DS2 and glasses. Such Fun. Help! :S

[ouryve]

So, DS2 has his glasses, now. We've been told to make him wear them and I agree, since they're strong - cyl -2.5, sph +5.75. His astigmatism is almost as strong as mine.

One problem. Unlike the majority of kids, he doesn't put them on and react with wonder that he can see. He takes them off far quicker than we can put them on him. Then he hides his face.

So, we've got little over 5 weeks before he's back at school and we need to have him wearing them in that time. For those not in the know, he's 7, with ASD and non-verbal. He doesn't link rewards to tasks - they have to be intrinsically rewarding to him. All the same, I am going to try giving him chocolate buttons for accepting them, no matter how briefly he keeps them on. I can also, somehow, link iPad usage to wearing them (somewhere further down the line).

Bearing in mind that this will be somewhat like training a cat to wear glasses - any ideas or suggestions? Please?

Am not full of sensible ideas tonight - but how did he cope with the eye test? Is there anything that he did in the test itself that might motivate him to wear them at home?

Haha! Nope! He was entertained by all the lenses the optologist used and has been carrying lego windows around and looking through them (and making me look through them) ever since.It's not something that can be transferred to the actual wearing of glasses, though.

And it's not like he's not used to seeing them. We all wear them!

I know from when I first got mine that they're going to make the ground appear to be jumping up and hitting him in the face. And my prescription wasn't nearly as strong, then. It's going to be hard for him to get over that - and he will need to wear them full time for it to happen.

After experimenting with a piece of chocolate, we've proved that he can be persuaded to put them on. We've already had to bend a pair back into shape, though!

Have ABA types anything to offer about the best way to approach this? I know I'll get nowhere without teaching him to tolerate me putting them on him without help from DH - and to keep still while I'm doing it, so I don't end up with them tangled in his hair, or only hooked over one ear! Once we've achieved this, I want to move him on fairly quickly, so he doesn't get stuck in a pattern of taking them on and off just for a piece of chocolate, so any ideas how I can start to persuade him to keep them on?

Hi, DD is 3 with a prescription of +6.5

She is non-verbal & has Down's. It took us about 3 months to persuade DD to wear her glasses, but now she wears them all the time.

There was no magic technique I'm afraid, just patience & lots of broken frames... we also started with bribery & putting them on for small periods of time whilst she watched her favourite tv show so she could see the difference it made.

Good luck!!

Are the glasses comfortable? My son is very sensitive to things on his face. He point blank refused the regular glasses. Bought a pair of miraflex ones in a bright colour he likes and after a few weeks he was wearing them full time. They are virtually indestructible and available in every colour and feel much more comfy than regular glasses.

could you show him things he can't see without glasses that he enjoys?
Maybe these 3D pictures that you start to see after a while starting at them?

We had exactly the same with DD.

She is +6.5 in one eye and +1.5 in other ao pressure was on for her to wear them or ahe would get a lazy eye.

Sadly I cant offer advice as.it was school who got her to wear them..she started wearing them.all day at school and now will wear them.out and about but not in the house very much.

I hope someone can help..I know how frustrating it is.

Is his prescription of +5.75 the same as his actual vision problem?

I remembered this morning that one thing they did with DD was start her on a much lower prescription than she actually needed to help her get used to the idea.

So she needs + 6.5 (both eyes), but they actually started her off on + 4 and have been slowly been increasing the prescription by 0.5 every 6 months

As whenwilligetsomesleep mentioned, the fit is also really important - my DD also has sensory issues with her face. We started off visiting the local independent optician that the hospital recommended & the fit was awful, DD just refused point blank to wear them. 6 weeks (& £150) later they were telling me I needed a new pair, so I switched to specsavers, as our local branch have an opthamologist is experienced in working with children with SN, and since then the fit of her glasses have been great and DD has been more willing to wear them.

