Validation!

About three weeks ago we met with Ben's Developmental Optometrist (OD) to discuss the results of the diagnostic testing they did on Ben.  Sure enough, Ben has serious deficiencies in Visual Memory, Tracking, Binocularity (the ability of the eyes to work together), and Suppression (turning one eye off in favor of the other eye).  Because of Ben's age, Dr. H said that Ben's eyes and visual system are still developing (versus a 7 or 8 year old whose system would already be sort of "set"), and Dr. H recommended we start with an at-home vision therapy program to get the ball rolling.

So for three months we have our workbook and as a whole family, five nights a week for at least 30 minutes, we do our "activities".  Luckily most of these activities are fun for kids.  We figured it couldn't hurt Lia to do them as well, since she is also at the age where her eyes are developing.  Here is the program we are using, although I would not recommend embarking on this journey without the help of an OD.   

The activities include things like:  bean bag toss, walking on a line (good practice for when he's drinking age), gross motor skills, balance, drawing figure 8's, stringing beads, creating things with modeling clay, popping bubbles, and more.  We've been doing them for about three weeks now.

Yesterday I met with Ben's 1st grade teacher, Mr. H, after celebrating Valentine's Day with a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds (hopped up on artificial colors and flavors - gotta love this holiday).  I asked Mr. H if he had noticed any improvement in Ben's reading over the past few weeks.  Remember - Ben's reading was below 1st grade level last time Mr. H and I met in our parent teacher conference. Mr. H said "Absolutely!".

The kids have been doing these "fluency tests" where they get a paragraph, get timed on how many words of the paragraph they can read in one minute (cold read), then they practice that same paragraph all week, and get tested again at the end of the week (hot read).  Mr. H said that before glasses (meaning before we started vision therapy) Ben was getting a 16 on his cold read.  First graders should be at a 40.  These days, Ben is getting a 61 on his cold read!!!!  Did you hear that?!?  A 61!!!  Mr. H decided to test Ben on the end of year fluency test and he scored a 38.  I am so freaking excited about this. 

We've also noticed in the past two weeks that Ben is reading everything.  He reads to his sister at the breakfast table, he reads signs as we drive by, he races through his homework reading, and he even reads now in the bathroom (such a guy thing!).  I am so excited to see what the next few months bring for Ben as we continue to do the therapy.  We haven't yet begun to do the Visual Memory activities, and this is an area in which Ben needs a lot of help. 

Yesterday I bumped into the mom of a girl Ben had in his Kindergarten class.  She asked me how Ben was doing this year - she's always loved him even when he was in trouble all the time in Kinder - and she said "Every time I see him these days he looks really happy!".  I told her about our diet, and about starting vision therapy and she said she was so happy to have bumped into me.  Her 16 year old daughter has the same problems and she wanted to know much more about what we were doing.  Nothing makes me feel better than being able to share our experiences with other moms.  It makes me SO FRUSTRATED to think how many kids are out there with these problems, that are so easily correctable, but teachers and pediatricians - even regular optometrists - don't know about or discuss these vision disorders with parents. 

My informal mission these days is to share this information with as many parents as possible, so their kids can have the success that Ben has had.  Just wait, before long I will be on the lecture circuit.

Here are a couple of pictures from "free play" after last night's vision therapy session: