The chunky funky frames are a slightly higher prescription that we are trying to see if filling her whole script will help reduce the squinting. Her left eye is looking straighter without having the muscles moved and her right eye is still healing! The new muscle position is also helping with her academics. The progress she has made with reading and writing in the last 3 weeks is amazing!!!!
For Little Eyes
A community for family and friends of babies, toddlers, and young kids in glasses, eye patches, or contacts.
For Little Eyes 
I am so happy to have found this community. My 4 year old daughter has intermitent strabismus and we have been doing VT for 2 years now. She is unlike some of these other troopers and she resists doing excercises most days. I am so worried about her eyes getting better, she is just so stubborn. I am in search of any info on how to get her to cooperate and any additonal excercises to do. I always leave the office with a handfull but would like a whole book full!
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Sheryl, I have a two-year-old in vision therapy. What strategies have you used so far in getting her to do the exercises?
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I love the new frames–better than the old ones. They flatter her more–she looks even more wonderful now.
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Thanks… They don’t have as big of a lense, which I am not a fan of and no cable temples, so we are adjusting!
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My daughter is very complicated, had it been our son he would have done just what we asked. My daughter even tricks the VT when she would go to therapy, she would memorize where the x’s and o’s were and what colors making it impossible to know if she was really seing them or not. She did the same things at home! She does some things at home now but on her terms. I have just finished reading a paper by Dr. Jason Clopton OD,FCOVD and I think that I am going to try more vestibular input. She has always struggled with gross motor skill. Her fine motor has always been good but she would often bump her head on doorways. Have you heard about the connection between vestibular input and vision therapy?
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Ok, so I have just read more of your posts about Stella and her vision therapy. It sounds like her VT is way ahead of what is going on at our office. I know that it is not the main focus of this optomitrist practice. Your Stella sounds like she is doing more age appropriate and fun excercieses. She is adorable might I add! From reading more I am worried that the VT we are using (which is the only one in about 150 miles!) is not that good:o She is doing loads of red/green lense glasses things and has been doing the same things for such a long time now. She would have loved the more fun (popping bubbles, sit-n-spin) excercises. I hear ya about the wine at 3!!! It takes patience.
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We did a lot of these activities in occupational therapy with a therapist trained in vision. The good thing about OT is that many insurances cover it. If you can combine both the vision therapy and the occupational therapy, it would be a really well rounded vision plan. Some therapists can do every other week visits if it sounds too overwhelming. Your PO can reffer you to a vision trained occupational therapist – Hope this helps!
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BTW-thanks for the info on the OT, I will be contacting one this week for my daughter. I have been instructed by a vestibular specialists that because my daughter’s eye’s go in then she should have circular vestibular stimulation. EX: sit-n-spin and rotary movement on swings, any other suggestions for that type of movement?
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Sheryl, your daughter sounds smart and crafty! That’s a good thing, but it sure can be frustrating, I bet. It’s great that you’ve found some things she will do at home!
Did you read “Fixing My Gaze”? If not, I would highly recommend it. Might give you some of the confidence and information you seek.
Stella uses the red and green glasses at times. It’s an important exercise that help encourage the brain use input from both eyes. The therapist asks which color Stella sees where (like when looking at a red balloon, is it red or green, etc) and it tells the therapist how/if Stella is using the input from both eyes.
We have begun to use certain exercises that incorporate body movement. “Fixing My Gaze” talks about vestibular input, too. This book might help you better gauge the treatment your daughter is getting, and/or give you some ideas. Or maybe you’ve read it already, in which case I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.
Hang in there, Sheryl. It is a tough process but you are doing everything you can for your daughter and it’s paying off as seen in the exercises that she does at home. I too always wonder if we are doing enough, or if we are doing the “right things.” I understand that stress! Keep asking questions and seeking information… you’re doing great!
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Wow that is really amazing. I think that is every parents wish for their kid with eye problem… to improve and eventually be cured. My daughter got to wear eye glasses at the age of five and it is such a pain to see her that way. Anyway, I am glad that there is also an improvement on her condition.
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Thanks – the second time with eye muscle surgery around was the charm. We are very happy with the results.
