What Makes Me Jump for Joy? {Vison Therapy} #NaBloPoMo

What makes me Jump for Joy?  A Vision Therapy success story!  That is what makes me jump for joy.  My oldest (who looks less than thrilled in this picture) received the Presidental Academic Excellence Award for the second year in a row.  But it was 5 years ago that school, particularly reading and gym, were a source of utter frustration for him. 

Getting him to read was a constant battle.  And he was experiencing sudden unexplainable behavior problems as well.  Sad to say the school was less than helpful.  They wanted him diagnosised with ADD or ADHD.

My motherly instints told me otherwise and I went to our local optometrists office, Horizon Eyecare.  I had once heard Dr. Beth Gilthvedt speak about the correlation between vision/reading/behavorial problems. I figured if nothing else I would rule things out.  Sure enough she was able to determine that his eyes were not focusing correctly and she gave us a referral to MN Vision Therapy Center. 

At MN Vision Therapy Center our son was put through many different vision exercises and tests.  It was determined he had convergence insufficiency. That's a visual disorder where people -- even with 20/20 vision -- can't focus on the words they're reading.  He was seeing doubles.  This diagnosis also explained his troubles in gym glass were he would often see more than one ball coming toward him. 

For almost two years he was required to do at home exercises that involved focusing on words and letters placed far and near. The exercises were done to retrain the eye how to focus -- resulting in clearer vision and better hand-eye coordination.  He also made weekly office visits to a Vision Therapist to track and monitor his progress. 

The therapy was not covered by insurance and was pretty expensive, but we would do it again in a heartbeat.  The benefits have been amazing. I can't believe how far he has come. He was truly able to unlock his full potential and this makes us all jump for joy!

I am participating in NaBloPoMo which stands for “National Blog Posting Month".