If you've been reading this story then you know that every doctor Lamb 2 saw said he had vision difficulties. The OT evaluation, Brain Balance, and even the child psychologist said this. The OT referred Lamb 2 to a developmental optometrist. She said he is the best in our area and it took the last patient she referred over 2 months to get in to him. Once again, probably due to we homeschool so are free during the school day, Lamb 2 got an appointment in a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months.
The optometrist evaluated Lamb 2 over a couple of visits and then we had a consultation with him. He couldn't do all the evaluation at once because Lamb 2's eyes got fatigued so easily. At the consultation we didn't learn much new, it was a repeat of what the OT and Brain Balance had told us. I'm so glad that we had been told this before and Lamb 2 saw all the doctors he saw so we believed what the optometrist told us. It was so good to see the results so clearly of what his specific difficulties were after being told he had vision difficulties. The evaluation was so complete-not just evaluating reading, but also throwing a ball and walking across the room, etc. Lamb 2 has 20/20 vision but his eyes can't track to read across the page. His eyes also work very hard to focus to read and they get fatigued very easily. It was amazing how they test and compare them to other students their age. Lamb 2 can't catch a ball and I saw this when the OT spent one whole session working on this with Lamb 2. It was clear to me that there are vision difficulties for Lamb 2 that would not be corrected with glasses and something needed to be done to help him or it will get worse for him as he gets older-and even make driving difficult for him some day.
So Lamb 2 will begin vision therapy twice a week now. Unfortunately insurance will not pay for it, but I believe it will be worth every penny. He went twice in December just to see what it was going to be like and then he began his program this month. One day a week is one on one with a vision therapist. One day is a group therapy with one teacher where he does work on the computer that seems like playing video games to him. Because we homeschool and can go during the school day his group is very small and sometimes the teacher spends most of the time with him. Every 2 months the optometrist will evaluate him and hope to see major progress each time. He expects vision therapy to be a 9 month program for Lamb 2.
Once again I'll list our answer to prayers and continue tomorrow.
1. The biggest answer to prayer was that one step led to another and Lamb 2 saw many doctors that all agreed he had vision difficulties. I'm not sure if we would have gone to the developmental optometrist first if I would have seen how necessary vision therapy was for Lamb 2.
2. We have been told that this is the best place for vision therapy in the area and I wouldn't doubt that it is the best place in the state. It happens to be just a few minutes from our house. Twice a week I load every one up, Lamb 2 does his therapy, and the other Lambs and I go to the break room at the doctor's office and do schoolwork. It only takes a few minutes to pack up our books/drive there/ and drive home so our school day is not interrupted much. The staff is already used to us and very helpful to clear off the table for us to work in the break room instead of the waiting room.
3. There were a lot more little parts of seeing this developmental optometrist that I won't list here individually because the first two are so major.
4. It happened to work with Ram's schedule that he was able to take Lamb 2 to every one of these doctor appointments and evaluations. When we got a phone call that we could get in, we didn't discuss what time worked best for us, we took the first available appointment. This is so significant that we were never asked to do it while Ram was supposed to teach Bible class or lead preschool chapel or something for church. He knew in advance early enough to not schedule other appointments. But it was so helpful that I could stay home with the other Lambs while he took Lamb 2 for these appointments. We only needed to find a babysitter when both Ram and Ewe needed to be there for consultations. Ram did tell the elders at church last fall that we were going to lots of doctors for Lamb 2. They were more understanding after his tantrum during church and extra generous with Ram missing office hours at church etc. to take Lamb 2 to the Dr.
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