Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional UPDATE Vision Therapy Testing

Well we saw the COVD Optometrist. They first did a regular vision exam including dilation (which he had not done before and found a little traumatic in how it was done). All is normal 20/20 sight.

After discussing all the symptoms that may be related to vision issues, the Dr. said she wants to do a 2hr sensory motor exam and a 2hr visual processing exam scheduling a separate visit for each. So 3 visits in all to diagnose. Is that typical?

She did work with my son well which was important. She seemed to get him quickly and gave him jobs he enjoyed like assembling a model of an eye or challenging him to figure out how to operate some of her equipment.

He is having more and more complaints of nausea, dizziness, and stomach aches every day. He's having problems eating and brushing his teeth and is often refusing to participate in sports classes that he enjoys.

She noted how he was grabbing and touching all the equipment despite my correction. We struggle with this type of impulsivity/hyperactivity with him and have been connecting it to his ADHD diagnosis from a few months ago. She attributed it to a learning delay saying that he didn't progress from the sensory motor development stage as he should have since tactile discovery was easier for him than visual. He always touches everything regardless of consequences often getting in trouble at home or school. He's not malicious just overly touchy. I've never thought of it as being a development delay before and am mulling over that idea. I think she is the first person to ever say the words "development delay" to me about my son. So it is taking awhile to process and think through if this matches what we see with him.

So now we are waiting till next week and another visit.... then they schedule a 3rd visit..... then we finally have some more information about what is going on. It's a bit of a drive and I'm anxious for answers.

I'd love to hear how this mirrors or differs from the experience others have had. I always worry that I've picked the best person who will give us conclusive answers rather than just bringing up more unanswered questions. She is a Board Certified Fellow COVD but with no local recommendations my confidence is solely placed in the credential.

When we went to a COVD vision therapist, we already had been to our own optometrist who recommended this therapist. So for us, no additional eye exam. Our optometrist has a machine that takes pictures of the retina with no dilation though it is a little tricky for the kids to get their eye open far enough.

The vision therapist did an initial evaluation that was a mix of vision processing with some sensory that took about 3 hours. I may just be remembering more of the vision processing stuff because that is what we were more concerned. HTH

We had a shorter assessment visit, perhaps 2 hours total.

It sounds like the optometrist is picking up on an issue with touching that you, too, have noticed. However, I would wonder whether the optometrist is the best professional to do a sensory motor exam or explore overall development delay with you. Why would this be in the realm of the expertise of the optometrist? Hmmm. I would learn more about whether the this is something typically in the realm of a COVD.

Thank you so so much for typing all of the testing your did Portia!! It helps tremendously to compare and consider and understand what this looked like for others. I took your advice and changed the title.

Laurel, we have had a few clues to issues along the way. I'm expecting we will have more follow up with others once we figure out what pieces are related to vision. I think the optometrist was saying she thought this was related to his vision development and asked if I were aware that this was a developmental delay. We will see.

Knute thanks for chiming in too. I am still trying to figure out what is normal and expected with a developmental optometrist. It's all pretty new to me.

Thanks! Just got home from dinner after the two hour testing. It was pretty awful. Getting my highly hyperactive son to do testing for that long wore us both out. His hyperactivity was much worse under the stress.

I was often physically holding him to do the testing. He couldn't hold still and would impulsively push the buttons over and over when he wasn't trying to figure out how to work whatever equipment he was near or pulling my hair or leaning from side to side so hard I thought I would fall over. He also kept leaning forward, twisting, and standing on his head (literally!) in the chair. They were patient and kind and told him they were doing Ninja training but I thought we'd never get out of there.

What I noticed in the testing was that he found seeing with one eye only to be detestable and nearly impossible to tolerate. I asked him about it later and he said, "It was like losing half my vision!!" I told him that was useful information about his eyes because most people don't feel that same way. I said that his eyes were depending on each other more than usual. I told him we needed to help them get stronger so they could each do their own jobs by themselves. He is really enthusiastic about getting treatment and he really wants it to help his handwriting issues. We've been making a list of things we hope Vision Therapy might help with. (For motivation when things get trying later.)

It was really exhausting but he really wants some things in his life to be better so we are hopeful this will be a help. Clearly from the graphs I saw and how he responded, this is one of our major issues affecting life and making many situations unmanageable.

One more (even harder they say) round of 2hr testing to go to examine visual processing. We have a few weeks till then to rest up.

