Vision Therapy

[Superfly]

Those of you who have children that have been through vision therapy, did it help? Do you think it was worth it? DD7 just got reading glasses a couple weeks ago. They help her reading significantly, but Dr. is also recommending vision therapy. It isn't covered by our insurance. We are trying to figure out if it is worth the expense and extra time. We are already going to be heavily scheduled with 3hr homeschool PE class, swim team, and 2 1hr speech therapy sessions for little sis. That and I am committed to homeschooling a friend's son from 12-6pm on M and W.

 

DD7 has had a very difficult time with reading, so if vision therapy will help bridge the gap to get her on level, then it would be worth it.

[all4ramseys@msn.com]

We have found that VT for our ds9 was the best money we have ever spent. However, my son's particular issues may not be your child's. Get several opinions because it can be expensive. The first doctor we went to quoted us $7,000 and suggested we take out a 2nd mortgage! We found a different doctor and therapist. We just completed an 18-week unit, spending $973. We did pay cash (tax refund) and received a 20% discount.

 

He is not done. We solved lots of issues, but he still needs work and doesn't read at grade level yet. It also takes a significant commitment at home. Exercises need to be done at home at least 5 days a week.

 

I don't know if I actually answered your questions, so PM me if you would like to ask more.

 

Holly

[LittleIzumi]

We just started so I don't have results yet. However, her particular diagnosis explains what she does & the problems she's had PERFECTLY. I also know that while she breezes through most school things, her vision therapy homework is the hardest work she has done. Seriously. It is SO, SO hard for her to do. That seems to me a decent indicator that the doc was right, as it's something that should be decently easy for someone who can see properly.

[wapiti]

Did the doc give you a specific diagnosis/name for the problem? (for example, convergence insufficiency, tracking, etc.)

 

There are lots of threads on the SN board.

[sbgrace]

We had fantastic results. My son had convergence insufficiency and tracking issues. It was extremely difficult because my son had such severe issues--worse than our very experienced optometrist had ever seen.

 

The exercises for home at the beginning were torture for both of us and really discouraging to me. But the results were amazing for him and undeniable. In other words, I didn't need to see a computer print out of progress because I saw it before my very eyes. He couldn't track the eraser of a pencil or even something larger across his field of vision for beyond a second (literally) when he started. He can use his eyes to track as well as any child. His convergence was so poor he couldn't catch a ball. He can converge to do anything. I saw differences well beyond academically for him and into interaction with others. We did traditional vision therapy and also light therapy with him. It was so difficult and it was expensive. The results for us were amazing. As far as therapy goes this was by far the best money spent for us.

Edited August 3, 2011 by sbgrace

[Superfly]

Thank you all for your input. This is very encouraging.

 

Did the doc give you a specific diagnosis/name for the problem? (for example, convergence insufficiency, tracking, etc.)

 

There are lots of threads on the SN board.

 

I have ADHD, and I honestly don't remember if he gave me a diagnosis. He said her eyes were not tracking back and forth. Instead she moves her entire head to follow things. He gave me a months worth of exercises to do with her. Trying to get her to hold her head still is a challenge. After the month he wants to see her back to determine what she may need in terms of vision therapy. This Dr. is 45 min away(the closest on our insurance), so we would have to find someone closer for regular therapy. I'm wondering if I should go straight to trying to find a vision therapist instead of going all the way back to the other Dr. The office near our house said most programs atart around $4k.

 

My DH is not even sold that Vision Therapy is real. When I told him about it, he rolled his eyes. He had the same reaction when I told him we needed to purchase a multisensory reading program. :banghead: It has been such a struggle to try and solve her reading problems without support. I'm so thankful for this board.

[wapiti]

I'd try to find a COVD if you haven't already. FWIW, I would not see a vision therapist who did not work for an optometrist. In the world of VT, it's not unusual to have quite a drive, and it's nearly unheard of to have it paid for by insurance, so... I'd take those things into consideration. If you trust this optometrist and he's covered, I'm not sure what's stopping you.

