to do. My 12yo's [insert name I forget LOL] interferes with his reading ability, which of course interferes in what he can comprehend when he reads. My 10yo's convergence insufficiency seems to only be affecting her handwriting, which is semi-messy but still legible. So between that and the fact that he's older, I'm thinking I'm going to get VT for him first. Then next year I'll know to put more into our FSA, and I'll get VT for her and maybe me (since I think my convergence insufficiency is worse than hers LOL!).

[sevknorr]

we started with a half yr and decided to do a whole year which included how to use his new vision in learning. so very worth it. we made VT the center piece of our hsing day as if this didnt work what the heck would we do next. so we were very religious with the exercises and did them to the max allowed. (gonna get my moneys worth) :)

We cut out a few subjects that year and extra curric things. for my son it didnt make sense to do spelling and lots of reading etc. so we took a break sorts on those subjects and he listened to books on tape on our long rides there and found alternative type programs for science and history.

Good luck!

[PeterPan]

Couple things. One, nobody's experience here will translate into yours, because it totally depends on what materials he uses and what progression he expects. Our VT doc gave us an upfront written estimate on how long they expected to take, and they hit it. I would ask the doctor, and I wouldn't begin till you get some concrete estimate. If he has been doing this a lot, he should have a sense. If he doesn't, well then there you go. Always, always, always with VT the name of the game is to know you have an experienced doc.

 

Thing two, if you have two kids needing VT, I would get them both done. I think you'll find when you're done that your dd's eyes were causing her more problems than you realized. It is no greater inconvenience to do the homework with two than one. Nuts, it's actually easier, because they can do the tasks to each other, leaving you free. If you can at all swing it, I would do both. If that's a financial hardship, I would tell the doctor and see what he can swing for you. You might do them both, but only do sessions every other week, with a greater emphasis on homework. I always felt like they accomplished in one day of VT (one hour, which is two sessions at our place) what we could accomplish in a week. It would slow down your progress some but still allow both to progress.

 

When they ran our stuff through for insurance, our price came down. They had not told me this ahead of time. It's just one of those things with insurance. We pay with an HSA, like your FSA, so the amounts were going toward a deductible. Nevertheless, it changed the price. Is that price he gave you for 1 hour or a 1/2 hour? Just checkin. That would be horrible if it were for a 1/2 hour.

 

VT for convergence insufficiency was LIFE-ALTERING for my dd. If you can at all make it happen for yours, I would. Don't underestimate it, just because your ds's diagnosis seems more significant. Until you get the vision problems ironed out, visual processing and the learning that is connected to vision doesn't happen properly. After two months of VT, my dd started sounding out words, asking letter sounds, etc. It was radical. Oh, and our basic estimate was 3-4 months. We did another 2 months to work on visual processing. But like I said, our place does a lot of VT and has a serious program. We were supposed to do 20-30 minutes a night of homework and usually dragged it out much longer. We worked hard and got lots of results fast. It would have broken us if it had continued much longer, mercy. But 3 months to change a life, yeah we could afford that. So talk with your doc, his time estimates may be nothing like what you're reading here, in either direction. You won't know till you ask, and I wouldn't start till you know.

[razorbackmama]

Our VT doc is Lynn Hellerstein. She has written best-selling books and is the past president of the COVD. She's experienced.;)

 

Inconvenience isn't the problem here...money is.:(

 

My dd's reading and comprehension is only slightly behind grade level, so it hasn't affected her schoolwork too much. She has dyslexia that is unrelated to the vision issues, and I think it plays more of a role than her convergence problems.

 

My ds's issues DEFINITELY affect his schoolwork, the poor guy.

[PeterPan]

Oh I forgot about you mentioning that! I got from the library the book she just wrote, but I've only glanced through it so far. I know, money is a perpetual problem. At our place they had you buy a kit with all your supplies and activities and things. Maybe she can do the homework right along with your ds?

[laundrycrisis]

The length of time will depend on the problems each one has, and how they are addressed.

 

Our son needed a full year. Therapy was in the office once a week, with home exercises the other 4-5 days per week. He had motor control problems, eye teaming/convergence issues, and visual processing problems. For someone who didn't have all of that going on, it would take fewer weeks of sessions and home exercises.

[sixpence1978]

Oh I forgot about you mentioning that! I got from the library the book she just wrote, but I've only glanced through it so far. I know, money is a perpetual problem. At our place they had you buy a kit with all your supplies and activities and things. Maybe she can do the homework right along with your ds?

 

This is a good point! She could do the exercises as well.

 

I also checked out the book that she wrote. Haven't read much yet though.

 

Out of curiousity, where did you end up testing your DC for dyslexia? I believe you live pretty close to me, and we might be looking into that within the next few months. Feel free to PM me if you would like.

[SophiaH]

My dd's doc initially said we would need probably around 32 sessions. She had eye teaming and convergence issues. The doc said that was a little more than she would usually recommend for dd's testing results because dd had compensated so well that it might take longer to "untrain" her brain and get both of her eyes "turned back on," so to speak.

 

The doc was very flexible about how we wanted to do the sessions since we were driving 1 1/2 hours and I am due with our 4th baby in April. We opted to do double sessions (45 min/session with a 30 minute break in between--Hello Sonic Happy Hour! :D) every week so that we would theoretically be finished the week before baby came. Another option she gave us was to do double sessions every other week, and use a computer program at home to compensate for the longer breaks in between. The doc has been so pleased with dd's progress with doing the double sessions.

 

I don't remember if you asked about cost, but I'll tell you our story anyway. :) We pay $36 a session, so $72 a week. The doctor is excellent, trained with a big VT clinic for a couple of years and is very involved in national conferences and talking with local parent/education groups, but just last year opened her own practice with her dh, and only works twice a week doing just VT. Plus, they focus on providing care for patients with medicaid in a lower-income neighborhood, so maybe that's why it's cheaper. We have managed the costs by using Care Credit which is a credit card for medical expenses that our doc accepts. We get 6 months no interest on all our charges. We could never have afforded the $210/session that the big clinic charges, and I am VERY pleased with the services dd has received. In fact, the doc told me this week that dd has met all the goals the doc had for her and should only need 24 sessions total! Only 6 more to go!