Oh my goodness, do we have twin sons? LOL What you described in the original post sounds much like my son and our visit to the development optometrist. He did about 2 hours worth of vision tests, a reading test, and a couple of motor tests. My son is slightly near-sided so wears glasses. He already had surgery for strabismus but his eyes still do not work together. The DO wrote that he has visual functional and visual perceptual difficulties in eye teaming ability, fixation ability, eye movement control, and significant lags in visual directional concepts. He also recommended an OT eval for motor-sensory integration issues. That eval happened on Monday and waiting on report from that. My son is also really touchy like you described and he also mentioned developmental delay, which was a first for me!

The DO said that he would also need to do a Visual Information Processing eval (which is another hour) before we start vision therapy. That will give them enough info to come up with a plan of action. It sounds like some of the other posters may have had all of the above done at one time or broken up. Sounds like this is normal to do all that testing.

I'm really encouraged by the results people have had from VT. I really hope my son just transforms into a new, improved version of himself. He lacks motivation (in school), can be very negative, doesn't complete his work, etc. etc.

Best wishes on your VT adventure!

Sounds like we will be spending out summers doing VT bronalex. I sure hope we get great results!

After my other post about standing on his head, swinging, etc. I've been reading up on SPD. I like the Optometrist that we have been seeing but don't feel confident about her staff who seem to do quite a bit with the patients. We have a pediatric rehab place nearby with whom we did handwriting classes previously.

On their website they list working with Sensory Integration Disorder, ADHD, and the following:

Vision and Visual Rehab
Our therapists work with a
neuro-optometrist to help the child
with vision, perception, and ocular
motor control difficulties. This therapy
improves handwriting, copying skills,
and other visual activities.

They have an NeuroPsych on staff as well. However, this would not be a "gifted" specialist.

We have an ADHD diagnosis and suspected Dysgraphia. Am I missing something or could we do our vision therapy at the Rehab Center?

Thanks for the lengthy response. It really helps. I think concern about therapist fit is why I am looking around... He hasn't clicked with any staff except the doc.

So what is the difference between a Neuro Optometrist and the COVD?? Is there specific training or certification for the vision therapist?

I don't think there is a difference because COVD is a nonprofit that some developmental optometrists belong to: https://covd.site-ym.com/?About_Us

Just another quick thought - the DO told me that the motor-sensory stuff and vision stuff is related but that success with vision therapy might not be as good if we don't address the motor-sensory first, which is why we got the OT eval.

He said that my son missed some developmental milestones and you have to go back and pick up the missing building blocks. Sensory integration needs to come first because that is developed (or should be) earlier. So our plan is to start OT and do that for a couple of months then start VT and do both simultaneously. Since we haven't started either yet I don't know how it's going to go but I am hopeful this will be the combination my son needs.

First, thank you to all who have been teaching me with your experiences on this thread! I am so much further ahead from reading the things you all are sharing.

We have our "visual processing" testing on Friday. Not looking forward to that. I have been on the phone examining our options. As I'm concerned about "fit" with the staff and distance. We travel a good 45min to get there.

The place I mentioned previously in this post that is a rehab hospital which offers vision therapy DOES work directly under the supervision of a Neuro-optometrist who is an associate of the COVD. Ironically her office is within walking distance of my home (!!) and I am rather impressed with her from speaking to her and reading her website. She has forms online for allowing her to speak with school about vision issues and allowing her to advocate as needed (!).

She also has good articles and links on her site including one to a neuro-psychiatrist who does some of the specialized things we were seeking when we flew out of state to get my son assessed earlier this year. Very holistic approach to all of it. She even recommended a book and a local psychologist who does neuro-feedback to check out.

She tells me that many insurers honor her as "in network" because the gap in mileage between her clients and the nearest in network providers. The Optometrist we've been seeing is 0.59 miles past the range most require to allow that exception.

I didn't find her at the COVD website because her location had not been updated to include the office near my house and the other location is extremely far. I never would have known she was there if I hadn't spoken with the Rehab people and asked for the name of the Doc they worked with. WOW!

I think the new plan is to finish testing on Friday as previously arranged and bring the results to discuss with her filling any testing gaps she may find and then setting up therapy at the newly discovered local place. I feel rather excited after talking with her. She was very accessible and helpful as well as very connected to the approach to medicine and therapy that I espouse. I am cautiously optimistic that we have found a great fit.

Has anyone else had their optometrist work directly with school? How was that or would that have been helpful?

