Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional vision problems - a total surprise

Has anyone else been completely caught off guard by vision problems? We have seen social problems, emotional regulation issues, gross and fine motor troubles, but I just never imagined any vision problems.

We had a psycho educational assessment done for DS5 this year. The psychologist used the WJ-cog and due to some pretty big discrepancy between subtests, she recommended a behavioural optometry assessment. We have had one done, and it appears that DS has convergence insufficiency, tracking problems, trouble with visually crossing the midline, and that he uses his posture to partially block one visual field in order to avoid having to integrate his two visual fields. We never even suspected this, and it seems like a fair few issues not just one little small problem. I couldn't help feeling a bit sceptical of the report because how can a boy with so many visual issues teach himself to read by 3 and keep flying through reading levels until he is 4 years above grade level? But we attended his first vision therapy appointment yesterday, and I watched as he tried to track a pingpong ball on a string swinging above his head. His eye movement was jerky and all over the place. He also got tired very easily as he was asked to do different exercises.

I have read some threads on here about people having success with vision therapy, so I am hoping we will start to see some improvement soon, although I am not sure what improvement I am looking for since I hadn't noticed the problem.

We have an OT assessment today because he is having a grade skip next year and his handwriting is behind. The vision therapy should hopefully help with that too. Anyway, we will see what the OT assessment turns up.

We had success with VT here. My son was unable to catch a basketball sized ball without using his body as well as his arms at age 5, and even then it was hit or miss (apparently this is a skill that most 5 year olds have mastered). After a few months of VT, he was able to snatch a bean bag out of the air when it was thrown to him.

He had other issues as well that affected several areas, including reading. There was vast improvement in all areas. He did VT for over a year.

On my phone at the moment so I can't reply in detail.... But a resounding YES.... our dd had severe double vision, tracking issues, brain turning one eye off, severely compromised peripheral vision. We had no clue! Like you, we landed at the DO eval after huge discrepancies in subtest a during neuropsych testing. I'll post a more detailed reply later.

To wrap it briefly: Visuon therapy made a HUGE difference in many different ways. And dd knew she had double vision but had never told anyone because she thought we all saw two of everything.

Polarbear

Yep, ds was diagnosed at five after irregularities during his pediatric assessment for K. Oddly with the same issue and eye as had me in glasses at two years old. No suspicion. Just patching the good eye for two hours a day for about a year was his therapy. Traps later are lingering issues with tracking fast things, catching, taught himself to read by whole word and now has problems spelling and decoding. Handwriting issues are another possible side effect. Lots of potential asynchrony and misdiagnosis from eye issues.

Wonder if that is what I had as a child rather than just being clumsy.

Thanks for the replies. I am glad to know I am not the only one who missed this. We will continue with the vision therapy, and Already, just by putting on prism glasses, the size of DS's handwriting is about 50% smaller ( which is a good thing)

I've posted some about my son - short story is that we knew he had a vision problem (strabismus) around 5 but thought it was "fixed" after surgery. It was not.Double vision was corrected but he was still having issues focusing, eye teaming,turning vision off in one eye, etc. He just completed a year long vision therapy program with awesome results. Just like you, we didn't suspect vision issues early on because he taught himself to read at 2 and had excellent comprehension. I told his eye dr that it was hard to notice the progress because he is such a good reader but when you compare the assessments done before therapy to after, it's a huge improvement. The brains of the gifted kids are able to compensate for the vision issues sometimes. The eye dr tested him at reading 500 words a minute!(after therapy))

Yes. Been through this route. I've also written about my ds. He was born with visual deficits, severe SPD, etc. etc. etc. (laundry list). We knew about the visual issues and thus ds was in VT between 4-6 yrs old.

Last Dec, I took ds to another behavioral optometrist since we moved and for another evaluation/assessment. Well, lo and behold, ds scored in the 1% on a visual subtest. Same child who has scored in the 98-99%+ on WJ-III academic achievement and other tests.

So yes - DS has had convergence insufficiency, tracking problems, trouble with visually crossing the midline, and some cortical visual blindness. Laundry list remember.

And I'll point out that the visual deficit has created a visual spatial gifted child in many, many ways. Imo, ds overcompensated with his deficit and other issues and this created a spatially gifted 2e/pg child.

Very interesting. DS had a brain injury when he was 5 which severely affected his vision with one eye completely unable to track. He had no depth perception. His eye was tracking fully again after about 8 months, but his eyes still won't track together on command. He is very advanced with anything involving spatial ability, like rotating objects. He watched a short tutotorial on SketchUp and then within a couple minutes designed a complicated building, whipping things together with lighting speed (he is now 7). After the TBI, he had to function with severe double vision at all times (whenever his eye wasn't patched) and I often wonder what role that played in his brain development. I read somewhere that people with stereoblindness often turn into good artists.

Ds9 was actually born with an eye (left), neck, and brain/head injury. His head was lodged against my rib cage for most of the pregnancy and severely restricted inside me since week 25 (I had a uterine fibroid then). He was born with severe plagiocephaly (flattening and facial asymmetry) and wore two helmets as a baby; we declined the third.

Three years ago, we took ds to a neurofeedback provider; she said ds had a severe TBI and didn't have ADHD, which others thought he had. Ds has been in/out of neurofeedback since then. He's also been on a restricted paleo-type diet too. Both have somewhat helped.

Yes, I believe that the TBI has affected my son and your son's brain development. Kids can overcompensate, often in what seems odd or unusual ways, with a tbi and their brains can go into overdrive as a result. And that's definitely been the case with ds and it sounds like with your ds too. Yes, a lot of creative people/geniuses have visual deficits; John Lennon is one example but there are many others.

Blackcat - what eye was affected? The left or right? That seems to make a difference with their spatial abilities. I've noticed that kids with right eye injuries seem better able to sit and play video games or it seems like that's the case with the people I know. My son had a left eye injury and seems better at mapping type skills instead.

My son had lots of trouble tracking, with depth perception, and body in space. He, too, can create quite elaborate building designs or recreations with his cardboard within minutes. At 5, I remember him picking up the word and concept of tessellation from watching PBS Cyberchase. He showed me how to do it with his cardboard blocks.