vision therapy update

[MeganW]

Just wanted to copy a note I sent to family in case this could be helpful to someone else.

 

Vision therapy update: as you may remember, out of desperation we decided last spring to take an expensive gamble and enroll the big kids in vision therapy. It's not exactly accepted by the medical community, but we couldn't just accept that our kids were as close to typical as they could get, and honestly, it was the only thing we hadn't tried yet. I knew visually everything wasn't right, and kept taking them back to the ophthalmologist, who, after patching, kept telling me they were fine. Turns out they could hold their eyes focused for long enough to get through an eye exam, but couldn't do it for much longer than that. We took them to a developmental optometrist. Of the 5 conditions VT has actually been scientifically proven for, C had deficits in all 5, and J & M had 4. No wonder they couldn't read - I couldn't read either if I saw everything double, couldn't track across a page, and things kept coming out of focus! (We had Elise tested as well, and she did not have deficits in ANY of these areas - she is developmentally right on track.)

 

Eight months ago, Meredith was far and away the most developmentally advanced, so we started with James & Camille as they seemed to need it the most. The progress the two of them have made has been nothing short of astounding! Camille doesn't turn her head so that one eye is looking at the paper, and her face is blocking the other eye anymore. They almost never walk into doorways, trip over curbs, etc. anymore. They can actually throw & catch! Both have really taken off with the reading. The improvement in self-confidence has been amazing.

 

Camille is probably 2/3 of the way through therapy. Her problems were more significant than J's to start with (you may remember that she was patched for quite a while, then wore glasses for a while). She had one eye that was lazy when she... was tired - I haven't seen that in months. She struggles mightily with body awareness & bilateral integration, but it is definitely better.

 

James graduated from VT last week - he was so proud! And sad - he loves going!

 

We took Meredith for a pre-therapy-start checkup to see if anything had changed in the past 8 months. She told the doctor when we walked in that her goal for the day was for him to recommend vision therapy. He asked why she wanted it so m...uch, and her comment was so that she could get smart like VT had made J & C. I didn't realize it was so obvious to her, but the other two have completely bypassed her in every area. Coordination, academically, etc. It's like she just hit her ceiling - she has been stagnant for months despite Herculean efforts on my part to move her forward. She was so relieved when the doctor's tests came out pretty much exactly where they had 8 months ago - knowing that she has an eye problem that is causing her struggles was quite a relief to her. She is so excited to be in therapy that she carries her homework binder with her everywhere we go, and is constantly after me to do her homework with her!

 

It is interesting to me that the issues that these kids have are actually hereditary, and not necessarily due to prematurity. Thankfully, Elise seems to have perfect vision at this point! Anyway, just thought I'd post in case anyone else was having these kinds of struggles. We do still plan to have the kids thoroughly tested for learning disabilities by a neuropsych after we are done with VT, as I think the results will be more accurate later. But honestly, I don't think I have concerns about James anymore. Camille is hard to predict - she is either on fire or her brain is out to lunch! Right now I am very worried about Meredith, but if she makes the kind of improvements the others did, she'll be off my list too!!

[wintermom]

That is so wonderful for your dc and family!! Thanks for sharing your success story.

[creekmom]

I love hearing success stories! My ds has been in VT for almost 20 weeks, and we've seen a big improvement as well. It's expensive, but so worth it!

[momsuz123]

Thanks so much for sharing. I just started my girls in VT a few weeks ago - I love hearing these stories. I even posted about our VT in my blog, hoping that if I could help one other child, it would be worth it. :001_smile: It is such a huge expense, but hopefully soooo worth it. One mom I met at VT told me that her VT was her son's "braces". She explained, her other kids need braces, he doesn't - so VT is his braces.

[allie911]

I really appreciate your post, and am so glad to hear VT is helping your kids! VT has been recommended for both of my children by our chiropractic neurologist, but I have been hesitant to try it because of the expense...especially with the number of claims that it is not a medically sound therapy. It is great to hear about someone's firsthand experience.

[nukeswife]

My 10 year old daughter starts week 22 of VT tomorrow. I completely get that sense of relief when you first get the results. My dd has made such improvements. She's still got a ways to go (she's about half way through the estimated therapy time) but no longer shuts down when she has to of a task requiring reading, she actually seeks them out! At her last check up we were told she's no longer near sighted, which we weren't even expecting. Like others have said it's not cheap, but worth every cent.

[MeganW]

I really appreciate your post, and am so glad to hear VT is helping your kids! VT has been recommended for both of my children by our chiropractic neurologist, but I have been hesitant to try it because of the expense...especially with the number of claims that it is not a medically sound therapy. It is great to hear about someone's firsthand experience.

 

There are a lot of quacks out there claiming VT is the cureall for a lot of things, but it has only been medically proven for a handful. It just so happens that my kids' issues happen to be the issues that it is known to work for. What issues has your child been diagnosed with? I can probably tell you if those things are on the short list.

 

We were hesitant as well, especially as we have THREE with this problem. I will tell you that I would rank this right up there with housing and food. If we had to move to a smaller house or take other drastic measures to pay for it, it would have been worth it, given the results we have seen. DH & I are both CPAs, so very anti-debt. We both think it would have been worth it to have taken out a loan to pay for VT, if that tells you anything about how highly I think of it!

[MerryAtHope]

There are a lot of quacks out there claiming VT is the cureall for a lot of things, but it has only been medically proven for a handful.

 

Interesting, can you post the list and a link to where you learned that? I'm so glad this has helped your kids! My son was greatly helped by vision therapy, and I too waited because of concerns over whether it was "legit" or not, and because of the expense. But our results were similar--no longer running into everything/tripping over everything, could catch & throw, could read faster and more accurately and so on. It was definitely worth it in our case.

 

And I know just what you mean about being able to focus long enough for the eye exam. I had one optometrist tell me flat out that my son didn't have a convergence issue because his eyes could focus for the length of his test. I explained to him that he couldn't keep them focused, and that I'd actually seen it (one eye would actually go out and then come back in again--no wonder he read the ends of words in the middle of words, left out syllables and words, lost his place...). The opt. still wouldn't believe me.

 

In our case, the VT was very willing to work with us, let us do a lot of therapy at home & check in once a month for new exercises after evaluating his progress with the previous ones. It was a lot of work, but night & day difference, and I'm glad we spent the time and money to do this. I only wish I hadn't been scared off early on and that I'd done it sooner. Although I wouldn't have had the $$$ sooner either...just glad we finally did it!

 

Merry :-)