Finished up Vision Therapy..question about 'after care'

[cajunrose]

My 8 year old DD finished up 9 months of VT yesterday. (we went at the recommendation of you guys..thank you so much!) We have driven 1 1/2 hours 1 way 1-2 times a week..done all of our homework, etc. We are pretty much done with it all....very very burnt out. HOWEVER...she improved a ton on all of her tests. She went from 5 year old level and below on all of the tests to 8-12 years old on them. She's reading chapter books now. Her handwriting has improved 100%. She is getting much better at spelling, etc. It has been really good for her.

 

So, we are done. We only have the final visit with the doctor left. My question is, what kind of post-vt did you guys have to do? We still have reflex stuff to work on and a computer program (30 minutes 5 times a week) that she is expected to do. It makes her cry it burns her eyes so much...it's in 3d and with a flipper. They check her progress via the internet.

 

My husband says we are done and that we shouldn't do that program. We aren't paying for anything anymore...we aren't going in for sessions. Seems to me we are DONE...except for this. I know I need to ask the doc, and will...but why do we need to do this if we are essentially done with VT? What kind of maintenance did you all have to do? Did it continue to help?

 

Thanks

Stephenie

[VinNY]

My dtr finished up VT last May. Her aftercare consists of Brock String exercises 3X a week and Perceptual therapy exercises on the Computer 4-5X a week. We will see the doctor next week for a 6 month follow-up visit. My dtr get OT at school also for visual issues,too.

[LaughingCat]

We finished VT a couple weeks ago (the first appts over the summer were every week, the last 4 appts were aprox 1/mo) - & they gave us no specific homework. However, I still have her doing the various exercises on a reduced basis. Also some of the homework they gave us included so many sheets (getting harder and harder) that I think we will have work for over a year if we finish them all.

 

I guess I kind of think of it like strengthening any problem muscle - you improve while you're at physical therapy but if you stop doing all exercises after you stop physical therapy, then you'll regress - better to keep doing some exercises and keep improving.

 

LL

[wapiti]

30 min 5x per week sounds like a lot to me for afterward. We barely spend that much time during therapy.

[rafiki]

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[PeterPan]

I'll be honest, because I'm too headachy to be less. My dd had the horrible eye problems with the VT (pain, headaches, blah blah), and after we finished we went back and ended up getting a scrip for glasses. If she hasn't had that check, I would. Next thing, no we have not been doing any follow-up. Well that's not true, for a while there I was doing really well trying to weave some visual perception stuff into our days (puzzles, logic games like Chocolate Fix, that sort of thing), but we got so busy we haven't been. I'm actually planning to do that and have some saved up for when we break our academics for Christmas.

 

When you do VT, theoretically what you're doing is changing the wiring of the brain. And to the extent that that was what was going on, it's not going to go away just because you stop. I've also read that the kids who have such horrendous problems and pain with the VT actually have undiagnosed LDs going on as well, ie. it's never going to get easier or less painful, no matter how much you do. I also know dd is low tone (as are ds and I). So while I don't *discount* the idea of the eyes needing to strengthen, I don't think that's the sum total of it.

 

When dd got her glasses a few months ago (this was several months after stopping VT), dd mentioned that when she tried to do some the VT exercises (because I was doing them), they gave her headaches again. The doctor suggested waiting till she had had the glasses a couple months and then attempting them again. We haven't yet.

 

I know that's talking in circles. In your shoes, given how hard you've worked, I would take off from now till January. Just have some fun! Play games, use her new skills. Then in January go back at it fresh. Make a small, consistent game plan, and make sure some of that time is spent using her new skills in fun ways like puzzles, logic games (Chocolate Fix, Set, etc.), and so on. The world will NOT END if you take a break now. Your dh is right.