Alli and I have done about 20 minutes of her therapy today and most of it went ok, but she does NOT like the eye patch. One eye (I am pretty sure her left) does much more work, so for all her activities she has to wear a patch and do the activity with just one eye at a time to strengthen them separately before trying to get them to work together.
One of the exercises is to use 2 different powered lenses and then read a page full of pairs of letter (the picture above and the lenses are below)
So she reads 2 letters with one lens (power +2) in front of that eye then i switch to the other lens (power -4) and she reads the next pair of letters, over and over for 2.5 minutes. So she is continually having to refocus her eyes. With her left eye this was challenging but she could do 22 pairs of letters in 2.5 minutes. Then I switched to her right eye (patching the left eye) and she said, "But how am I supposed to do this when there are two lines of everything" I asked her to explain and she said, "all the letters have two of them, like this kn says kn right next to it, like there are 2." This just breaks my heart, no wonder she has not learned to read yet.
So I told her to just do her best and within one minute she is very slowly doing the pairs and she is shaking, her eye is turning red and tears are coming out of it. But she didnt stop, she just kept reading the pairs of letters. She was able to do 15 of them, and when the timer went off she pulled the patch off and burst into tears.
I just held her and cried with her. This is going to be so hard. Keep us in your thoughts.
Jenny, I cried with you. These are the lessons in fortitude that are so difficult for me to watch my kids go through. Your empathy cushions her experience.
ReplyDeleteI am crying reading this. It must be so stressful for you both. I will keep you in my thoughts and send as much love and support I can muster. Hang in there Jenny!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I told Indigo a little about Alli's challenge and here is what she said, "Alli is a
tough girl and I bet she can do it."
Hello Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI noticed that you linked to my site in another post, and then read this post on your vision therapy experience and wondered about something you described.
You say that Alli claims to see double when her left eye is patched. Please be sure to mention that to your vision therapy provider. Here's why: Usually double vision occurs when both eyes are open, but are not focused on the same spot on the page. The only way I can explain double vision using only one eye is that she has an astigmatism in that eye. If so, I'm surprised it hasn't been picked up by a regular eye exam, but maybe her vision has been so confused that an astigmatism has been hard to pick up?
All astigmatism means is that the lens of the eye is irregularly shaped, and it's very common. However, hers might be so bad that it caused her brain to begin favoring the input from the other eye, a phenomenon called suppression. That is, she was suppressing the input from the astigmatic eye to reduce the confusion.
I might be wrong about the astigmatism, but be sure and tell your developmental optometrist about the double vision when Alli is using only one eye. I can't explain it any other way other than astigmatism, but there might be a different explanation for it. If that eye is astigmatic, however, then Alli should probably have the astigmatism corrected (with glasses) before proceeding with more vision therapy, because I doubt that VT will correct astigmatism (since it involves the shape of the lens itself, and not the eye muscles.)
It sound like you're on the right track going with vision therapy, but it's a confusing area for a parent to deal with. Alli might just have provided you some key information on what's going on with her vision, information that the optometrist should be made aware of, just in case it's a key piece of the puzzle.
(I've also asked an OD I know about this and will get back if I find out anything useful. Good luck!)
Rod
Hi again, Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI've heard back from the OD, and an astigmatism is possible. I suppose it's also possible that the exercises might make a difference, but if I were you I'd be asking Alli if she's still seeing two sets of letters with the right eye. (She might still be seeing two, but knows what to do and is just reading one of them each time.)
If she continues to see two images using only one eye, I'd definitely mention that to your eye doctor, not just the vision therapist, as it's possible that she should have the astigmatism corrected (with glasses) before continuing with the VT exercises. (That's just my opinion, not the OD I spoke with, by the way. The OD didn't comment on that, but just stated that it could be due to astigmatism.) It's possible that a new therapist hasn't encountered something like this before which is why I'd be sure to talk to the OD as well.
Incidentally, I do have an astigmatic right eye, and without glasses, I can definitely see two relatively clear images, although in my case they overlap, so what she's seeing is possible, and might be persisting even though she's not mentioning it anymore.
I look forward to following Alli's progress, by the way. And I'm glad you figured out that VT might be a missing piece of the puzzle. I just wish more people realized that, as i believe vision skills problems are responsible for the bulk of the cases we call "dyslexia."
Jenny, I got a more definitive response after I wrote the previous comment:
ReplyDeleteFrom the OD: "Yes, I correct significant astigmatism before VT... no question about it! You are right on! They should definitely bring this to attention at their next session!"
Hi Rod,
ReplyDeleteThank you for all your comments and helpful information. The Dr doing Alli's VT is also the Dr who did her eye exam so i will ask her if she checked for this at her next appt on Thursday.
Alli and I just finished the activity where she said she saw double the first time and I asked her when i patched her left eye, "How many oi's are there" and she said, "One" then i asked her if she saw two of any of the other letters in the top row (covering the rest of the page)and she said i see them blurry, i focus hard and I see them.
I will let you know if she has astigmatism on Thursday. Thanks again!!
We have a 13 year old son and is reading on a 1st grade level. We have spent sooooo much money on testings, different phonic programs, etc. and so far nothing has worked. We have homeschooled 3 other children and have never had this type
ReplyDeleteof challenge.
I was introduced to this idea of vision therapy and made an appt last week. Today we have to make the decision of whether to spend this huge amt of money or not.
So thank you for your blog and encouragment with the success of your daughter.
After much prayer and research, I believe this therapy might just do the trick.