well, we have the results back from the vision therapist. I am so amazed. He was found to have convergence excess.

The cure is 100% if we give 100%, but not a quick fix. BUT I am so sure that this is our answer. We have a long road ahead with the 1st results showing about the time he gets out of school. Perfect timing I thought http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
We should go from the present of a 3rd grade eye development to a 9-10 grade eye development within 6 months. By next fall he should be up to his current grade level (10th grade).

The most exciting news is the doc. feels that there is real possibility that his original diagnosis of ADD may be correct, maybe not, but she feels that his diagnosis of LD may be totally inaccurate. All of this stuff for us started around the same months of hs eye disorder(lazy eye), ADD diagnosis, LD diagnosis.

If this is true, and it took us all these years to find this out, I am not sure how I can forgive myself for pumping meds. down my sons throat when he always complained, and he never did excel as we were always told he should, put him thru so many test, seen his self esteem go down, dealing w/depression, weight loss, etc. You all know the picture. I PRAY this is it for him. He has shown in the past & now that he knows the information being taught, but can't get it out. They labeled him LD because of lack of the ability to comprehend the material being taught, and the inability to express written thought. I am CONVINCED he knew all this in his head (as I have seen) and just had so many eye problems that he could not concentrate enough, could not see good enough, blurred vision, seeing double, etc. How long would you want to read with all this going on, and being made to take meds. when they make you feel funny, and you feel like a loser.

I feel like such failure as a mom, why didn't I listen to my son more????? He knew it wasn't the answer. My son is very bright. He knew, why didn't we???
Thanks for letting me vent. I am so hopeful for him, but feel myself like I have let him down. I am unsure of who was the original poster who brought this possibility to my attention, but a world of thanks to you. If I look back & find you I will personally send you a post with a BIG http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif and THANKS !!!!!!

God Bless All Our Troops !!

Susan

I'm happy for you and wants most important is that you cared for you child. "That makes you a good mother".

I initiated the original question regarding vision therapy because my 8 year old son has been diagnosed with learning disabilities; dyslexia and ADHD. He does not respond well at all to Ritlin and was recently been put on Strattera. We had him evaluated by an optometrist who specialises in vision therapy and he said that our son has significant problems maintaining fusion and difficulties with eye movement coordination and convergence. The American Pediatric Association says that the research does not support vision therapy but people have said that they have had success with it. Blana (sp?) reported good success with her son using this intervention. We are considering trying this too but it is a tremendous time (and money) investment. My little boy has just so much extra energy - do we put it in vision therapy or extra reading specialty tutors. Good luck and please let us know how it works out.

That is great news! You did not fail your son. There is so little known about visual therapy. How could you possibly have known? I was praying that visual therapy was our answer, but I think I told you that it turned out to be ADHD with a 1 and 1/2 year delay in visual motor intergration problems (which we just found out a few days ago). We are treating that with Occupational Therapy. I talked to someone who was told that her son should repeat Kindergarten last year. She flatly refused, and did not discover his visual perception problems until July of 2002. He started 1st Grade 9/02 and she said he is doing great - won an award today for his report card.
Is that good news for you or what?? When my daughter was ruled out for visual perception problems, I was kind of disappointed because of this success story. However, we deal with what we have and I have decided for Olivia to repeat Kindergarten. She is so bright and wonderful and I owe it to her to give her a good year next year. Keep us posted on the visual therapy. Good luck to all of you. Mary Charlotte

roadmap...I thought about a special school here that is alot of $$$, but I figured if he can't see/comprehend what he is reading than we need to treat the original problem, bring that up to speed, then go to the reading specialist.

Yes, vision therapy is expensive, more than I ever envisioned. My opinion though, how do you put a price on your childs education. We put a few thousand into braces for a physical apperance, why not a mental/medical condition. I was shocked today at the price, but if this is it, then I would spend a million(if I had that) to see the results i hope to see.

Thanks for all your support http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Susan
P.S will keep you posted, hope that we see results by the time final exams come around....worse case is he has to repeat a class.

susgan~
You persevered, and for that I commend you! You did what you were pressured to do, meanwhile, and no one can blame you. Please don't blame yourself, either. We cannot know everything in advance. We are taught to and have need of having faith in the professionals, and so we do.

The only thing that counts is that you now know what is wrong. And there is no reason the school cannot give your child oral exams now, either. This is a physical handicap unless and until it gets corrected.
My prayers go out for the vision correction and your peace of mind!

I am convinced that our children can respect and respond to our sincere apolegies when we were wrong.
The doctors were wrong first, remember that. God bless.