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I have just returned from my daughter’s visit with her VT, I am seriously starting to doubt his training in this area. As I mentioned before, he was the only one in about a 100 mile radius of our home. Hearing the exercises that others have been given in other parts of the country (we are in Massachusetts), we seem behind. I have also just read a post by New England Medical Center in regards to VT, they are not convinced that VT works and are doing studies with plecebo treatment to prove this!!! What? Why is there such a gap between what the VT’s and OT’s say and with the other medical “professionals”? Sorry for venting my frustration. On to my question: my daughter has tested for no perscription but her VT has her wearing glasses so that the eyes stay straight. Does this sound right? Can the glasses cause damage to her eyes? She has intermittent strabismus but her vision is fine.
I would appreciate any comments. Thanks.
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Hi there, Sheryl. Can you share the link to what you read about a clinic trying to disprove vision therapy? I’d like to check it out and see what’s up. A quick internet search says “New England Medical Center” recently became Tufts Medical Center. Tufts Medical Center offers vision therapy, with several experts in this listed on their site. So it’s a bit confusing, and I’d love to help get to the bottom of it. Any study of vision therapy would have a placebo group–to see what the effects of vision therapy are versus a control group. It makes sense… and I wouldn’t assume they are trying to disprove it, but simply to clarify what vision therapy does for a certain population. But again I’d really like to see what you read if you don’t mind passing that along.
You are so right–there are many conflicting opinions. This is a frustration most of the parents here at Little Four Eyes seem to share.
So she has no refractive error. Are there other issues, perhaps? I would give them a call and ask all your questions directly. Ask why she is wearing glasses if there is no prescription. Ask how the glasses help keep her eyes straight. Ask WHY her eyes cross–if it’s not refractive error, what is the reason they cross? Does she have convergence insufficiency, perhaps? It is possible for eyes to cross without a glasses prescription needed. It is very important to keep the eyes straight–but it sounds like you need more clarity on the role of the glasses. Keep us posted. I’m interested to hear what happens and what answers you get. It is very confusing, indeed. I am often confused about Stella’s vision as well. Ask your questions and get the clarity you need and deserve!
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Amber,
Thank you so much for the much needed feedback. I am thinking that I have not been asking enough questions about all of this. I don’t feel like I have a very open line of communication with her vision therapist. I am learning more from you and this blog.
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Amber,
Thank you so much for the much needed feedback. I am thinking that I have not been asking enough questions about all of this. I don’t feel like I have a very open line of communication with her vision therapist. I am learning more from you and this blog. I would say (although this was not a term used by her VT) that my daughter has convergence insufficiency. I am going to read “fixing my gaze” as soon as I can.
As for the study, I will track that down and send the link along.
-Sheryl
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Hi Sheryl, Amber and Amomofelly,
I too have a 5 year old who has done VT. We tried it a little over a year ago, religiously, for 6 months with little to no improvement.
We tried a lot of the same things that you all have done. At first things were looking up for us but each time we went in to have her evaluated there was no change. Maybe we started too young, maybe it wasn’t going to work for her, I don’t know. She also started becoming burnt out with us trying to do the exercises no matter how fun and exciting we tried make it for her. She had good days and bad days but after 6 months she was just done.
We went to the therapist once a month and did the VT at home since the closest one to us was about 100 miles away. I wonder if we went enough but the things the therapist was teaching us was very easily done at home so we felt there was no need to go more often. Not to mention it wasn’t cheep.
I hope to try again with a different therapist when she gets a little older. She started Kindergarten this year and she also does ballet so finding the time has gotten harder.
I still have hopes that it could work for her since there are cases that it does work. I wish there were more options when it comes to VT but, as we know, it is controversial. I just don’t understand why it is. Physical therapy for a broken leg has the same outcomes, right? Works for some, but not all. Why couldn’t insurance cover this type of “therapy” in the same way. It doesn’t make sense.
I’m happy to hear more in this community are trying it. When we started a year ago I didn’t hear much talk about it on this site. I hope to hear some great outcomes and advice on each of your individual journeys.
Our journey has not ended as far as VT goes. We will try again. It’s never too late as far as I’m concerned.I wish each of you the very best and look forward to hearing your stories.
-Gretchen
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Gretchen,
I have to say that my daughter’s progress,over the course of almost 2 years, has been very difficult to detect. What I can say is that I do notice that I don’t notice the eyes crossing as much and this is were the improvement is. Before VT I would notice a constant crossing and then after awhile it was less. It is not corrected and I am still impatient but I do believe with this it is baby steps. Just don’t read my previous posts where I seem exasperated with it all, I am still on board with the treatment. I am just looking for additional techiniques that I can do at home and opinions of others who have been there. Thanks for sharing and best of luck.
-Sheryl
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