Eye Therapy Update
I know I left off before with the plan to tell you about the next appointment for Elizabeth’s vision therapy. So I am happy to say that we did go to the next appointment and it went really well!
I am very proud of Elizabeth and how hard she works at this. I have said it before and will say it again, there is a complete world of difference when it is something that she wants to do versus something that we have to get her to do.
And the vision is something that she loves to do. So she simply does it happily and without effort.
And I think it is really helping her eyes because she will tell me that her eyes are tired after one of our sessions which is a good thing because, like a workout for your body, these activities are a work out for her eye muscles.
We arrived at the eye doctor and Elizabeth heads in by herself because she wants to “handle” this alone. It is something we are working on for her because there are many things she can handle alone and this is one of them.
So she goes upstairs with the therapist and I wait.
I hear her working and talking and laughing. And a good 40 minutes or so passes and she comes down to me and says that she is now tired and that she worked hard. And I have to say she LOOKS tired.
So great eye workout.
The vision therapy for us is cumulative exercises, meaning you don’t stop any of the ones you did before you add to the list. But I was told to just pick with Elizabeth about 20 minutes or so of exercises a day to do. So we mix them up.
We were given some seated, close work ones this time.
I am to draw a line on a piece of paper and Elizabeth is to use her pointer and thumb to SLOWLY and GENTLY pull the paper apart following the line. This is a lot of work for her!
Then she is to use a white board, I draw straight lines on it and she is to mark where she thinks the half way point is on the line with a little line of her own. Interesting how hard this is for her to gauge.
Then she puts her hand on the table, I point to a finger and she is to look at her hand and raise only that finger. Then I touch two and then three. Then the other hand.
All of these, I am told work the eye hand coordination piece of the vision therapy.
She still loves the marble rolling with the eye patch on and loves doing some balance board work.
I love that these are working big and small eye focuses and I love that when reading she is NOT complaining or telling me she can’t do it.
In fact, she was working with a tutor today and she was reading and I found myself stopping what I was doing to hear the smooth cadence of her words. So very much better than I have heard in a long time.
So we are continuing the exercises most days and I keep thinking how happy I am to do this with her and help her.
As always, we have pounded out a fall schedule for her and are continuing to work on life skills and keep the learning going for her. She will be working at the preschools as an assistant for her Gymsters classes starting in mid- September and if allowed will work in a school.
Here is wishing everyone a good start to a new school year.
And a peaceful month.
Michele Gianetti