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Reading and Vision - 10/6/2009 3:49:32 PM
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cynthia
Posts: 7015
Joined: 3/31/2005
From: Beautiful Puget Sound Region
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Mr. Manly has had trouble with reading. He is now ten and I decided to take him in for a developmental eye exam. He has had an eye exam in the past and was fine, but due to his continued reading problems, I took him in for a much more extensive test. It was covered by my insurance and cost me the exact same amount as a regular eye exam. I now kick myself for not having done this earlier. This post is to encourage anyone with young children to have this kind of exam rather than the usual exam. It includes the same testing as a regular eye exam, plus much more.
During the eye exam, it was discovered that Mr. Manly has trouble with “eye teaming,” which means his eyes are not working together. Here is a link to a site with a great explanation on this problem.
Reading and Vision.
Due to Mr. Manly’s other strong willed child issues, it didn’t occur to me that his reading problems had anything to do with vision. Now I wish that when I took the kids in for eye exams before that I would have taken all of them in have the developmental eye exam instead of the regular kind. If I had done that 2 ½ years ago, he would probably be over this by now.
The optometrist prescribed glasses to help his eyes work together better even though his vision is fine. This is because one eye is stronger than the other. His prescription is very low, but it should help his eyes work together better. She also prescribed exercises that we can do at home three times per day. She will do a follow up in four months to see if the problem is corrected. If not, she will prescribe more exercises, but she thinks this will correct his problem and he won’t need glasses or exercises anymore after that.
All this to say that I think it would be good for parents to take their children in for a developmental eye exam in kindergarten or first grade rather than for a regular eye exam. Most insurance covers it as a regular office visit, if you have vision coverage.
_____________________________
My husband and I have a motto:
We are the leader. We are one.
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/6/2009 4:19:00 PM
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boolee
Posts: 76
Joined: 8/17/2009
From: smyrna, Ga
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My girl who is now 11, had the same problem as your son. She couldn't figure out how to read. We found out that she also had eye teaming problems and went to vision therapy twice a week for 9 months. The problem was she was only seeing the words as letters and not processing what she saw with her eyes. I can't say enough good things about vision therapy.
Within 3 weeks of vision therapy she could recognize some words and by 6 weeks was reading simple sentences. She was finally reading good at about 3 or 4 months into therapy. Now she is in 6th grade and is doing great and is on level.
Don't feel bad though even though I know how you feel. It is never too late to get help for vision problems. I didn't know what to do for my girl but were very blessed to meet a vision therapist at a local restaurant and he said to bring her in sometime and he would check her out, Otherwise, I am afraid she would still be struggling with reading.
I don't know how to do links but you can check out Dr. Cook's website at cookvisiontherapy.com and they may even send you his book about vision therapy.
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/6/2009 9:41:34 PM
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cynthia
Posts: 7015
Joined: 3/31/2005
From: Beautiful Puget Sound Region
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Thanks ladies. I really wish I had known how easy it was to have this done. I would never had made an appointment with a regular eye doctor. We only have one developmental optometrist in our area. I made this appointment in June. It seemed like this was only something normally done if you notice a vision problem, but now I realize that this should be routine.
_____________________________
My husband and I have a motto:
We are the leader. We are one.
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/6/2009 9:53:56 PM
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W.O.F.
Posts: 1653
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From: an ignoble beginning
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I agree that it is a good exam to have...but have to agree that you cannot beat yourself up over it.
A lot of children who have eye teaming problems DO learn to read just fine...I was one of them...but it is due to also have astigmatism. It counterbalanced the effect. I ended up however, with an eye that couldn't see well, because it over worked itself.....so it is not odd that you would not connect not reading with vision issues as deep as his vision issues are either.
And...as you have pointed out...Mr. Manly is very strong willed.....
You did what you could when you could...and that is all any of us can ever do!
_____________________________
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, "Oh no, she's awake."
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/6/2009 10:54:51 PM
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creationtalk
Posts: 480
Joined: 6/9/2005
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Cynthia,
Thank you so much for your post and the link. I think that you have possibly given me the tools I need to help my son. My son struggles with reading. I took him to an eye doctor 2 years ago and he was put in glasses--mostly magnifying--which my son refuses to wear. He lost the first pair ($300+), so I have not made it a big issue, knowing if I forced it, he would simply lose the second pair as well.
Anyway, I've noticed a few things--he has more trouble with reading if it is late in the day or if he has done his other subjects first (problems increase when his eyes are tired). He sometimes mixes up lines of text--I made a guide that, if used, allows only one line of text to show up at a time. This helps him a lot. He understands phonics and can spell words that he cannot read. If I break words into syllables (draw lines or cover parts) it helps. He struggles with reading small text.
I have/had some of the vision problems described in the link, so if there is a genetic component to the occurrence of these problems, he could have them too.