Thanks so much Portia! The docs know each other and the local practice asked me to finish testing with the first doc and then let her review the tests planning to fill any gaps if needed.

Today was the visual processing and it was PHENOMENALLY easier. Next week we can set the appointment to discuss results. It seemed clear that for the most part motor is the big big issue here.

Our results visit didn't go as well as I hoped. The doc was running nearly a half hour behind schedule which left us only 20min to discuss our son's testing results before we had to leave to pick him up from school.

She said he was a real puzzle to her because he was so smart and should be very behind on reading. She admitted they had had difficulty in doing his testing and getting accurate results. (I believe this is in part due to the incompetence of her staff. They seem overwhelmingly mentally slow to me.) She did not give us any written report, was unsure how long therapy would take (because she felt unsure how quickly he would catch on since he was so smart), and only wanted to give us copies of his testing within a written report for school which we could use to apply for a sec 504. It was a mess.

However there were some clear things on the testing which match what I had seen and figured out. It seems Convergence Insufficiency and Ocular Motor Dysfunction are the big issues. I found the pictures of how these disorders affect vision very helpful: http://www.bernsteincenterforvisual...-problems-oculomotor-dysfunction-or-omd. My son says these are pretty good representations of what he sees when he is having issues. I have printed the content from the appropriate pages to help me explain this to our close circle.

I'm very frustrated with the time we have put in to this so far and the lack of solid high level information we have gotten back. It was like pulling teeth to get the terms for the visual issues he has so I could research myself.

She kept wanting to talk about how her therapy makes change "at the cellular level" and so it is faster and sees results quicker than the old methods. Anybody know what she is talking about??

Sorry your meeting didn't go as well as you hoped. No idea what she meant by quick results from therapy on the cellular level. Wonder what that means?

We were also told that she couldn't believe ds could read so well, but she thought he only used 1 eye to read- was compensating. Will be interesting to hear and "see" how your ds and my ds does with VT.

Hang in there!

HappilyMom- btw I pm'ed a question.

Yesterday was a whirlwind. We saw the new Developmental Optometrist yesterday without the help of our testing results from the first doc because she continued to blow off giving us any written documentation. It was promise, delay, promise, claim misunderstanding, promise, more delays. We were so turned off and angry from just that process that I can't imagine ever working with her even though the report was very helpful and informative.

But on to the new doc. She was such a resource! She recognized my binder from the out of state Neuro Psychiatrist, answered my high level questions about comorbidity/SPECT scans and the relationship between it all, and she and her staff were amazing with my son!

She got him almost immediately and he complied easily with each task she asked for over an hour. For instance when testing tracking initially he moved his head to follow every movement so she had him imagine a glass full of water balancing on his head (he changed it to a "bag of important computer chips"). As we went she drew my attention to different notable issues in how his body responded (without him hearing her "notice this or that" statements to me).

It was startling to me to see the deficits. She also did a number of demonstrations with me to show me how different aspects of his deficiencies impact him. It was really fascinating.

She wants us to address the Sensory Processing issues and OT for gross and fine motor delays before starting vision therapy. She said that addressing those first will allow VT to move faster and be more effective. She also did some work with lenses for him and I saw the immense difference in his ability to read with and without them. He is going to wear the lenses fulltime until our next appointment with her. She wants us to spend the next 3 months getting those other pieces in place and then reassess his vision at that point as well as put a 504 in place.

She had an intensive therapy place to recommend that was 35 miles away which she said has a proprietary program that cannot be offered within a 200 mile radius. It looks really amazing! They seem to work with all the issues he has and he is begging to go from just seeing the pics of the place. They do a sensory learning program that seems really interesting and boasts a 92% success rate based on parent surveys. That program does 30 min twice a day for 12 days followed by 18 days of morning and evening sessions at home involving a portable light device.

Besides the research on therapy options the new doc also sent me home with a notebook full of info including a reading list of books and websites and a book called Fixing My Gaze by Susan Barry. I have a lot of homework to do.

I found her very knowledgeable and helpful. Her office was much more child friendly and was clearly focusing on developmental optometry rather than primary focus being traditional optometry. However, when we had talked on the phone she talked about doing vision therapy in the office with additional practice at home but when we saw her she gave me a notebook with exercises to do with him at home even though we would not be back for 3 months if we follow her plan. I also didn't like as much just doing the low tech testing and not having data points. I think she is relying on eventually having those data points from the other doc.

