Meditrina

My 9 1/2 year old daughter was fighting me to get her reading done. Normally she does not do this. I noticed, as I walked away, that she was squinting at the book. I sat down and talked with her. She is having a hard time reading the smaller size type in books. Distance seems ok, for now. So off to Davis Vision we go (my insurance covers this completely, once a year). She seemed excited to have glasses (I find out later it is because she thinks she will look prettier). I was worried that she would not quite tell the truth about what she can see or not see. But I think she did ok.

We found out, however, that she does not need glasses. Well, not necessarily. We now have to go to an opthalmologist (probably spelled wrong) for further evaluation. We are going to a vision therapist actually. She will be evaluated for Convergence Insufficiency.

I found this information CI but I am not sure how to prepare her for this. I was a good parent and called today to make the appointment, instead of procrastinating. She goes Nov 1st so I have some time. They said that the appointment will be 1 1/2 hours and they will be dilating her eyes. She acts like it is the end of the world when she gets a paper cut. I am sure this appointment will be hard on her.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? How can I prepare her for the evaluation and anything that might happen after that?

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"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

CaliLivChick

Well, for the eye dilation, bring her some sunglasses for the ride home, but dilation has never hurt me. As far as preparing her otherwise, I wish I could help. I've needed glasses since first grade, so it's just a way of life for me, and I don't really remember getting my first pair. My mom always let me pick out my glasses to make sure that I got a pair that I liked, no matter how ugly she (and me too later on in life) thought they were, because that way I would be more likely to wear them.

If you feel this would help, you could try going over the information on that webpage with her, and ask her if she has any questions about it....

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ngdawg

Dilation just makes you see blurry for a couple hours. The Dr will put some drops in her eyes; I'm sure he's had enough experience with kids that he'll get'em in there, no problem. Don't overplay it and she'll be fine (kids feed off our own anxieties)
Seems it's a muscle problem...do her eyes ever wander? Have her read something sitting straight up and watch her eyes...

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Brewmaniac

sportswidow05, my daughter was Diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency when she was a little younger than yours and we were told she needed eye therapy.
Be very careful, not all eye doctor's believe eye therapy actually works my daughter went for several years and it cost us several thousand dollars(not covered by ins.)She didn't take it seriously and eventually the doctor said she really had improved greatly and she should be ok. But she still had trouble reading. So at about age 15 she's all upset because she's still struggling to read so back we go to the doctor and he tells us she needs more eye therapy, so several thousand bucks later she is still having trouble so we stop the eye therapy. Now at almost 17 she is getting better with help from special ed in school which is helping but she may never read as well as her peers.

I don't mean to scare you but don't take one doctor's advice seek second opinion's and if eye therapy is decided upon make sure she is taking it very serious, they try to make it fun with prizes and at the young age that's all my daughter could think of. I think the doctor we went to is a scam artist. Before you go to the eye therapist google eye therapy there are different view points that may help.

Do you have a family doctor or pediatrician you trust? Ask them their opinion.


If you have any questions feel free to ask.

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Meditrina

Thank you all so much for your replies.

Cali: I will make sure if she needs glasses that she picks them out.

ngdawg: I will try real hard to keep my feelings inside so she is not aware of my own fear.

brewmaniac: I never thought of calling my pediatrician. I will call them Monday and talk to them about what happened. Good thing her appointment with the vision therapist is not for another month. I will definitely do more research. Did your daughter end up getting glasses for it?

__________________
"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

Brewmaniac

Yes, she started with glasses around age 3.
Another question is your school teaching whole language or phonics, my daughter's school taught whole language and now she's having trouble sounding out words. If they're teaching whole language, work with at home teaching her phonics.

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"That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son"

Daniel_

When I was 10 I had reading problems and it was found that I had an issue with tracking that was not dissimilar to CI, although at that time it was not called CI - it may have been it though.

Anyway, I was given glasses that had a slight prismatic effect in one eye to steer my vision outward to get over it.

Wore them for a year, and got over it.

At 15 I developed short sight and got glasses.

Wore them to school and nobody noticed that I now had specs - it seems that some people I'd known since I was 10 had nevr noticed that I'd spent 4 years not wearing them...

Either way, I'm sure your daughter will be fine SW05.

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snowy

I would personally get a second opinion before going to an eye therapist. Your daughter should probably be seen initially by a pediatric opthalmologist. I went to one up until I turned 20, and the examinations I had with my pediatric opthalmologist felt a lot more thorough than examinations I've had since from optometrists. Furthermore, the pediatric opthalmologist will be better at getting your daughter to open up and talk about her symptoms as they're used to engaging one-on-one with kids of all ages.

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Meditrina

snowy: I just looked up the doctor I was referred to in my insurance plan. He is a pediatric opthalmologist. This makes me feel better about going to see him.

She has not complained about her eyes since the inital time. But the books she is choosing to read have larger print. I am glad she is reading again, I know how much she loves it.

__________________
"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

Chamaeleontidae

CI could just be an Astigmatismor it could be muscle related. My oldest daughter(8) has the misfortune of having my genes, and has thusly inherited my Astigmatism. Basically both eyes see perfectly clearly, but the images don't line up 100% and are thus blurry.

My daughter also has JRA, and becuase of the possibility that JRA can effect the eyes, we have been going to an eye doctor to have her checked out every six months. When I first noted that she was getting reluctant to read at night, I mentioned it to the eye doctor. He tested her near and far vision and her vision is 20/20 or better. He said to watch it, and he would check her again at the next appointment. By the next appointment she was still having the same reluctance, and had started complaining that reading too much basically gave her a headache. He checked her again, and got the same results. She can see perfectly. I pressed him, because I know what my issues with vision are, and I knew that she was having some issue. He ended up trying the first prism setting, and low and behold, it made the words clearer for her.

I let her pick out the glasses, and she hasn't lost them yet. although she has franctically searched the house a couple of times looking for them. I steered her toward the Flexible frame glasses. That way she can get get bumped into, or otherwise abuse the glasses (like sitting on them) and they maintain their shape.

The dr. seemed surprised that she (a 7 year old at the time) needed the prism lense, and if I hadn't pressed the issue she would still be struggling to read.

As for the actual exam and the dialation. The dialating drop do sting a little if you just put that directly into the eyes, but when dealing with children our doctor put in some numbing drops first, and my daughter didn't feel anything when the dialating drops were put in. Even if they don't do the numbing drops, the sting is no worse that when you touch your eye with a finger, and get a little of the salty sweat onto the eye. you know it's there, but it last only a second. for after the appoint dark suglasses will be need for at least a couple of hours. Our doctor had disposable sunglasses that they gave her. They looked like the 3D theater glasses with brown lenses instead of red and blue... She got a kick out of them, and wore them instead of teh ones we brought...


Hope that helps.

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