Vision Therapy

As most of you know, Alli has not had her "Ah-Ha" moment with reading.  While she LOVES being read to (for hours at a time!!!) she does not show a matched interest in learning to read.  A year ago we got her glasses for up close and it seemed to help, but still, my "mommy-gut-feeling" that something else was amiss, just would not go away.  

What I see as her teacher is a very bright girl who is floundering between what she KNOWS in her head and what she is able to DO on paper.  For example, she can tell me, verbally,  that 6 times 2 is 12, but that same problem on a piece of paper....
6 X 2 = 

and she will stare blankly at it unless I read it to her.  So, even though all the eye doctors said she can see fine now, I took her to a doctor who specializes in vision processing problems.  Guess what she found:


OCULAR MOTILITY (Eye Movement Skills): Below normal  
Poor eye movements may account for loss of place when reading. Eye movement skills are also necessary for copying from the board or book, and for searching for specific information on a page. Inefficient eye movements can make homework and other tasks take longer than they should.
  • The ability to track a moving target was moderately inaccurate and inefficient for her age and accompanied by frequent loss of fixation.  
ACCOMMODATIVE SKILLS (Focusing): Results below normal
Allison’s ability to focus clearly on near objects was below normal. Accommodative facility, the ability to make rapid and accurate changes in focus for different distances, was also below normal in the right eye and in the left eye. When tested with both eyes open, Allison could not use both eyes together, she suppressed an eye. Accuracy of focusing was decreased: When looking at a close object, Allison's focus lagged behind the object of interest.  when forced to increase her focus as evaluated in “accommodative skills” she is unable to use her eyes well together.

VISION DEVELOPMENT AND PERCEPTION: Mixed
Performance was mixed. Responses for questions in two categories (related to telling left and right on someone facing you) expected for 7 year-olds were incorrect. However, Allison correctly answered questions in a category for 11 year-olds.
  • Overall, Allison has strong visual perceptual skills (63rd percentile overall). She demonstrated particular strengths in visual discrimination (84th percentile), visual memory (63rd percentile), spatial relationships (91st percentile), sequential memory (95th percentile), figure ground (63rd percentile)
She was below average, but within one standard deviation in visual closure (37th percentile). 
  • Visual closure - fill in missing pieces of images with the mind’s eye.
 Form constancy was a relative weakness (2nd percentile)
  •  form constancy – recognize a figure when it changes size or is in a different position



This is just a summary of the most stand out items.  

HERE is a link to her entire testing report.

What it means for us is that Alli starts vision therapy on Thursday.  Once a week for probably 12 weeks solid, until we leave for summer vacation.  We have to do exercises at home daily.  It is possible that she is going to start having headaches and visual discomfort as she learns to use her eyes in a new way.  



As I type this Shane is outside playing a ball game with the girls. Apparently,  Alli has never been able to catch a ball because she cant keep it in focus as it moves towards her.   The visual skills Alli will develop during vision therapy, the ability to track a moving object with her eyes, focusing, and visual motor integration skills will also help her learn to catch a ball and feel more confident playing sports with her peers.   I am so excited to see how Alli's therapy changes her life.  My main concern was that she could not read, but now I am seeing that improving her visual skills can change her whole life.  When can we start!!! 







1 comment:

  1. Jenny, what a blessing to have diagnosis and a competent specialist to manage her care! The diagnosis is so fascinating. I'm curious about how much of this you are sharing with Alli?

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