Finally, we did lots of role playing with DD. Not sure if your DS2 is too old for this, but we bought a cheap pair of sunglasses and played lots of games of DD toys wearing them & then a few seconds of DD wearing hers (usually at story time) gradually building it up over time.

That's what was measured, yes! The optologist showed DH how blurred everything is for him, too, so it's a big change. Having anything on his face or head is challenging for him. He only started wearing hats, last year, when he realised that we had a sun hat a bit like Mr Bloom's! As well as the effect of the lenses, they're quite heavy, so that's strange for him, too. He's got 2 different pairs, so we can work with both and see if he favours one particular pair - the fit probably will need tweaking, since he's so squirmy.

And, yes we always go to a particular Specsavers store. Their service is always excellent - they go above and beyond to make sure that something is right and they've been very patient with DS1 when he's had his eyes tested there and had the arduous task of choosing glasses after all that touching and strangeness.

I will look out to see if anyone around here stocks Miraflex, mind, in case we have no success at all, this time. They definitely look more DS2 proof. A quick google suggests that some vision express stores stock them. Our local store is tiny, but there's a huge one at the Metrocentre. It's not convenient for popping in and out to get things right, though.

He's not too old for role play - if anything, he doesn't really get it. Glimmer - I still can't do those magic eye things!

also ask about solo bambini frames, they're similar to the miraflex, dd3 had them for a while and they're unbreakable, the worst you can do is pop a lense out. You could also ask about getting the lenses thinned if you haven't already, it would make them lighter. Dd3 also has a high presciption and like proudmum's dd started on a lower prescription than she needed, might be worth asking about if it seems too different for him?

we used to do things that involved us holding her hands like row your boat and clapping rhymes while she had them on, we went for little and often as she'd just ping them accross the room the second she got a hand free

ooh, they look good, too.

however it pans out, we're back at the hospital in October, so can ask then

(eek, it's hard goin typing with a hand full of lego windows!)

My 3yo DS2 had to get glasses a few months ago. The first week or two was constant putting them back on over and over, then suddenly he just started leaving them on. Either he got tired of fighting it or he got used to them. Occasionally I have to still put them back on him, but for the most part, he's fine with them now.

It may just be persistence, unfortunately.

We're good at persistence. Had plenty of practice :o

We tried him again, after dinner. This time, I held the bit of chocolate (no milk chocolate buttons in the village shop, but I figured I could swallow my hatred of Mars enough to buy him some milky way stars!) and counted to five. He actually waited until I'd finished and given him the chocolate before I took them off and actually started to look round at things, through them.

Of course, that's probably confused the poor little mite - I use counting to 5 as a method of signalling that he needs to move on from his little rituals on the way home from school!

We used a sand timer the first couple days with DS2. First 5 minutes at a time, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes... gave him breaks in between. I sometimes get headaches when starting out with new glasses, so I tried to keep an open mind that he was maybe uncomfortable.

Funnily enough, I've just been looking at timers. I've ruled out a sand timer because he'd just keep wanting to turn it over and ordered one of those learning resources ones with the lights.

lol. we avoid the digital timers here - DS1 has an obsession with electrical items and anything with buttons on it. The sand timers were used at school, so he adapted quite easily to using it at home. We use them for loads of things.

Yes, buttons are just as irresistible, here, but not as much as zoning out to something trickling!

We've had a breakthrough, anyhow. He's just sussed that the world is extremely entertaining with his glasses on, especially our faces. He kept them on, most of the time, for a good 10 minutes and we got lots of pictures. I've stuck one in my profile, complete with chocolatey drool (we at least put a dry t-shirt on him - he's been chewing them and ends up smelling like a swamp!)

What a great picture ! He looks very happy. (I honestly wouldn't have noticed the chocolately drool - my 3yo can get his face dirty within 30 seconds of me washing him up, so I have reached a point of not noticing unless I can't see actual facial features. ) Glad to hear he's taken to them a bit more.

He does default to happy chappy and his giggles are quite infectious!

Yet another way in which he and DS1 are like chalk and cheese.