Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional vission issues or something else?

DS5 gets private OT (thankfully covered by insurance) for his sensory and motor issues, 30 minutes / week school OT for writing, and 30 minutes of school ST for pragmatic language issues. So I will check with the two OTs we have what they think. In the meanwhile I might as well get a referral to neuro-psych since it will take some 6 months to get in. I can always cancel the appointment if we no longer needed. We were looking for answers other than ASD anyways as we don't feel the diagnosis fits anymore (and his therapists agree)

I don't have any diagnosis beyond rather severe but well corrected myopia (except maybe this one: ), but I can stare into a drawer for several minutes trying to find a specific spatula/knife and *not* see it when it is right in front of me.

It drives my husband nuts ("It's right there!!!").

I know I shouldn't be laughing, knowing you must be struggling with this ... but I have to use the "It's right there!!!" phrase every time my husband and my stepson open the fridge! lol

The problem with amblyopia isn't the muscle control. It is that if the eyes aren't working together or one of them is doing its own thing, then the brain learns to disregard information coming in from that eye.

My right eye stopped drifting when I was young after extended all-day patching. That strengthened the muscles, but the coordination between the eyes and how the brain handles input from my right eye was never corrected. This is why the modern patching routine is for only a couple of hours a day or using dilating drops. Example, if I try to read with just my right eye, I read about 1/3 the rate I do with my left eye. Everything is quite clear, but the words don't stay still and are hard to keep visually in order.

A casual covering of the good eye while he tries to do something visual with the lazy eye, might give you a quick insight into whether the issue is along those lines.

sounds like we definitely shouldn't dismiss either option until we have it checked out!

Mk--pmed you!

thank you!

I just took DS to a neuro-opthamologist to check his eyes. His OT who has had a lot of training in vision issues recommended this (rather than a regular opthamologist). DS had a sixth nerve palsy after an accident and skull fractures/concussion and one of his eyes wasn't tracking at all. As the nerve in his brain healed over the course of several months, the eye gradually started tracking. Even though DS's eyes looked normal after about 5 months, he still was not doing well on depth perception tests. If the eyes are not able to focus together, there is stereo-blindness. DS's OT noted major issues with his tracking, mentioned convergence insuffiency, etc. so the neuro-opthamologist checked all of that. She asked DS to track a slowly moving object in front of his face and DS's eyes immediately crossed and went in different directions. The neuro opthamologist said his tracking issues are very severe and must be from the TBI. She told me we can try vision therapy, but sounded doubtful that even that would help. She said he would not be able to drive, find things in the house, etc. I asked her about reading, since DS reads very well for a 6 year old so she gave him something to read and watched his eyes. She then announced "Clearly he doesn't have a problem with his eyes." I said "huh?" completely baffled. She said that DS's eyes track completely normal when reading and therefore he cannot possibly have these eye tracking issues that look so obvious when you ask him to track a moving object. He can't track "on command" (due to his dyspraxia/DCD or something else, I don't know). If a kid is having tracking issues i think most of them will have problems tracking when reading, lose their place, have fluency issues, etc. She also gave him a depth perception test and this time he did great on it, vs. in early Aug. he wasn't seeing half the test at the other eye doc. So it could be his eyes weren't completely focusing together until this last month or two.

In terms of the dyspraxia, it was a pediatric neurologist who first mentioned it to me when DS was 4. She didn't give him a written diagnosis but when I took DS in for a neuro-psych eval at age 6, we got the diagnosis. In the U.S. it is usually called Developmental Coordination Disorder. DS was a late talker and has some articulation and fluency issues, as well as problems with voice prosody. He also has both gross and fine motor issues. (coordination problems, hypotonia, hypermobile joints, flat feet, etc). One thing that baffles me about DS is that he has amazing visual spatial ability and visual memory, but with many people with dyspraxia, those things are big issues.

This is slightly off topic to this thread but I'll post it anyways... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130508131829.htm

Isn't it amazing how something so basic as the ability to sense movement can be so different between individuals?

On the subject of searching, my DH has trouble finding things. His issue is the partial search. I think he just somehow has a sense of probability that intrudes into tasks where completeness counts. He expects that when he's searched 75% of a location that the odds are it's not there. Probably would work great for covering a lot of ground, say for hunting animals that tend to exist in large herds. But a terrible strategy for finding a receipt in filing cabinet.

How is your DS with following the trajectory of a ball?

Like Zen Scanner said, convergence insufficiency. DS5 had this and before 8 months of vision therapy he was exactly the same way. Would not see something that was right in front of him. Much better now. Actually the only time he doesn't see it is when his mind is somewhere else or he just doesn't want to see it...:-)

I would have his eyes checked. And you can have perfect vision and still have convergence insufficiency.