Vision Therapy - what to expect?

[Spryte]

Hi,

 

DS (8) has just been diagnosed with bipolar fusion disorder, diplopia, and an eye movement disorder.  He's going to be starting VT in Aug.  Therapy has been recommended weekly, for a year.

 

We have a meeting to discuss this with the doc in Aug, but in the meantime - what can we expect, generally?  When might we see improvements?  (I know everyone is different, but some hope would be nice.)  He's been prescribed a pair of glasses to wear only indoors, for several hours a day, and for school.

 

Also, at what age does one generally catch these types of disorders?  Are we late catching this?  DS has been tested by a psych, just after 1st grade, and psych testing came back that he is PG  (they did the WISC-IV, and the Woodcock Johnson, among others).  But I was concerned about his reading, obviously, and the reading issues have only become more apparent with age.  I hate thinking that we didn't catch this earlier.  I suspected an issue, but friends and family just kept reassuring me that he's a late bloomer wrt reading, and that it would all click.  Are we late catching this?

 

Thanks for sharing any experience, advice, thoughts.

 

 

[PeterPan]

Yes, there's crap floating around that you'll get labelled with vision problems unnecessarily, wait, it all goes away, blah blah... If its any consolation (small) you're starting therapy WAY before we did, and we're fine. I think it's AWESOME that you've caught it this early!!! Five years from now you'll look back and see that, even though it doesn't FEEL like it now. And the merciful thing is you've caught it at all. Many people never get it checked and just have to live with the resulting problems. Some people have finances that hold them up indefinitely. So you're blessed to be going forward like this!

 

As far as what to expect, we'll I was going to joke and reply weight gain and going through a lot of chocolate, but I don't think you feel very fun or funny about this. Honestly I'm not familiar with those labels. Maybe someone else is? Seems to me you've got a good doc if he could sort through all that. It doesn't sound run of the mill.

 

I think it's going to be a long year but a good one in the end. I think you should plan in flexibility to roll with what comes.i think you should focus on making good out of it that you can. We had to travel for our vt, and it left her very headachy, so we tried to do fun trips afterward, like a cavern tour or exploring a new town or eating ice cream. We let formal academics slide and then went through a surge for about 6 months afterward when she made leaps. So I wouldn't be afraid to do WHATEVER it takes to get through it.

 

And you know, maybe your kid will go through it swimmingly , can't say. Whatever happens, you can always post here to talk about it. :)

 

ps. i gave my kid marshmallows every day and Lego sets as bribery.

[Spryte]

:lol: Chocolate doesn't sound too bad, though I don't particularly want the weight gain part!  Oh, and can I just mention that the price tag of all this made me reach for the chocolate, right after this  :svengo: .

 

 

 

Thanks, it helps tremendously to hear from someone who's been there.  I'm glad to know that we're not terribly late in getting this sorted out.  I actually feel lucky in that we didn't bounce from doc to doc looking for answers, like some do.  Thanks to this board, and our local homeschooling group - we got our psych eval, then waited, then went the developmental optometrist route.  It helped that DS could articulate that the words were "running" on the page, too.  Still, he's 9, and I wish we'd caught it earlier.  But you made my, "I'm a bad mommy for not catching this sooner!" reflex a bit better.  Thank you.

 

Headachy?  Oh no.  Did your DD feel headachy during her therapy session or only afterward?  I am worried about DS rebelling if it's too hard.  The office staff seems very good with kids though, so maybe I should stop that worry in its tracks and just trust that they know what they are doing.  I'll plan for bribery, too.  :)  

 

Thanks for mentioning flexibility this year, too.  It's July, and of course I'm in the midst of planning for the upcoming year, so knowing that we may need flexibility is good.  I will plan that in.  And hope for the best!  It hadn't occurred to me that this might impact our day to day re: schoolwork.  But it should have.

 

It is such a relief to hear from someone who's done this.  Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sixpence1978]

We went through VT for 9 months when my DD was 7.  I wish I could say we had huge improvements from it like some other ladies, but we only got minor results.  Then again, my DD tested as having only minor vision problems, so that was probably the reason.

 

We went once a week and my DD loved her therapist.  They would do the exercises and play different "games" that we weren't able to do at home.  We did have homework to do 5x a week.  That left us only one day a week where we didn't have any VT.  It was pretty tough getting through the homework.  We almost always did it first thing in the morning and it usually took us about 30-45 minutes.  I did have to bribe her to do the work, she hated doing it.  Sometimes we would even challenge dad and brother to try some of the exercises so she wasn't the only one.

 

The early part of therapy for us focused mostly on eye movements, tracking, etc.  Later therapy included more visual processing work that was a bit harder for my DD.  We did have more relaxed academics that year.  We basically did not do anything beyond the three Rs.  History was mostly just me reading some library books and science was mostly nature walks and videos.  I also relaxed a bit on her writing during that time.  We worked on some letter formation, but I scribed for her a lot on her longer assignments.

 

I don't think my DD felt headachy but she did get more tired and irritable, especially on some weeks where the work was harder or longer.

 

Hope that helps and good luck.

[Spryte]

Sixpence, thanks, that does help.  If the homework is more difficult to endure we can live with that.  Bribery will be helpful.  I'm hoping the in office sessions will stay somewhat fun to keep him going strong.  

 

It's helpful to hear that this may make him tired or irritable.  It's good to have some warning.  And if it doesn't it will be a pleasant surprise.  

 

 

[Guest rvill]

I have been a vision therapist for over 15 years. Eight years old is definitely not too late to begin vision therapy.  In fact, we have had many high school and adult patients who have made excellent progress with our program. The best thing that your son will learn is that his struggles are not related to intelligence, but can be attributed to his eyes not working well together. This information alone helps tremendously in terms of improving his confidence. I relate it to asking a person to run a race on a sprained ankle. Once his eyes are working together and he is no longer seeing double, he will have a new attitude towards reading. In the first few weeks of therapy, you should see improved gross motor and fine motor movements. Within the first couple months as his diplopia is resolved he will stop complaining about reading and other near-work. 

 

Please visit www.covd.org for more information.

 

Also, if you are on Facebook, please look up https://www.facebook.com/groups/VTparentsunite/ to hear from other parents who are going through VT.

Best to you and your son!

Ruth

[Spryte]

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Ruth.