Our sweet Asher has a history with therapies.
He is our “quirky” kid. We often didn’t know how else to describe it. We weren’t inferring that it’s a negative thing at all. We know God creates everyone wonderfully just as they are meant to be.
Asher often had a physical tick he would do repeatedly and it would change up every month or two. He stammered (not stuttered) over his words. He really struggled to focus. He also struggled with gross motor coordination. Like really struggled, more than it seemed a kid should. Again, none of these things are bad, yet we wanted to set him up for success in life as much as we could, and people can be mean, so we sought guidance.
Why share all of this?? I’m only hoping to help another mama out there. So please share.
The pediatrician told us we needed to start with OT. So, by 6 he was in OT. And while OT is great and has its place, the therapists would primarily focus on fine motor with Asher, which he loved. He can cut, paste, and color all day long. Yet, we didn’t see much improvement in ticks, overall focus, speech, or coordination. We also had him tested for speech therapy in Kinder, but were told he didn’t qualify.
Things came to a head as Asher learned to read. It was a difficult and stressful time for him, and us, as he fought every step. Kinder and 1st grade were very rough in this area. And we couldn’t figure out why. He grasped so many school concepts with ease.
He was showing a lot of signs of ADD/ADHD by this point. Yet we had him tested and were told he did not have either. Which I’m very glad he doesn’t, but it was another dead end.
After OT, we had a great experience with my best friend who is a Neurologic Music Therapist. The focus was primarily strengthening proper neuron pathways and primitive reflex integration. Believe it or not, much of this stemmed back to the fact that Asher all but skipped crawling. Yes, as in crawling as a baby. He was also born through cesarean, which can actually play a role. Once Asher had progressed with her, she said we needed to explore Vision Therapy. (And after VT he asked me what therapy he would do next. Sweet boy. We are praying that’s it for now.)
I had no idea what Vision Therapy was. In my mind, it has to do with Asher’s ability to see. And we had had his eyes checked and the kid saw perfectly fine. Thank goodness. So I asked questions and started to do some research.
In August of 2021, we started the journey.
I say “we” as it really is and was a family effort. More on that in a bit.
So what is Vision Therapy?? Vision Therapy supports how the eyes and brain talk- and for Asher, they weren’t communicating correctly. His eyes didn’t work together, or in the same way, which affects tracking and reading. He doesn’t see things the way we do. One of Asher’s ticks was to roll his eyes. We learned that he was doing all he could to “reset” his eyes to get them to work the way he needed. Vision therapy targets the muscles around the eyes, as well as the brain-eye neuron connection, and strengthens them.
Through VT we learned that it turns out Asher’s brain and eyes have had to be on hyperdrive for him to focus on people or objects, and also to read.
Asher struggles with convergence, divergence and tracking. When we began therapy, he was reading below 2nd grade level and without fluency. His eyes did approximately 80 movements to read 5 words on a line. No wonder the poor guy hated reading!
All this internal stimulation combined with normal stimulation around him can come out in that ADD way. And we finally felt like this could be our answer to helping him!
We did once a week sessions for 8 months. 8 months.
And while it was quite a road, I’m really proud of him- he worked very hard both in sessions and on eye exercises at home. (There are options to attend more sessions and do less at home, but that costs more money, honey. And if you have questions on insurance covering, reach out. Most plans consider VT an elective therapy. Cue my eye roll.)
I have to be honest that there were many days where we needed to make him do his home exercises and it was met with tears, and “why do I have to do this when other kids don’t”. As a parent, times like these can rip your heart out. But each evaluation would show steady improvement, so we knew it would be worth it. And by the end of 2nd grade, for the first time, Asher started to enjoy reading!!
He’s now just started 3rd grade and has improved immensely in reading level, fluency, and even ADD type behaviors. He started 3rd grade at an AR reading level up to 4.6!! (Before VT he was a 2nd grader reading below 2nd grade level.) And not that numbers are everything, but we are dang proud of him!
I hope this has opened your eyes a bit to the world of Vision Therapy. The doctor we worked with was wonderful. One of the things I valued was that when she was young, she needed Vision Therapy herself. Yet it wasn’t well known. She was even told she wasn’t very bright and wouldn’t amount to much in life prior to therapy. (Pity the person saying that to a child.) Yet her dad searched to find VT.
The doctor chose to devote her life to helping as many people through Vision Therapy as possible. She has the latest and greatest equipment and techniques because she understands on a personal level the difference this can make in someone’s life.
Reach out if you’d like recommendations to any or all of the specialists we worked with. The picture shows Asher the day he “graduated”. And please share this with your mom friends. You never know who you might help.
Embrace Life