I went because of 2 reasons. His CST therapist had noted through her CST sessions that something was not quite right with his vision. Secondly, he was putting up a big fuss whenever he had to read his school reading books. In the past, he would read his school readers without fuss, but by Term 2 of Year 1, the size of the text got a lot smaller, and there were a lot more words on a page.
I'm really happy that things turned out well. There have been so many areas that have improved as a result. Here are just some of them:
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| He currently enjoys the Mr. Men/Little Miss series, Horrid Henry stories and Geronimo Stilton. |
- He enjoys reading and his ability to answer comprehension question has improved tremendously.
- He doesn't fight when it comes to doing his homework.
- His handwriting has improved. He is able to write on the line (previously, the letters float) and the size of the letters are pretty much the same (previously, some were large and some small). However, when he's tired, his handwriting goes awry.
- He is far more focused in school and gets his work done pretty much by himself.
- He's significantly better at recalling events. For most of Year 1, his standard answer was "I cannot remember" or "I don't know" when asked about things that has happened (e.g. what he ate for lunch, whether he had a BM lesson)
- He's more confident.
- His gross motor, fine motor, proprioception have improved. Note that these were also because he continued with the various therapies at Fezia's.
Vision therapy did bring good progress but it isn't a magic pill that gives instantaneous results. It requires commitment and discipline.
After the initial assessment by the vision therapist (also known as developmental/behavioural optometrist) he went for weekly therapy sessions where he was also assigned homework (vision related exercises) to be done on a daily basis.
One reason for the speed of his progress is that there's a high level of compliance, ie. he does his VT homework (bar illness or holidays) as required. This is one key factor that I've seen in all his therapies that bore good results, and it is linked to what I had learnt from Fezia - you need the right amount of frequency, intensity and duration to see progress.
Some of the exercises are seemingly simple & not immediately obvious that it is a vision exercise, but it works by reorganizing the brain in ways that benefit him overall because the body is linked in far more ways than I have understood in the past.
Some exercises are clearly vision related like getting his eye balls to repeatedly track a moving object, or that focus on hand-eye co-ordination.
The number of exercises and reps vary depending on how difficult it would be for my son to do. But it usually is completed in 20mins (provided he co-operates). I am required to note down my observations of him performing those exercises, for feedback to the therapist at the next session.
During the VT sessions at the therapist's office, he will also perform exercises (but different from those assigned as homework) and it usually involves gadgets that I do not have at home e.g. prism glasses, computer related activities, and electronic gadgets.
He is very blessed to have a great VT who works well with kids. He is able to challenge my son at the right level - not too difficult (so as not to discourage him) and not too easy (so that there's progress). He's also very creative in coming up with exercises that are usually fun, incredibly patient, and understands the psychological and emotional side of kids.
Oh, and he's also been very patient in explaining things to me & trying to incorporate exercises that will address my areas of concern. One of the earliest things that I learnt from him is that you may have 20/20 eyesight but you'll need your brain to do a whole lot more to process the image at the back of your retina. That's when I learnt terms like eye teaming, convergence etc. That made sense to me because with CP, it's part of the brain that is compromised rather than the physical limb/muscle.
I've been meaning to write this post for some time now because I wish to share therapies that have worked well for my son and also because vision therapy is very new in Malaysia, but have been just so busy and tired (I've been without a live in helper for about the same time as when he started VT). It is also in response to a question asked by a fellow blogger, to share my experiences on VT.
This is a link to a YouTube video by Dr John Abbondanza, that I viewed that gives a very good insight to vision therapy. Other videos by Dr John Abbondanza are also very informative.
http://youtu.be/Jac47_OUdlw
Here's the website of my son's vision therapist which provides detailed information on what vision therapy entails and how it is of help.
http://suntime.com.my/treatment
His contact details are on this link, which is also on his website under the "Contact Us" tab:
http://suntime.com.my/make-appointment
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