eye patch incentives

[dogblack]

I am having trouble getting my 6 year old to agree to wearing his patch after a very easy start. Any suggestions on incentive charts/rewards? Its meant to be on for 4- 6 hours a day, we have tried the sticky ones (itchy) and now have a cotton one to slip over the lens. However, he just peeps round it, nudging his glasses out the way!

Does he like pirates? You could make it more fun by making it more like dressing up and give him a black one with a skull and crossbones on it. Just a thought. It also gives it a bit more of a 'cool factor'

Did the optician/hospital provide the funky, colourful patches? DD's were always pink and flowery and there were some very cool camouflage and pirate patches for the boys (I'll skip the bit about gender stereotyping for now). I understand the problem abut itchy but that seems preferable to something that can be peeped around.

We didn't offer much in the way of rewards but tried to be very 'this is how it's going to be' about the whole business. We were, though, very lucky in that dd only had to wear hers for a couple of hours a day.

What would your son most like as a reward?

Hi my Ds age 5 has to wear his for 2 hours a day, so he has it on at 8.30am before school & takes it off at first break - around 10.30am. I think as he is busy with his friends etc he doesnt notice it as much as if he was at home asking if it was time to take it off every 5 mins! Could you do this? Also I think a routine helps so its the same every day, he knows what to expect, rather than just random times depending on what your doing.
I dont offer him a reward as such apart from lots of praise & explaining that he has to wear it for his eyes to get better

might not be up your street, but we said ds can watch tv or play on computer/ xbox - not the best parenting, but it made him wear his patch! After about 2 hrs he used to forget about wearing the patch and got bored with the tv/xbox.

He had to wear his patch for 3-4 hrs a day. Have to say, the patching worked wonders for him. Do persevere if you can. Good Luck!!
Oh, I remember cutting an extra slit in the patch to hook over the nose pad, which stopped him peering over/round the patch.

I got some really lovely ones from our NHS orthoptist. They are called Master Aid Ortopad Elite and come in really lovely designs. EVERYTHING about them is better than the old ones my 6 yr old DS had - they are softer, stick better but leave less of a red mark when removed, they are bigger so cover more of the area without ripping out eyebrows!

As far as I know (and I am not an expert in this field), there must be total occlusion for the therapy to be effective. Having a patch over the spectacles or even letting light peep in through a sticky patch can lessen the effectiveness of the therapy.

As for incentives: try reward jar (marbles, pasta) with a prize at the end of the week, or let him play on a DS or Xbox or similar. There also websites with games on for the kids that might help.

Good luck. I was in tears when DS first had to wear them. Now 20 months later there is a definite improvement in the functioning of his eye.