vision therapy - in 2 minds

[mrsbaffled]

hello - I recently posted about having been to a behaviour optometrist. We a
will be going back in a few months and she is very likely to recommend vision therapy.
I have researched it a bit more and have taken advice from a GP friend. The opinion on here seems to be favourable, but my GP friend informs me it is not looked upon at all well by the 'conventional' medical/orthoptic community.
I really don't know what to do now! Is there anything that can be done within NHS that can help DS's tracking? I don't want to have to spend a fortune on something unreliable/unproven

Well DS is seen on the NHS by a BABO behavioural optometrist in Essex. It is slow but definitely improving!

Do you know of any other NHS ones?

I think that some universities have some Mrsbaffled...... I am sure someone went to City University.

I'm not sure that vision thearpy is unproven. You have to look at the studies very carefully to see what they were trying to prove - and whether the study was even trying to answer your question.

100% it helped my DDs vision. It's just a whole bunch of really simple eye exercises. Think OT for the eyes. Nothing in it could remotely be considered controversial.

My DS had numerous subtle vision problems, including problems crossing the midline with his eyes, which his OT picked up on and referred him to the NHS eye place.

They saw him and said come back in 6 months

During that time we did retained reflex therapy with him, which also includes similar vision exercises to what DD was doing.

Took him back to NHS eye place. They wanted to sign him off as having no problems.

I asked what about his problem crossing the mid-line?

They said he didn't have that problem.

I said, "Oh, that must be down to all the vision exercises we've been doing' .
The said "What are you talking about? Hmmm. No. He probably just grew out of it. I've never heard of a behaviour optometrist..... I don't think they work."

Eye tracking exercises:

1. Track your finger moving slowly at arms length from left to right. Do that 10 times, 10 times a day.

1. Read the first letter/word then the last letter/word of a line, down a page, for 2 minutes every night.

1. Skills EyeCanLearn

1. Move a torch slowly in figure 8s and get DC to follow the light.

etc.

Thing is, vision therapy will cure more than just tracking problems, if DC has any other vision problems as well.

I'm not impressed with the knowledge any of my GP friends have......

Indigo Thanks for that. DS will love the computer based exercises.

Thanks, all - lots of food for thought. I will look very carefully at those exercises Indigo...

I have worked in the field of SEN law for many years. I would always investigate a child with any kind of potential vision related difficulty via vision therapy. This is not the same as coloured overlays.

Look at the BABO web site www.babo.co.uk/ and that of Keith Holland www.visionandlearning.co.uk/behavioural-optometry-explained.html

Over the years I have seen some truely remarkable results.

There are pockets of NHS support for this sort of work but it is by no means mainsteam.

There was a very large study 2 or 3 years ago in Utah, I think, which looked at this and the overall conclusion was that vision therapy worked very well. After all if you cant focus on the word you are hardly likely to be able to spell it or read it. Unless of course you are just thick.

my dd was seem in essex by nhs , had to pay for typed out diagnosis as there funding is limited

Indigo DS loved the exercises Thank you!

Hannahsmummsy Colchester?

My son has just been diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency. He has struggled at school from the age of 6 years old and is still currently about two years behind. We moved him to a private school in the hope that the smaller classes would help him and also gave him extra tuition. His IQ was tested and he came out as being in the top 5% in the UK however he still could not read properly. Teachers etc looked at dyslexia but this was discounted. It was not until last week that a special needs teacher noticed his eyes straying when he focussed on close vision work that she did a basic exercise of following a figure of eight that it became obvious there was something wrong.

We took him to an NHS optician that had a reputation for picking up tracking problems and yesterday he was diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency. I am so pleased that we now have an answer to this mystery but he is also now 11 years old so we have to make up for lost time. I was hoping to try and get him into vision therapy does anyone know of anywhere in the Essex/Suffolk area please. I will also try the exercises that have been kindly listed above. I just hope that it is not to late to make up for the lost time.

This thread is very old.

There is now online vision therapy you can do which specifically targets convergence insufficiency - Engaging Eyes ( www.engagingeyes.co.uk )

Thank you so much smallcokewithice. I found the thread on a google search after getting the diagnosis yesterday, it feels like it all makes sense now. I am signing up now. Can I ask have you used this?

Yes, my Y6 DS played it at school this year.

His reading improved massively. Going from a 2b ( 3 years behind ) to a level 4 (where he should be) in one year.

mrsbaffled .. If it's possible for you to travel I think you'd benefit greatly from Ian Jordan in Scotland .. My experience :-

I'll try to be brief. Dd1 and Ds2 both have visual problems. Dd1 is now 14 and we've only just learned the extent of her problems. Basically everything she sees in a book moves constantly ... she's blagged her way through school so far and achieved VERY well. Ds2 is 9 and his words are 'puffy'. I thought they both had Irlen Syndrome. However, I took them to see Ian Jordan and they've both been diagnosed with sensory processing issues. Ds is getting blue lens glasses, dd is getting glasses with 1 green lens and 1 purple! She's really bad, really complex he said. Dd2 doesn't have visual problems but I thought I'd get her assessed anyway just because of things we learned with ds2 and dd1. Dd2 is currently being assess by cyps but we're very early in the process. So, Ian has assessed her and myself and dh were quite surprised. She has a rare condition which causes her right eye to bend things as she sees them. Her hearing sense is affected, the same as her db. 1 eye doesn't process information as quick as her other eye, so there's a time delay in someone's lips moving while speaking and her hearing what they say. Her glasses (like her older dsis) are 2 different coloured lenses. 1 is yellow, 1 is green. Her and ds2 both have eye tracking problems. Coloured lens glasses correct this. The coloured lenses train the brain as it corrects it. The difference their glasses make is phenomenal!

This thread is ancient!
We did do VT. It is the best decision we ever made :)

I didn't even look at the date! How odd that it's been brought back again??... Glad things worked!

Go to www.johnpglover.co.uk for a full description of current and up-to-date practice in Vision training and Behavioural optometry.

Our 3 yr old recently had surgery for a squint, all was going well but today it came back with a vengeance. It sounds like Vision Therapy might be something we should try, but our doctor won’t support this. We live in Edinburgh, does anyone know where we might go to get help?