In fact, polarbear, I will stay very, very, still while you whomp me upside the head. Hard.
I must have read here 1000 times, start with the eyes, always start with the eyes.
I truly thought we were covered. She had absolutely none of the symptoms associated with visual processing issues. We have a great optometrist (or so I thought) who seemed to go way above and beyond. DD8 has had glasses since she was four for the very reason that one of her eyes was starting not to track. I thought this was *exactly* what the optometrist was monitoring every time we went.
But no, it was the audiologist who noticed. She works in a group practice, and before even beginning our long-awaited assessment for auditory processing disorder, she did a quickie basic vision screening, something she had had her colleague, the vision expert, teach her how to do.
And there it was, screamingly obvious. Wave a pen in front of DD’s eyes, and they are not following it together well at all. Going back and forth, one eye visibly paused, and then did a jump to catch up. Move the pen in and out from her face, and the eyes are not really moving at all to attempt to track the pen as it approaches her nose. Vision guy kindly popped by and did a slightly more sophisticated version of the same screen, and there’s just no doubt about it. So, our next appointment is….
Wow. I feel like such an idiot. How many times did you guys warn me?
Anyways, the good news: despite a plethora of symptoms of CAPD, DD did fine there. No auditory processing issues, but strong confirmation of the tentative ADHD-I diagnosis that came along with her dyslexia diagnosis.
So, no questions today, just a cautionary tale. Really, start with the eyes.