I'm very happy for your son! You are a good mother and have had your son's best interest at heart. God bless you and your family!
Blaana

I agree that the the money investment is without-a-doubt worth it whether it helps or not because it might. My concern is more the time issue for him. If he is at vision therapy, he is not at the reading tutor. We will probably do it as well. Try to start in April/May, go through the summer (so he can do both - got to build in some play time too!). Our son has had sensory integration problems all along. We did the FastForward program as well. In a recent test his phonoemic awareness was "off the chart." We worked on that throughout last summer. Every bit helps. It is tough making these decisions. I so want to do the RIGHT thing - I just wish I were sure what the RIGHT thing is. Good luck

Speaking from personal experience, vision therapy and reading lessons are both important, but if vision therapy is needed then it should be done first and then you may find that your child doesn't need the reading lessons. In my son's case, after vision therapy he no longer had a reading problem. It was expensive but in the long run I believe that we saved money because I was no longer enrolling him in other expensive programs trying to find out what exactly was causing his learning problems.

We have scheduled him to start May 1. What was your son's experience with the vision therapy. Did it tire his eyes while he was in it? Did he mind going? How long before you saw results. The program they have established for our son is 5Xs/week for about 6 months w/2 2week breaks every 6-7 weeks.

not speaking from experience, our son will start tonight and goes every Wednesday for an hour, has 20 mins. of "homework" 5 nites/week. She said we should expect to see some results in about 8 wks. if we keep up our end of the homework. He is in a 9 month program. The 1st 6 months he will be vertually done, but she wants to still keep a every few week appt. to recheck things to make sure he is staying on track.

I am not sure how this will work, but am very anxious to get started as he will need that improvement at 8 wks. to help with his fianl exams in June.

Good luck to you all http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Susan

well, I really feel like my son was mis diagnosed. Since we have taken him off the meds. and started him on the combo of Gingko Biloba and Omega-3 fish oil, he has gone in 1 months time form d's in every class to c's & B's. He actually got a B on his last Algebra test.

He started vision therapy last night and we hope to see alot of improvements in the next 6 months. I am just so happy for him as he seems to have gained a little more self esteem lately also. He smiles so much more now and actually wants to play out side again. I only wish I had known about all this earlier.

So to all that are still struggling, please hang in there and don't give up. The fight sometimes is exhausting, but the rewards are irreplaceable. Good Luck to all http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Susan

Susan,
The fish oil tablets that I bought are huge and my sone is afraid to take them. I bought Omega 3-fish oil and its a big clear capsule thingy like a Vitanim E tablet. Is that what you have too?
Paige

mine are huge alright, but mine are dark brown.They are oil filled just like a vitamin E. My son has the gag reflex each & every time, so I stand there and try to distract his thoughts as he takes it. I talk about a test he has that day, don't forget your backpack, etc. just enough of a distraction to take his mind off "barfing" http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

I swear by the effects it has had on him. Even his teachers said today at our meeting that he is more alert, more involved in conversation, and the grades have dramatically improved. Of course, he also takes 3-4 times a day Gingko Bibola. He is fianlly suceeding med. free.

Good luck! Try putting it in jelly on a piece of bread w/jelly. nice and slippery going down.

Susan

Susan,
Thanks for the info. I will try the Ginko as well. I have to say, I read your post yesterday and it made me cry. I am anti- meds and feel that far too many of our parents/kids are being pressured by doctors , teachers etc. to medicate kids to become more manageable. To me it seems like the easy way out. I am thrilled to hear that your son is doing so well off the meds...i wish more people would look into other possibilites before putting kids on theses meds. Good luck!!
Paige

my 10 year old daughter was diagnosed with dyspraxia, dyslexia and adhd when she was 8 yrs old. it wasnt until this year that she mentioned that the letters on her page were moving. after taking her to an eye doctor and being diagnosed with an learning related vision disorder she was put into special prism glasses. the doctor reassured us that by wearing the glasses would improve her attention and improve her performance in school. to our amazement, her grades went from F's to A & B's!!! she is stil on adderall xr, but we have lowered her dosage and will try to totally take her off of the adderall this summer. we were skeptical at the beginning, wondering if the "special" glasses would really help, but it not only helped her grades and attention, but her handwriting!!! we are now wondering if she was misdiagnosed as having dyspraxia, dyslexia and adhd...

it is hard thing to accept as a parent if you have been led to believe one thing and done your damnedest to help..only to find out they were wrong, and you have in the process made your child suffer.

My son is himself, he is so eager to do his therapy. That may change as he gets more into it, but he knows he doesn't have to take that "awful" medicine anymore.

He doesn't even object to the gingko/fish oil as I feel he knows it helps him. Good luck to you, all that are in this never ending struggle http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Susan

Congratulations, susgan! Glad to here you were able to get a solution. Also, those fish oils are good for the eye function as well as brain. I just read some info on the net, and seems fish oils are also good for lowering eye pressure, as in glaucoma! Seems fish oil and eating fish really can help all sorts of things related to brain, eye, heart and circulatory system. A good choice for anyone, even those without ADD.