Obviously we do have lots of comorbidity so I agree there is much to unravel (she talked about it like an onion) and we have to start somewhere. I think I am disappointed at needing to work on VT during the school year but travel to the therapy center will be easier now than then.

So this was long but lots to report.

HappilyMom- that optometrist sounds amazing! So glad you found her! I know you have many things to look at, but you've gotten started and have some great leads as to what direction. Sounds like your ds is onboard too!

Maybe the new DO will have better luck getting info if she contacts last one.


We also need to see OT. I will be making that call Monday. Otherwise, VT going ok.

Keep us posted!

Congratulations, HappilyMom! It sounds like the new optometrist is putting you in touch with resources and helping prioritize therapies, and that you trust her and she works well with your son. Glad you sought a new specialist!

I would want to do a baseline study of his vision in the fall, immediately before starting the vision therapy, and then testing later to see how effective it was. Who knows if the data points may change as your son going through various other therapies first (and as he gets older).

Susan Barry's Fixing My Gaze is a book-length exploration of how she sees and how vision therapy changed her life. Her case was first highlighted by Oliver Sacks in an article in the New Yorker, and then she was "Stereo Sue" in his riveting book, The Mind's Eye. So if you want a shorter "homework assignment," you could check out Sack's article/chapter-length descriptions--so riveting you'll probably want to read Barry's book anyhow:) Oliver Sacks' work helped me believe this vision therapy could be effective.

Good luck unpeeling the onion.

Thank you! You all make me feel like I have my own cheerleaders in this.

It is so weird to suddenly become aware of how pervasive a handicap your child has.... to be talking deficit and delay with a kid that you have always been concerned with acceleration and advancement. I think it's going to take some time to wrap my head around all this. Slowly I am understanding all the things that had puzzled me before.

Portia the VT place is a mile from my house (school is a half mile) but that sounds like wise advice, I will start collecting my crock pot recipes...if there is still OT involved it may get pretty crazy. And yes the exercises do seem to be strength building. Thanks for helping me understand that better. It was a lot to take in with the new doc.

Laurel thanks for mentioning Oliver Sacks! A quick google showed me he is someone I'd like to read. And yes! This is what the new doc is planning... do a baseline in the Fall before school starts then plan from there.

...which brings me to another research project. How do you get the ball rolling for a 504 plan? I am going to post this elsewhere but I now have 2 ODs who have examined him and insist that he needs a 504 right away. Even more so as the school is experimenting with accelerating him in the Fall.

Melessa glad to hear your son's VT is going well. I should PM you the site for the therapy our doc recommended. There may be a similar program where you are.

I thought I would post here that the proprietary program that our new OD is recommending is the "Sensory Learning Program". There is a map of where it is offered here:

http://sensorylearning.com/locations.php

The new OD sounds great. That sounds almost word for word what our OD told us - do some OT first, then VT. My son has been to OT only 3 times and we are in the middle of moving so we haven't done much at home yet.

I'm curious about the 504 as well. I guess I will know more once he starts VT.

This sounds good. Speaking from experience, ds7 had 4 years of pt and ot when he started vt at 4 years old. He had neck surgery before starting VT too. I remember his behavioral optometrist said that he needed to have the neck surgery and years of pt/ot before he started VT too. The SPD and other issues were too intractable and outstanding otherwise. We would have just been spinning our wheels.

Ds7 spent 2.5 yrs in VT. It can make a huge difference, especially combined with ot/pt. I wish you luck. It can be a long journey. I remember when Ds's former behavioral optometrist pointed out the deficits too. Wow. It was incredible. And what a journey we had. I learned so much about vision.

Behavioral optometry is about how the eyes function with the brain and body rather than simply about visual acuity (20/20 vision). They should take a holistic approach to treating a child. They should exam their gross and fine motor skills, balance and coordination issues, and speech and attentional skills. Ophthalmologists, on the other hand, take an entirely different approach to examining the eyes.

Thanks Bronalex and CDfox! I love hearing the stories of others. and CD that brain body connect with vision was eluding me before talking to this OD and reading some of what she suggested. I had a hard time grasping how it all related but of course now it is making perfect sense. I really needed someone who could answer my questions and walk me through putting it together. I really appreciate you sharing what you have experienced and learned so I can keep comparing and learning more!

We're just getting started on this journey as well so I'm also glad to hear about other experiences. My son's visual integration evaluation is on Monday - that's when the OD will figure out what he needs in terms of VT. We will have a follow up results meeting a couple weeks after that.

