Vision Therapy?

[mm123]

Has anyone here done vision therapy for their kids recently? I did a search, and just came up with some very old threads.

DD2 is 9, and has been wearing glasses since last April, for an astigmatism. When we were at the Optometrist in April, she said she also noticed a convergence issue, and that we should come back in a few months to re-check.

Well, we were in today, and she said the convergence issue seems to be getting worse, is probably affecting her reading, and recommended Vision Therapy. We are very hesitant because of the huge cost and time commitment. Also DD’s teachers have never mentioned any reading issues- she’s at grade level. The full assessment will be $350, and then it’ll be once weekly sessions at about $120, for about 20 weeks, plus it requires daily ‘homework’. So in all, maybe $4000. We are feeling VERY stretched financially and for time, as we both work FT. Insurance will not cover any of it. Plus it is a HUGE struggle/fight to get DD to do her regular homework. I can’t imagine adding daily ‘vision homework’ on top of that!!

Has anyone done this with their kids? Has it helped a lot? Doing google searches, there seems to be a lot of different opinions about vision therapy.

If we get a second opinion, should we go to another optometrist or an ophthalmologist?

Any insights or experience would be much appreciated! We’re leaning towards no, since we can’t imagine how we’d make it work, but want any real life experience any of you may have. None of my IRL friends have done it.

[Kindra178]

We did it last year - 1000s of dollars x 2 kids. Didn’t improve reading for either. Apparently we didn’t do it long enough, according to the optometrist. We followed up with a renowned ped ophthalmologist who simply couldn’t believe it. Also said those kids didn’t need glasses. So much money, so much time.

I will add - the stories are so compelling, the improved reading, the sports acuity improvement.

I have such a bad taste in my mouth. Pretty much done with that profession.


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[echoesofspring]

Our OT suggested it for DS so we did a screening last spring. The screening was with an optometrist who then referred DS to a 'center' the next town over. When I got the call from the center to follow up with an assessment it turned out the center was owned by the optometrist wife and son. No one had mentioned the conflict of interest to me. Certainly not the first husband and wife in the same industry but it just set some radar off, kwim. When I mentioned the whole thing to DH he put his foot down - it turned out his parents had spent $$ at the center trying to help his brother with his vision issues. Several years later he was diagnosed with MS and in hindsight everyone wonders if the vision issues were non diagnosed early symptoms and that they waste possibly time and money. When I revisited with OT she agreed it all felt a little squirrelly but that's the only game in town, we'd have to drive a couple hours to do something else. I took DS to my and DH's optometrist for a check up in Dec and asked him about it. He was very politic and said he really didn't know anything about it. The verdicts out for me - from that checkout we learned DS will likely get glasses this year (same as I did), we probably won't pursue VT w/out some compelling reason to think it would help (and probably not in this area) - I'd at least want to try and get the assessment at a different place than the therapy if possible.

[squimp]

I would ask teachers for recommendations because I think this really really depends on the practice. We have one VT practitioner in our area whom I believe does a fabulous job. I have spoken to several people locally who have seen great results for their kids in reading. Two local kindy teachers recommended this optometrist for my DD who had convergence issues. Our ped ophth also said it can help people - he is the head of the main ped eye program in the state and first diagnosed DD so I really value his opinion. But he also suggested that it was really dependent on the quality and training of the optometrist and could be kind of a racket in the wrong hands.

The VT optometrist gave DD an incredibly thorough test, but in the end said DD did not need vision therapy. The fact that she didn't try to sell us something we didn't need spoke volumes.

I would definitely get a second opinion and do my homework before spending that kind of $$.

[jgenie]

DS2 had issues with convergence when he was younger. Our ophthalmologist showed me a few exercises I could do at home to help. It was really hard because DS2 never sat still but we were able to strengthen his muscles and he didn’t to have anything else done.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We've done the $200 initial test, and gotten the "you need the next test to determine what you need" message. I'm a bit skeptical they didn't tell me there would be a second test and that the outlay would be more than my first or second cars cost.

I do believe DS2 has some convergence and saccy something issues going on, and I wish I could get someone to tell me exercises to do with him. Driving 30 min each way and spending thousands is not my idea of fun.

[NCGrandma]

DS2 had issues with convergence when he was younger. Our ophthalmologist showed me a few exercises I could do at home to help. It was really hard because DS2 never sat still but we were able to strengthen his muscles and he didn’t to have anything else done.

I had a similar experience with DC — because I had no convergence (and was too old when the corrective surgery was done for the correction to be effective), my long-time ophthalmologist was very thorough in checking DC regularly starting at just a few months of age. Fortunately no serious problems, but learning to read revealed some minor convergence issues that were similarly fixed by simple at-home exercises.


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[jgenie]

We've done the $200 initial test, and gotten the "you need the next test to determine what you need" message. I'm a bit skeptical they didn't tell me there would be a second test and that the outlay would be more than my first or second cars cost.

I do believe DS2 has some convergence and saccy something issues going on, and I wish I could get someone to tell me exercises to do with him. Driving 30 min each way and spending thousands is not my idea of fun.

Google for at home convergence therapy or pencil push-ups. We used a decorated popsicle stick that I still have. I couldn’t get DS2 to sit three times a day but that was my goal.