Did your child require vision therapy and was he/she an early walker?

[Misty]

This is to test that "never crawled" theory or at least the "early walking" theory that is so often associated with children who have any significant issues that required vision therapy. I hope I included all the possibilities. Check all that apply if you have more than one child.

 

For us, this theory is right on. I have four kids.. My two middle girls walked early - 9 & 10 months. They are the only two of my 4 who had some visual processing issues (And the one who walked at 9 mo. also has auditory processing disorder!).

Edited September 26, 2011 by Misty

[Julie Smith]

My kids walked early. But they also crawled early and lots. By the time they were 6 months they could crawl up stairs. They crawled a ton. I believed that there could be benefits of lots of crawling so I encouraged it. They have no vision or any other type of issue.

 

(Please note I am not saying that crawling would cure vision or auditory issues. But I think that it might be able to help, and to my knowledge would do no damage)

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I don't mean to mess with your sample here, but my ds was late-normal. He was walking well at 14-15 months. He does have a motor problem (likely CP) which is probably causing the vision issues.

 

ETA- He didn't like to crawl, and didn't very often.

[Tokyomarie]

My two girls were early walkers- 9mos & 8.5mos. They both crawled, though. Oldest had no learning issues. Younger dd has auditory processing difficulty.

 

My son was my latest walker at 12mos. He crawled, too. He is the one who has had symptoms relating to vision, amongst other learning issues, though he is quite bright. Never evaluated when he was younger (for the vision but he had speech therapy starting at 3.5); recommended for vision therapy at age 15yo, but too resistant by that time. I may be revisiting the question with him in the next couple of months.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Tokyomarie

[Dobela]

My son was crawling at 4 months and walked at 8 months. He also began rolling over at 1 month. He is th eone who has needed VT.

[wapiti]

I don't mean to mess up your poll either, but walking after 13 months is NOT late by a long shot. Without looking it up, I vaguely recall that the "normal" range for walking goes up to 18 months (according to our old ped and the PT; I think I've seen 16 months reported elsewhere).

 

My dd who had VT was a late crawler, not crawling until 11 months. However, I don't think crawling is an official developmental milestone. She walked around 16.5 months, with orthotics and PT for low muscle tone.

 

It IS likely that, in her case, the low muscle tone that caused problems with meeting gross motor developmental milestones also had something to do with her eye tracking difficulty.

 

Only one of my six kids was walking at 13 months. So far, only one has needed VT. The next oldest were premies, and walked around 15-16 months (adjusted age about 14 months). They are 8 y.o. now and have been checked - no need for VT (knock on wood!!). The next oldest is 5, he's the one who walked at 13 months, which I consider on the early side. The next oldest is 3, and I think he walked around 14-15 months, though I can't remember :001_huh::lol:. Nor can I remember when dd2 walked, even though that was only probably about 8 months ago, but I'm absolutely certain she was older than 14 months - probably 16 months.

 

There are multiple reasons why someone would walk late and multiple reasons why someone might need VT. I think it IS likely that there are common causes for some kids.

 

I think the possible relationship between VT and late/absent crawling question is a very interesting question! I'd suspect more of a common-cause situation first before the additional possible hampered-development effect of failing to crawl.

[Dobela]

I don't mean to mess up your poll either, but walking after 13 months is NOT late by a long shot. Without looking it up, I vaguely recall that the "normal" range for walking goes up to 18 months (according to our old ped and the PT; I think I've seen 16 months reported elsewhere).

 

.

When I was doing developmental evals in preK special ed programs, we didn't consider walking delayed unless after 18 months. Most developmental specialists agree that 15 months is the average age a child walks. For some reason parents think it is 12 months but that is incorrect.

[FairProspects]

Both of my dc walked around 15 months, one required VT, the other did not. No real rhyme or reason here other than genetics and different development. :)

 

ETA: I voted walked at 12-14 months & DID require VT, but there was no option for walking later and requiring VT.

[lmrich]

All three of mine walked early (7mo. 9 mo. and 9 mo.) and did not need vision thearapy.

[PeterPan]

My dd started crawling very early (4 months), but it was a very strange crawl, more of a plowing with her shoulder. When, years later, I described it to an optometrist friend, she immediately said it indicated bilateral brain integration problems. So you had the bilaterality problems causing the vision not to get the chance to properly develop.