I felt like the initial vision processing diagnoses really just made everything about my son so clear. I really owe the parents on this message board for leading me down this path. We had assumed his eyes were OK following surgery. Clearly, that is not the case. I'm so glad we uncovered this now and not after years of struggling in school.

Good luck and keep us posted.

VT and those body-brain neurological wiring can be a very long road and journey. There is light at the end of the tunnel here. Unfortunately, there are no quick answers or magic cures.

I've been grappling with this stuff for over 7.5 years with ds now and some days I'm afraid it's not over for us. Sigh. When I took ds7 to neurofeedback provider #1 and water therapy last Aug, I nearly hit the roof and then had a complete meltdown when they said how it was still affecting him - after 2.5 years of vt; 5 years of pt and ot; etc.

Since my son was born with a head/brain and neck (torticollis) issues, I had no choice but to see and unravel how the processing systems and everything else it seemed (except maybe the toenails) were connected. Tort kids like my son are often born with one eye being anatomically smaller than another. So they do not process visual information like normal kids do from the start. They can't hold their heads up due to the neck muscle or ocular tort. Then, they don't crawl properly, develop hand dominance, and it kind of goes on and on.

Ds7 should be swimming and doing Dr. Burdenko's water/ land exercises nearly every day or at least a couple of times a week. He's got to use both sides of the body and brain evenly - which has been the bane of my existence with him. But ds7 is pg and rather resistant to doing the exercises (or much of anything lately). The brain/body will take the path of least resistance when possible to conserve energy and effort.

Visual processing accounts for 80-85% of what the brain processes. Even in blind people, it still accounts for a heck of a lot. If the visual goes down or goes awry, well you are up the creek and backpedaling bit. If hearing central auditory processing deficits are thrown into the mix, good luck I say. Those are the two main processing systems for the brain and body. That's not to say vestibular, touch, and other senses play a role. They do. It's just seeing and hearing are the main ways and dominant ones used in school. No smelling textbooks exist yet!

Before VT, it's like placing a telephone call between NYC and Denver and there's been a storm. The direct lines are down. An indirect route is necessary; or the call might even be aborted. The call might go through to Chicago and perhaps Cleveland, Kansas City, and a bunch of other cities and/or the line might go dead on its way to Denver (if you even get there). Thus, different/ new lines are unmasked and you have no clue where the call goes/does. Time and quality are compromised in the process. Everyone is frustrated.

With VT, new phone lines get built. With sufficient repetition, remaining fibers are strengthened and high efficiency can be reached. The brain can adapt and compensate. And well, the call finally takes a direct route and goes through!

I'm following the comments here because our DS has some of the symptoms. He's mild (or else has compensated) and so I'm not sure if VT is for him. His optometrist has had him eye patching now for the last three months for two hours a day while playing eye/hand games on the iPad. His last exam showed an improvement in his lazy eye: going from 20/40 to 20/30, yet the optometrist has suggested we see a VT doctor.

DS hates to have his head underwater and up until this last year, would scream just having his hair rinsed. He's been one to cover his ears for no apparent reason and was a screamer as a baby...again for no apparent reason.

When I read the description of dysgraphia it seemed to fit him. We're having him evaluated by Sylvan for writing to see if they think they can help. After a course of instruction, if he doesn't improve (which with dysgraphia, practice doesn't improve it), we will definitely pursue the VT.

Well the OT eval gave a diagnosis of "Lack of Coordination including Dyspraxia and Hypotonia". SPD isn't mentioned and only one objective mentions working on his sensory issues.

When I see Dyspraxia and know that we have suspected Dysgraphia, I start thinking maybe we better follow through with the Neuro Psychologist to put the pieces together.

We are starting OT next week and should get in about 6wks of 2x a week before we re-evaluate the vision piece.

My son had a major anxiety flare up when we were travelling and visiting relatives last week and it was an awful trip. He couldn't handle the noise level when we went to VBS at church. He couldn't play outside with his cousins because he couldn't physically do the things they wanted to do. He couldn't be out of eyeshot of me even for the bathroom. He couldn't fall asleep. He was scared of everything and it was exhausting. We came home early.

It left me wondering if we are going to ever get to a more "normal" existence from all of these efforts or if we will end up having spent thousands of dollars and hours without meaningful improvement.

I know our diagnoses so very often are comorbid and have seen many here with a similar list. I find myself pondering if it is all really pieces of a disorder yet unidentified or perhaps how a gifted brain develops to accommodate specific deficiencies....

