HOW VISION THERAPY CHANGED ALLI'S LIFE

Jill is on the left holding a book that Alli could not read 6 months ago......Alli is holding a story she can read now, after 130 hours of Vision Therapy.  She had no other intervention, no reading tutoring, no resource classes, no speech therapy.  Her and I worked HARD for 20 weeks, 130 hours, often 90 minutes a day.....and now she can read, actually not only can she read, she says

MY WHOLE WORLD IS CLEAR NOW!!

My name is Jenny Johnston and I am hoping you have found this page because you have a child, or know of a child who is struggling to read.  My daughter, Alli,  has struggled to learn to read from the time we started homeschooling in kindergarten.  For such a BRIGHT kid, I did not understand why she was unable to read even the most simple sentences.  She could tell me words on flash cards (about 50 of them), but with the same words in a book, she would stare at the page as if it was written in a foreign language.

There were other problems too (LOTS OF THEM).   

CLICK HERE  ...... to read a full history of the signs of Alli's vision problems from EARLY, EARLY (8 months old - 4 years old and on)....which I did not realize were vision issues until this diagnosis...


She was ALWAYS exhausted doing schoolwork.  She was not capable of working for more than 10 - 15 minutes at a time.  When she had to copy a 5 word sentence for her daily lesson, she would be fine for about 5 minutes and then get incredibly tired, her eyes would be bloodshot and she would yawn endlessly.  It was heartbreaking, but I had no idea WHY this was happening.  I could see why kids were labeled ADD and LAZY, although I never said this to her, thank goodness.

I am proud to say that now,  six months later, she no longer has any of these problems.   Actually, our whole world has been changed all because of Vision Therapy.  We have completed over 130 hours of Vision Therapy and I think the results speak for themselves.  

The most astounding results come from her being screened for Dyslexia using the Dyslexia Determination Test (DDT) test.  Six months ago (at the end of 1st grade) the results of the DDT showed:

• Lower than Pre-Primer reading level (Alli tested so low, she could not even be given a level)
• She could identify only 40% of the words on a PRESCHOOL sight list
• She could spell phonetically only 30% of the time, and only 1 syllable words
• She was INCREDIBLY frustrated taking the test - stomping her foot and hitting her hand on the table
• These results of the DDT suggested that Alli had signs for all 3 types of dyslexia.

Six Months ago, Alli could not read this without struggling and becoming tired....

Last Friday - 5.5  months later, she was screened using this same test again (DDT). The outcome is much different. (Remember she will be STARTING 2nd grade)

• She was one word away from a 3rd grade reading level
• ABLE to identify 76% of the words up through 3rd grade
• 60% of words up through 3rd grade were spelled phonetically correct including several 2 syllable words
• No frustration at all. She simply worked hard and sounded out the words.
• These results of the DDT suggest that Alli has no signs of dyslexia.

(Please note: I am not saying Vision Therapy "cured" her dyslexia. I think it is more accurate to say that she was never dyslexic.   Her problems were vision related.)

This is a story she can read to me now.

If you would like to know more about this journey I have created a blog post that summarizes most of Alli's story,  From beginning to end.   If you want to read Alli's entire journey, please follow this link

FIXING ALLI'S EYES

If you would like to know even more about Vision Therapy I have created a new blog that contains all of this information, plus more....

ALLI'S VISION THERAPY STORY

If you think your child might have a vision problem there is a thorough self test at this SITE.  It is a PDF file that you download.  There is an adult version and a child version.  It evaluates everything from learning to read, getting it on paper, coordination, attention.... (alli Pre-VT scored 184....a vision test is recommended with a score of 31 or more!!)

I encourage you, PLEASE,  to share this link with as many people as you can.  I find it discouraging that MOST people have never heard of Vision Therapy and I would like that to change. 

 I tried EVERYTHING with Alli, to try and get her reading: I made games and puzzles, I bought every phonics book in the world, I read to her for HOURS every day, but none of that was going to fix the fact that she could not use her eyes correctly to SEE the things I was showing her.  Vision Therapy did exactly that.   I will end with her words

MY WORLD IS CLEAR NOW!

Updated to add a link to ONE YEAR LATER (another wonderful update)