Anyone on here have a child who has to wear an eye patch?

[tiredemma]

Ds2 has recently started wearing glasses (around april time) for astigmatism in his left eye. His eyesight is massively reduced in this eye, even with glasses.

Had a check up today, the glasses dont seem to be helping much, he is using his right eye (which is not so great either, but stronger than the other eye)to see. Therefore the Opthalmist (is that the right term??) has decided that he needs to wear and eye patch for four hours a day.

Im really concerned about this- surely he is going to struggle at school if he cant see the white board correctly- all these things are running through my mind, that and the fact that he just doesnt want to wear the patch.

some success stories from you would be great, I feel sad because he is sad about it, yet I know that its all for his long term benefit.

My friend's DD had to waer one. She wore it for an hour before school and then when she got home, as she was worried about being teased I think some bribery was used (In a" wear it every single day this week and we can get a treat at the end" type thing)

Her DD is 6 now, and AFAIAA, she doesn't need it any more and her eye has improved

DD1 had patching for the whole of Y1 iirc.

Her eyesight in the weaker eye was so poor that when she went for the original test she not only couldn't read the letters on the chart, but she couldn't see that there was a chart.

We also did the patching for four hours a day. Put it on before they go to school, and they can take it off at lunchtime. They're meant to be doing close work while wearing the patch, so literacy/numeracy hour is ideal. Also the eye will work harder in the morning than when they're tired. Just alert the teacher to the potential issues, so she can make sure he's sitting near the front or that she writes things on paper for him -- that's what they'd have to do for a child with a visual disability anyway, it's not a big ask.

It is hard -- you just have to make it clear that this is not up for discussion, just as you would if your child needed insulin injections for diabetes. You can negotiate about who puts the patch one, about which stickers they get as rewards, anything that helps. If she was going to a party we'd adjust the timing of the patching so that she didn't have to wear it then. And tell your child that other people (kids and adults) will stare because they're rude and ignorant and he should just stare right back. I confess I ended up giving dd1 permission to stick her tongue out at persistent starers which cheered her up no end.

On the upside, the patching did make a huge difference to dd2. She's still very short-sighted and will always need glasses, but her vision is now even. Without patching she would have lost the sight in one eye.

hth

He has to wear it for four hours a day, and im starting it tomorrow and intend to be fairly regimented with it for the rest of the holidays. His next appt is Sept 2nd, so im hoping that by being strict with hit, it should help before he goes back to school.

He said the other children will laugh at him. I will have abttle with trying to get him to wear it to school.

I had to wear one and have got the pictures to prove it. Also have a pal whose son has one and his is really funky. Took him a while to get used to it but now he really likes it and it has made a real difference to his vision given that he was on the verge of being registered as partially sighted

If he's worried about other kids laughing, have a word with the teacher before school on the first day, and ask her to explain it to the other kids. Even better, if he's a confident child, she can get him to explain it (has novelty value, as does the fact that you get time off for orthoptists appointments and they give you cute little stickers).

Dd1 wasn't teased at all at school (and she was a wobbly, shy, somewhat eccentric little character at the time). The thing that got to her more was the random staring from strangers, and well-meaning adults asking, "What have you done to your eye?" or, "Oh, you've been in the wars, haven't you?" Arggggh.

Could he decorate it a bit to make it "cooler"

And you can get quite funky ones these days I believe -- seven years ago they just looked like giant elastoplast, but someone on here posted a link to some amazing designs a while ago.

It will pass. But you do need to steel yourself to be completely firm -- if the child spots any weakness in you you'll have an ongoing battle.

Can yopu invite some of his classmates round to play in the hols while he is wearing it? H might feel a bit more comfortable if some of the kids in his class know he's going to be wearing it to school IYSWIM

Must admit, the box of 50 patches that we have been given are very funky- some are pirate designs, some football ones etc. Good idea about chatting to the teacher about it, he is very popular and very confident, so I can imagine that he would not feel phased talking about it to his class mates.

I really need to do as frogs says and be firm, he has me wrapped around his finger at the moment.

thanks for all the advice

also- he is at holiday club until the end of the week- if I tell him to wear it it there in the morning, see how he copes with the children there, it may make going back to school less scary for him