Back at home with no school my son is calm and sweet and cheerful as usual. He seems like such a normal bright little guy as long as you don't put a pencil or crayon in his hand or ask him to do another physical skill.

HappilyMom-
I'm sorry things have been so frustrating for you. (We don't see OT until 7/24 and frankly I'm scared.) I have also thought knowing there are others in similar situations if it is something that doesn't have a name yet. Could very well be in my opinion.
Btw, my ds had a bad anxiety flare up re school. Still working on that:(
Sorry your trip didn't work out. We have one upcoming. He is soo excited, and we orchestrate the whole trip- making it successful for him.
Enjoy your happy guy, and focus on that for now (and the therapies). Hang in there. If nothing else, I completely sympathize and empathize!

Melessa and Portia thank you so much for your encouraging words and keeping up with our story!

It's so nice to be able to talk here about it. My family (that we saw on our trip) doesn't get it and was not able to be supportive. I have been so exhausted from that trip (I was travelling alone with my son by car over 500 miles from home) and how it went. Then being back at home my husband had a training program at work that left us on our own again all day and evening for several days. After all of us being back together for the weekend things are finally settling down.

Tomorrow we do our first OT session. DS is counting down to when we go back (he loved it so much there!). Unfortunately it is an hour drive from home. He responded so well to that place and the therapist that I'm willing to make the drive and hoping we will see good progress.

Last night I was thinking about DS not being able to ride a bike (balance issues) and how much he enjoyed riding his tricycle before he outgrew it. Bike seats don't offer much security for a kid with his issues either. Have any of you found good options for this?

I did a little research and ordered a "Ybike Explorer Go Kart" for him after a bit of study on it. It has a big bucket seat and a 3 wheel design. The steering requires bilateral coordination to operate it and you make it go by pedaling much like a recumbent bike. It looks like a very cool vehicle he will be proud to drive around other kids. It seems like it would be a good option to grow his skills and participate when other kids his age ride bikes. Have any of you used any "special" toys like this to bridge some of the 2e gaps with age mates?

Portia-- that is good progress (and encouragement) to hear about how your son has grown through similar struggles. I feel like one of my challenges is listening and acting better on what my son tells me. He does advocate well for himself and quickly synthesizes new information about why he feels or acts the way he does and what he can do to make it better. It's been hard to believe or understand the depth of what has been happening without the professionals shining a light on what it is and how it impacts him.

I think I have bought in to the lie that we must not be good parents that some have offered up to us as the reason my child behaves differently than others. Some of his behavior comes off as difficult and obstinate when he is simply overloaded and needs options. Looks like a "brat" with bad parents to the casual observer in the moment. One of my biggest faults is wanting others to like me and approve of my choices. Not a good fit for parenting the child I have been given. It's a growth area for me and I keep working on it.

I hope I get more time to read soon and keep up better here and in my "reading list" from the optometrist.

I can't make a recommendation yet, since we haven't gotten the bikes to try it out, but I just ordered balance bikes for DD9 and DS5 (neither of whom can ride a bike now). I will report back once I have some data. Neither of them seems to have issues with bilateral activities or with crossing the midline, but both have sensory issues.

Portia-- I love your posts! You are always incredibly informative and helpful. Good medicine. It seriously helps me "normalize" the odd experience of raising my son. I cannot thank you enough for that.

Elizabeth-- Thank you so much for sharing this as I was looking at those but had concern about if there were a model available that was large enough for my very tall nearly 7yr old. Please report back on how it goes... and you know I should probably make a thread here in 2e just about bikes. Might learn a lot.

HappilyMom- I have no words of wisdom. I often have thoughts about if all this (vt and OT) are going to help. I feel sad for him and frustrated. Reading your posts lets me know I'm not alone:) It is helpful to me (and I'm sure others) to read your posts.

I did speak to the tester about the upcoming school meeting. Her advice was to enjoy the summer (with therapies) and have fun, to save my energy for August. I am trying to listen to that advice- trying.

Hang in there. Keep us updated! Hope the ot appt goes well. Atleast your ds is excited to go!

Melessa-- I am so glad to have your company though I hate for anyone to be going through these things.

We got his ybike today and it was GREAT! He can move really fast and is picking up the steering. Everyone that sees him...kid or adult..is impressed with his "cool" vehicle. He is beaming with the compliments and racing around like 6yr olds should. So great to see him so proud and confident at a physical skill!