DD8 started VT in July, and we are about halfway through. There is no doubt the whole process is a bit more of a leap of faith than I am comfortable with. However, there is some decent evidence plus solid expert opinion backing VT, under the right, very specific conditions. In other words, the right diagnosis (primary problem is convergence insufficiency) addressed by an experienced therapist, using appropriate approaches. That last bit is especially tricky, as there no doubt VT is still art not science (and teeters into voodoo some days). There is lots of snake oil out there, and probably even more well-meaning but inadequately experienced people claiming to solve the world's problems with VT. I have made the decision to trust the optometrist, based on his education, experience, references, and the consistency of his reccomendations with best practices.
Has your optometrist been able to define for you exactly what the problem is, and where you should and shouldn't expect to see differences when you are done? Or at least, after 10-12 weeks, which if I remember correctly is the point at which most evidence suggests some effect should be found? I wouldn't expect much at four weeks, even under the best of circumstances.
So now we live with our decision to trust the optometrist, but it's not easy, because in our case we may never have a clue if it works. DD herself swears it's making no difference - but the exercises hurt and she hates doing them, and she is unfortunately a well-recognized unreliable witness for this kind of thing. I can say that she is becoming better at doing all sorts of things through her daily exercises - and that it is often surprising, and sometimes disturbing, to see what she can't do. However, I truly cannot say how/ if any of these changes will result in meaningful functional improvements in real life. (I have to think it must be helpful in some way, though, that her eyes can now both follow the same object at the same time without one having a mind of it's own, not to mention they both now track something coming at her face instead of flying out sideways. Good for shooing away bugs, at the least!
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The main reason we may never have a clue if it works is that DD's biggest issue is reading, but she's also dyslexic and we've been remediating the heck out of her reading, with extra intensity over the summer. Her reading has gone through the roof (aside: YEAH!!!!!!! it's so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!). Is the VT helping? No idea. I don't have a clue how we could ever know. I think - I hope? - it's probably helping, by reducing fatigue and making fluency easier to attain/ maintain, but there's no way to untangle the two. I do notice she seems to find it much easier to keep track when she reads, not lose her place or skip lines. Maybe that's the VT contribution. Maybe it isn't though.
And if we hadn't also been remediating the dyslexia, we probably still wouldn't have seen any improvements, since her reading would still have been abysmal, even if she could follow the lines and see better.
So, my point, in all this rambling: it's critical to know, comprehensively, what are all the issues you are dealing with, because VT can only help in one specific area (visual processing, particularly convergence insufficiency). If your DS is affected by additional issues (fine motor, dysgraphia or anything else), it may be really hard to see change, even if the VT is highly effective. For us, our best hope is that the VT is making the other remediation easier and less painful than it would otherwise be - but it doesn't reduce any of the need for other remediation. I remain comfortable with our decision to trust this optometrist and stick with it. I won't deny, through, that it's unbelievably frustrating to spend this kind of money and never really know if it's helping. I am evidence-girl, and it hurts me to my soul to take this on faith. But I do, honestly believe it's helping DD, and is money well spent. But dang, I wish I could measure it!
