Developmental Optometrist?

My son had tracking, convergence problems - and I don’t question that these problems exist. He did vision therapy at $30/session for 6 months. He improved in their testing and exercises. However, it didn’t seem to translate into his reading skills. I also have the computer software, but it requires 30 min/day and gives him a headache and is boring and is on top of other homework time. Needless to say, he’s never gotten very far with it - maybe 4 sessions, so I can’t speak to that. I’d be interested in hearing others’ experience here.

I think that we have to look at the vision therapy as only one piece of a puzzle. Visual tracking and convergence problems result in lost learning time. Getting the vision therapy doesn’t magically make everything right. What it DOES do is put your child in the position of being able to learn because the visual problem has now been corrected.

I like to think of it as akin to Ritalin for an ADHD individual. The Ritalin only makes the person ready to focus. Well, vision therapy does the same thing. It solves one problem that was interfering with the ability to take in information. You still have a child who may have some bad habits, perhaps some self-esteem issues, etc. You also still have a child who’s probably not reading very well, and maybe comprehending little. Now those areas can be remediated. Vision therapy isn’t magical; the hard work on the child’s part still has to be done. You still have to have a good teacher. You still need one-on-one tutoring. None of that goes away once the vision therapy’s been completed.

I’ve seen vision therapy be successful in a couple kids. But they’re the ones who’ve worked privately with tutors once they’ve finished the therapy. I’ve seen others who’ve had the vision therapy but not the tutoring. They’re not so successful.

MaryMN is a frequent poster here, her daughter has had success with vision therapy, she also is homeschooling her daughter. Perhaps do a search on the bulletin board and see if you can find some backdated posts from her. She may also answer this question herself when she comes on board.

we followed it up with cognitive training. VT is excellent for developing sensory/motor vision skills, but it doesn’t do a very good job of developing visual processing skills — the next layer of vision development. Visual processing skills include things such as visual sequencing, visual short-term memory, visual pattern recognition, processing speed, etc.

We did PACE (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement, http://www.learninginfo.com), which is expensive. A very good, inexpensive, home-based alternative to PACE is Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com).

My daughter also had severe phonological delays. For that we used Phono-Graphix (http://www.readamerica.net).

In all, my daughter went from reading at a preschool level at age 8-1/2 to reading on a fluent 5th grade level at age 10 (after vision therapy, PACE, and a Phono-Graphix intensive). Now, at age 11, with no further interventions, she reads at a beginning 7th grade level.

VT alone isn’t enough for some children.

Mary

including information about clinical research studies that support it.

http://www.vision-therapy.com/vt_research_studies.htm

http://www.childrensvision.com

Mary