 

You could try showing your DH something like this website, and/or taking him to the optometrist with you.

 

Also, please do visit the SN board, as there are a lot of posters there doing VT.

[NotSoObvious]

COVD for sure!!!! Do NOT just go to a regular vision therapist. Make sure they are board certified or in the process.

 

You won't know until you have an assessment, so I'd at least get that done, then talk about a decision.

 

We saw HUGE improvements- but we could clearly see it's what she needed. Our pediatrician poo-pooed it (after the fact) and I just smiled and nodded. I really wanted to say, "VT did in 3 months more than you've done in 3 years, thank you very much!"

 

I'm a believer.

[NotSoObvious]

COVD for sure!!!! Do NOT just go to a regular vision therapist. Make sure they are board certified or in the process.

 

You won't know until you have an assessment, so I'd at least get that done, then talk about a decision.

 

We saw HUGE improvements- but we could clearly see it's what she needed. Our pediatrician poo-pooed it (after the fact) and I just smiled and nodded. I really wanted to say, "VT did in 3 months more than you've done in 3 years, thank you very much!"

 

I'm a believer.

 

(Quoting myself!)

OK, that sounded harsh. I'm sure there are great VTs that are not board certified, but I'm just done playing that game with therapy.

[Superfly]

I'd try to find a COVD if you haven't already. FWIW, I would not see a vision therapist who did not work for an optometrist. In the world of VT, it's not unusual to have quite a drive, and it's nearly unheard of to have it paid for by insurance, so... I'd take those things into consideration. If you trust this optometrist and he's covered, I'm not sure what's stopping you.

 

You could try showing your DH something like this website, and/or taking him to the optometrist with you.

 

Also, please do visit the SN board, as there are a lot of posters there doing VT.

 

Thank you for the links. It turns out the Dr. we've been seeing is the only COVD in our area. So maybe we will stick with him and deal with the drive. I really like him. He said that our insurance only covers the initial eye exam and follow up. Anything after that would be out of pocket.

[Superfly]

I had forgotten we have the SN board! I'll do some reading over there too.

[Superfly]

COVD for sure!!!! Do NOT just go to a regular vision therapist. Make sure they are board certified or in the process.

 

You won't know until you have an assessment, so I'd at least get that done, then talk about a decision.

 

We saw HUGE improvements- but we could clearly see it's what she needed. Our pediatrician poo-pooed it (after the fact) and I just smiled and nodded. I really wanted to say, "VT did in 3 months more than you've done in 3 years, thank you very much!"

 

I'm a believer.

 

Just from what I've seen, I'm sure that the visual processing issues are real. I actually think I may have some of the same issues. I tried DD's eye exercises because she said they made her eyes hurt. They made my eyes hurt and made me dizzy too. The first exercise is just simply looking at your "steeple" in the Left, right, up and down positions and holding it for 5 seconds....not something I would expect to be straining!

[MerryAtHope]

My son did VT at ages 12-13, and it has helped him tremendously. Our VT was willing to work with us--it was a 2.5 hour drive & out of our price range to do weekly therapy, so we went monthly and they sent home detailed instructions on which therapies to do and how to do them. See if your office can work with you in some ways, but the money (a little over $1000 altogether) was well worth it here.

 

Merry :-)

[sbgrace]

Thank you for the links. It turns out the Dr. we've been seeing is the only COVD in our area. So maybe we will stick with him and deal with the drive. I really like him. He said that our insurance only covers the initial eye exam and follow up. Anything after that would be out of pocket.

 

The exercises will be really hard at first or were here. Stick with it--do it every single day or as often as prescribed. Consistency matters and it will get easier. My son had to track really large things at first. I remember holding his head still maybe? We used rewards for each small success (ie for just trying at first) for vision therapy.

[LittleIzumi]

The exercises will be really hard at first or were here. Stick with it--do it every single day or as often as prescribed. Consistency matters and it will get easier. My son had to track really large things at first. I remember holding his head still maybe? We used rewards for each small success (ie for just trying at first) for vision therapy.

 

:iagree: Seriously. Wow.