 

There are some idiots who told me all I had to do was go back and have her crawl 5 minutes a day and the vision problems would eventually correct too. Idiots. After 12 years of lack of development, you have to go back and correct the early steps AND all the other stuff that should have developed on top of that.

 

Oh, her walking was pretty normal, neither early nor late. She was walking at her 1st birthday and never stumbled or toddled. But by age 10 she was constantly bumping into things due to the lack of depth perception, etc.

[Puma Mom]

All three of mine walked early (8½ mo, 9 mo, 9½ mo), and only my youngest needed VT.

[LaughingCat]

There's no >13 months and did need VT option.

 

DD(8) walked at 18 months and needed VT. She crawled at a normal age (and normally). So she reflects the opposite of your theory because she had months and months of crawling practice.

 

DD(2) blew through crawling and went straight to walking - she bear crawled (hands and feed) but only for about 2 weeks - but she is too young to know if she'll need VT or not but I'm thinking not based solely on how she already "devours" books. Of course she'll be different anyway because I'm much more aware of the kinds of things she can do for fun to strengthen those muscles too.

 

ETA: DD(2) was not an early walker by your poll either (walked at 12m) but is still firmly in the little crawling camp.

 

LL

Edited September 26, 2011 by LaughingCat2

[sixpence1978]

Both of my kids started walking at 17 months, almost 18 months. Only my DD needed VT.

[Misty]

There's no >13 months and did need VT option.

 

Drat! I knew I missed something. My apologies.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Misty

[Misty]

I don't mean to mess up your poll either, but walking after 13 months is NOT late by a long shot. Without looking it up, I vaguely recall that the "normal" range for walking goes up to 18 months (according to our old ped and the PT; I think I've seen 16 months reported elsewhere).

 

Okay, so not exactly scientific.. I wasn't going for "technically" late.. Just "on the later side of average" I guess. 18 months does seem very late to me to be walking though. Even 16 months seems very late... I seem to remember the average age of walking being between 11-13 months for most children so that's what I was going by. All of my children were walking before 12 months so I tend to think that's the norm. I probably should have given wider age ranges.:tongue_smilie:

Edited September 26, 2011 by Misty

[Laura Corin]

You missed out: walked late and needed vision therapy. One of mine didn't walk until 16 months and needed vision therapy. The other didn't walk until 18 months and didn't need vision therapy.

 

Laura

[SKL]

My dd who required vision therapy spent the first 12 months of her life in foster care in a developing country. So I don't think it's fair to compare. Most likely she was not allowed to play on the floor as a baby. She was crawling when I took custody and she walked just before 15 mos. After that, her physical development was above average.

 

She's a very athletic girl, but she does seem to have an odd center of gravity, which I think affected her confidence to walk as a baby (she was certainly strong enough). When she was 1-2yo, she could not abide certain things such as being swung on a swing or swung around in a circle. She taught herself to swing at age 2 rather than let anyone push her. She also had other odd behaviors. Did not seem to feel pain, for example (now she does). Could not abide certain kinds of food. Used to go into brief states that looked like mini seizures or waking blackouts, then come out as if nothing had happened. When I read up on VT, I learned that developmental vision problems and some of the other oddities my kid had can stem from the same issues. This is one of the reasons I have her in gymnastics, etc. Her gymnastics/dance teacher does a thing called the "brain dance" at the beginning of every class, which is designed to address under-development in gross areas that impact later performance in many areas.

[sbgrace]

My needed vision therapy child didn't walk until just past 17 months. This was technically not late therapy wise but right on the cusp. That's not an option on your poll so I didn't vote. FWIW, he did crawl at about the typical time.

 

His twin walked around average and didn't need vision therapy.

[Susan C.]

Two are the same, 12-13 months requiring VT and normal walking 11-13 months and requiring VT. I checked the first one.

[Spock]

I have 4 children. They walked (respectively) at 7 mo, 9 mo, 9mo, and 9mo. None of them required vision therapy, though my 3rd is mildly dyslexic. (At age 11, the dyslexia is only evident in her spelling, reading in Spanish, and occasionally her pronunciation of a new word/name.) The first two were early readers (at 3 and 4), and the fourth learned to read easily in kindergarten.

 

They did all crawl, however--at 5-6 mo. I have no idea if that really makes any difference or not.