Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Question about Convergence disorder

During assessment phase of ds6 in kindergarten, the tester asked when we last saw opthalmologist. Ironically enough, ds recently saw opthalmologist, because he told he violin teacher that he saw 6 strings and thus was squinting. The opthamologist gave me a daily exercise to do, but didn't see it as a big problem.

The tester said she noticed that he really struggled with block design- squinting, turning his head and ended up giving up. Tester also told me this problem causes problems reading (he's reading strongly 3-4 th grade level)writing (he's lefty and writing is very poor), and doing worksheets (which he hates). Tester also said it can make him wiggly and have trouble paying attention.

Two things come to mind- thank goodness we decided to get him evaluated!! I feel conflicted by the difference of how this disorder was presented to me. I am going to request the record from opthalmologist for tester. This is making me wonder if the 1 exercise is enough? Does anyone have experience with this?

Any and all thoughts are welcome.

Side note, the testing is not complete. It's very hard to wait. I know it doesn't change my child. I am just anxious to hear the tester's recommendations and start working on getting a plan in place. I am now starting to worry I may be dealing with a more complex situation than I thought.

DS8 suffered from a severe visual processing disorder that cause convergence issues. He was seen by an OT for a year and had lots of exercises that we did daily.

I am not sure that most ophthalmologists believe that convergence disorders are a problem. If you go to an optometrist who does vision therapy, they will say that it is a big problem. I am not sure who is correct, but I will give you my experience.

My 7 yo had the exact same issues on block design and our tester told us to go get him evaluated. He saw double with many things on the vision testing and had a convergence inefficiency. I did some of the tests and realized that I too could use the exercises. My son did daily exercises (more than 1) and went to vision 2 times a week for 20 sessions. At initial outset his reading level in terms of the way his eyes worked together and he read, was at 5.5 grade. He was an inefficient reader however because some of his scores were at college level. After 20 sessions, he was at 10.5 grade with ranges from 8th to college (which are much better than original span of 4th to college level). His convergence inefficiency is totally gone and it is truly amazing at how much better his vision is.

I have to do the exercises with him and my vision has improved tremendously. I am near sighted and say that my vision is so crystal clear that I feel like when I get my eyes checked and and I see crystal clear again. If you wear glasses, this may make sense to you.

My son's handwriting is terrible (dysgraphia diagnosis) but has improved a bunch since vision therapy.

Thanks for the insight!! Guess I'll talk to the tester after she can review the notes from the opthalmologist. I'm sure the tester will help guide us in the right direction.

Hi Melessa - I think you're lucky your ds told you he saw 6 strings! Our dd11 had severe double vision that went undiagnosed for years because she never thought to mention it to anyone - she really truly thought we were all seeing two of everything. She started having a tough time reading from the board in 2nd grade, so we took her to our regular eye dr, who told us her eyesight was fine (and it was, in each eye, looking at one eye at a time!). We didn't realize her vision was severely challenged until she took the WISC as part of a neuropsych for us to figure out why she was having a tough time learning how to read - her block design score was in the 1/2th percentile - it was *that* low. There was one other test that was really low too - I think symbol search, so right away the neuropsych told us she thought our dd couldn't see.. and she was correct! FWIW, I didn't see our dd take the WISC and the neuropsych didn't make any notes on how she handled looking at the blocks etc, but dd used to bend her head around and squint like crazy when she was doing things like puzzles. She was also very fidgety and didn't sit still for long.

DD went through more than a year of vision therapy - and the first three months were simply amazing - within just a few weeks her fidgeting and falling out of her seat went away, and within the first few months she made huge gains in her reading ability - and probably most importantly, she went from having been a child who didn't particularly like to read to being a child who walked around with a book hiding her nose all the time because she suddenly loved to read. I think there's even something more important for her that's a bit subtle - not sure this will make sense, but fwiw - I think dd would have been "ok" even if we'd never caught her visual challenge or sent her to VT. She clearly had come up with ways to compensate and cope quite well. BUT - she didn't *love* to read. Now, several years later - I know something about my dd I didn't know back then. She's a gifted writer - she loves loves loves to write. I am so glad that we gave her that opportunity to blossom as a reader, because I think it is a vital part of her studies as a writer.

So - if VT was recommended, I would definitely give it a try.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Yeah, I used to get double-vision randomly, around ages 4-6, and I didn't think there was anything unusual about it. It was infrequent, and I regarded it as a curiosity. Something got picked up in an eye exam for my 4-years older brother, and the doctor said these things run in families, bring the rest in for testing, and that's how I was diagnosed. I had to wear bifocals for a year or so to fix it.

My random thought is that he may have pulled out his best for the ophthalmologist and masked how bad his problem is.

Our DD has a significant problem with her hands, our children's sensory OT told us to be happy if she grew up able to sign her name and tick boxes, but sent us to an adult hand specialist just in case they could make a brace small enough that might help. At the hand specialist DD was all hapoy and excited and pulled off the best pencil grip and handwriting ever (developmentally appropriate for age), and I got the funny look. The OT wandered off to do something and mercifully DDs grip and writing devolved in her absence, OT then physically manipulated DDs joints and was all "oh... Oh...OH! I'll just get my supplies, this needs bracing".

Was this optometrist a specialist in developmental optometry? If not, you may want to take him to one who is because they will do extensive testing and give detailed recommendations. We just went through this with DS. It was over 2 hours of testing and the DO was able to figure out my son's eyes still don't work well together after surgery and he has focusing issues as well as possible motor control issues. He didn't give us any exercises to do yet at home - recommended an OT eval first before doing VT.

Thank you everyone who shared their thoughts and experiences with me!

I can only imagine how much better he will feel once he is not compensating for his vision deficits.

Bronalex- to answer your question, I took him a pediatric opthalmologist. Now, I realize he needs to see a behavioral optometrist.