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/6/2009 11:09:37 PM
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cynthia
Posts: 7015
Joined: 3/31/2005
From: Beautiful Puget Sound Region
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Yep, I took Mr. Manly in for an eye exam and his vision was pronounced perfect. The normal eye exam only covers a small portion of what a developmental eye exam does. This appointment lasted for two hours and covered a whole bunch of things that the other exam didn’t. Who knew?! I didn’t realize that there is a whole battery of testing that looks for completely different things in how the eyes are working. I am thankful that I found this out and hope that it will help others to have this done even if they don’t think there is a problem. It’s worth it.
I am surprised at how little it has cost us; $30 co-pay for the appointment and $50 for the glasses. Our insurance covered part of the glasses, but even without insurance the glasses would have only been less than $60 and that includes insurance for breakage. The eye exercises are very simple. The optometrist gave us a demonstration, then a sheet of instructions to reinforce the demonstration. We will have a follow up to be sure it is corrected. If he needs further therapy, it sounds like the exercises can also be done at home, although some children do need outside help.
I hope you can get some help for your son, Creation. It sounds like he is experiencing problems that can be corrected.
_____________________________
My husband and I have a motto:
We are the leader. We are one.
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/6/2009 11:35:08 PM
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OneOfHisJewels
Posts: 2624
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From: out of the everywhere into here
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quote:
Then when she got her glasses and we stepped out into a shopping center with one tree in the center, the look on her face as she brightened up and said "Oh Mommy, that's sooooooo pretty!!!"... I felt so bad...she had never seen leaves before. All she saw was a big green and brown blob.
I remember that feeling. Sarah, do you or Paul wear glasses?
_____________________________
Wizard's rule #1 .People can be stupid and willfully deceived (that's from the book, not the show)..slightly edited for CW
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/7/2009 12:25:04 AM
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OneOfHisJewels
Posts: 2624
Joined: 8/9/2007
From: out of the everywhere into here
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Ok, that makes sense. I thought neither of you did, and vision is often hereditary. My parents are both blind bats, and hence, so are all of us (I have contacts, though, apparently you do too?).
_____________________________
Wizard's rule #1 .People can be stupid and willfully deceived (that's from the book, not the show)..slightly edited for CW
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/7/2009 9:14:59 AM
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Mrs.Wifey
Posts: 3423
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: The Gorgeous plains of Colorado
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quote:
ORIGINAL: cynthia
Thanks ladies. I really wish I had known how easy it was to have this done. I would never had made an appointment with a regular eye doctor. We only have one developmental optometrist in our area. I made this appointment in June. It seemed like this was only something normally done if you notice a vision problem, but now I realize that this should be routine.
This is an interesting post, Cynthia. When DD had her formal development evaluation one of the things they checked was her vision, not so much her ability to see but tracking skills, etc... She was weak in tracking to one side but we chalked it up to her age and not paying much attention. I guess I'll have a formal eval done to make sure it isn't something else.
_____________________________
Ryanne- trying hard to be my husband's girlfriend and my daughter's mother.
I'll keep my guns, freedom, and money- you can keep "the change."
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/7/2009 8:30:25 PM
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boolee
Posts: 76
Joined: 8/17/2009
From: smyrna, Ga
Status: offline
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Video games are also excellent for eye-hand coordination. They also stimulate the brain.
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/8/2009 9:01:27 AM
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W.O.F.
Posts: 1653
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: an ignoble beginning
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quote:
ORIGINAL: peculiar_lady2
yeah sorry...I was talking about with the video game.
Either way, the child needs to be under the direction of a competent dr to see what methods would work for their type of eye problems. (I say competent because we have btdt with idiot dr's...all they helped with was stress. One had us patching my daughters eye when her issue was not muscular it was vision related)
We had a doctor try to do that to me when I was younger, he was a specialist supposedly, but our regular physician and eye doctor were like "NO...the problem is that she has a double dominance brain...she is right handed but left side dominant with her eye....."
_____________________________
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, "Oh no, she's awake."
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/8/2009 11:08:58 AM
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boolee
Posts: 76
Joined: 8/17/2009
From: smyrna, Ga
Status: offline
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I was actually speaking from experience here. I had crossed-eyes for years and finally had my last surgery when I was 20. I was left with perfectly straight eyes but horrible double vision, the doctor recommended playing video games to help with my eyes learning how to work together and also help with adjusting to double vision. It took quit awhile but it worked. I wasn't playing 2 hours a day or anything like that but about 30 minutes when I got a chance. It took about 2 years for my double vision to get almost no existent . If you get a chance to visit cookvisiontherapy.com this is an excellent site that explains eye teaming and other vision related problems.
< Message edited by boolee -- 10/8/2009 11:16:02 AM >
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RE: Reading and Vision - 10/8/2009 8:17:40 PM
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boolee
Posts: 76
Joined: 8/17/2009
From: smyrna, Ga
Status: offline
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I totally agree that anything done should be under a Dr's care.
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