vision therapy

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Has anyone tried vision therapy?

My son is a good reader but often pauses while reading. He tells me he is waiting for it to stop getting blurry. He has also mentioned print moving off the page. He also has trouble changing focus between desk and board. He has a terrible time with worksheets and handwriting. He has many dyslexia type traits with spelling and writing, but can read well so long as there aren't too many words on one page (but tires easily). He is in 2nd grade.

Temple Grandin specifically talks about this. Her recommendation is to go get a pair of colored sun glasses, with the actual lens being tinted (seriously). Apparently that has helped tons of people and the print stops jiggling.

Have you taken him to an eye doctor?

Because I was born legally blind - ocular albinism - and some of the things he says sound like vision problems to me. In fact, I've even "seen" something I might describe as print moving off the page if I were his age. Trouble changing focus also sounds like an eye problem to me.

we have had some success with the purple colored overlays that you put over the page, but it is not completely solving his problems. we have taken him to an opthamologist who did an eye exam beyond the yearly exam you usually get and nothing is structurally wrong with his eyes. the developmental optometrist is not pursuing any kind of colored lenses... she will basically do something similar to occupational therapy, but more focused on the eyes. it is not covered by insurance because it is not "proven"

What does he say? Does he seem to have trouble seeing anything other than words? At a distance? When you watch him doing things that would require good vision, what's your gut instinct?

(Yes, I distrust "professionals". I was born with ocular albinism. Since my eyes were crossed, everyone could figure out something was "wrong" with me, and I had my first eye appointment when I was about a year old, with many, many more to follow. Ocular albinism causes light sensitivity - a physical issue, not a sensory one - so I would recoil when they tried shining lights in my eyes. I saw half the opthamologists in my part of the state and no one could figure much out - and it took until I was in third grade, and a noted specialist at Mass. Eye & Ear, to figure out I was legally blind. And even he didn't get all the details right. He never mentioned OA, just 'strabismus' and 'nystagmus', both of which are symptoms of OA, and told me my vision would get worse when I was about thirty. It didn't. I was fifty one before someone finally put all the pieces together, and things that had never made sense to me finally did.)

I am not saying your son has OA. He probably doesn't have that; it is rare and it is almost certain you'd see something "wrong" with his eyes. But my experience suggests, first, that not nearly everyone with a degree knows as much as they're supposed to, and, second, that either unusual conditions or the disconnect between someone on the spectrum and the rest of the world - or both - can throw off their diagnoses.

Now, it could also be dyslexia, or some other odd quirk of autism. I wouldn't rule that out by any means. But I'd find out whatever you can from him, and observe him yourself, and see what you think is most likely. Because doctors do not always understand us, and at least in my experience, we are outside the norm in other ways as well. The opthamologists were not the only ones to make mistakes when examining me, not by any means. One doctor removing wax from my ear ignored my screams, and left me with blood pouring out of one ear when I was ten (I discovered this when I reached my hand up to scratch it because it was itchy, and my hand came away covered with blood - he never apologised to me for hurting me or calling me a crybaby, just turned to my mother and asked "How was I supposed to know he had hair in his ears?"). This type of treatment - and completely missing important details - has been my experience with most doctors all my life.

Is that like the Irlen system? It seems legit. I just ordered some of their products. I found their web site to be helpful in legitimizing the reading difficulties that I have.

A doctor should be able to tell you how your child's problems can be corrected. I know of two people who have been greatly helped by vision therapy after a dr recommended it. One was an extremely shy girl. Vision therapy was extremely difficult for her, but the difference it made in her life was astounding. After a few months, she was no longer shy and was a much happier girl.

My husband also has benefitted from 12 years of vision therapy. He wasn't able to read until 5th grade, after he started vision therapy.

I would investigate the Irlen lenses as well. Donna Williams mentions them in one of her books. You might ask the developmental optomitrist whether he or she is familiar with them and why your child would or wouldn't be a candidate.

she has not mentioned the sensory part of vision/Irlen syndrome at all... he has perfect distance vision... and can see near too... so his eyesight is good...the problem is with his eyes moving together and smoothly... she says the burryness he experiences is because (intermittently) his eyes are not converging at the same point and his brain is getting 2 different images of the same thing, thus blurryness as if you put 2 pictures on top of each other but did not align them correctly... the things i notice at home outside of reading and writing (reversals- will say a letter is "r" whether it is forwards or backwards-does not distinguish the right or wrong way- and random spelling-sometimes correct in one spot and incorrect on same page in another spot, setting up an addition problem misaligned and with the plus sign in the middle of numbers instead of to the left) are like that he will stand 6 inches from the TV and step around to follow his wii character on the screen.... everything she says makes complete sense with what I see at home, but i am wondering if the therapy is effective or if this is something that will be helped with OT/getting caught up developmentally anyway or if this is all just "dyslexia" and can't be helped at all, other than compensating phonics strategies that i don't think will work in his case... if anyone has been through this sort of vision therapy i would really appreciate whether you thought it was helpful or a waste of time and money...

he already has gone from putting legos together in the opposite place as the diagram (upper right instead of lower left) after a year of OT and i want to be hopeful that vision therapy will help everything further and faster, but i have read so many mixed opinions between opthamologists and developmental optometrists on the internet on its effectiveness that i would really like if anyone on this site had any opinions because i know i can trust everyone here...

I know someone who's kid had vision therapy. She felt it was beneficial. My brother's MIL worked in an office that provided it. She said she saw a number of kids helped over the years.

Does anyone have any links to empirically based studies (outside of the Irlen family) to support perceptual vision issues and treatment?