FINALLY!
Today I took my daughter to the eye doctor for her yearly exam.
DEVELOPMENTAL EYE DOCTOR
Turns out he is a developmental eye doctor, which is a unique field added to that of optometrist and ophthalmologist.
During the exam he diagnosed my daughter with the a concern, which I now forget what he officially called it.
As a result we are now setup for a developmental eye exam with him next week to learn the full extent of the condition.
Then he said they can do therapy with her to help.
EYE TRACKING ISSUES
He said she is such a sweet girl and must be a genius, to have had such horrible eye tracking issues all these years and yet still be successful in school and have such a sweet personality.
He said most kids with this condition that he’s met are angry and frustrated trying to deal with life.
I’m fearful to tell a certain someone but..this explains all the trouble in teaching her to drive…because the doctor said she has poor peripheral tracking.
PRESCRIBED GLASSES?
She was first prescribed glasses about age eleven, and I was flabbergasted.
The gal who can read the time on the microwave from across the room, at least twenty feet, needs glasses?
Whenever I lose my contact lens I call her in and she spots it immediately.
TEACHING TO THE OTHER SENSES
When I began teaching her how to read, I noticed the eye tracking issue, although I didn’t know to call it that.
With every eye exam I’ve asked but the doctors didn’t see any concern, since their focus was on how well she read an eye chart.
However, tracking for phonics was such a struggle, I used her other senses to teach her to read.
Although she reads lots of books, and often times by choice, I told her to use a bookmark to hold under each line of text ease the sea of words.
Then when she began her rhetoric studies, I purchased audible for her to follow along while listening to the Great Books.
HOPE
I feel like there’s been a thundercloud hanging over our heads all these years, and we are finally beginning to see a ray of sunshine.
Now she’s beginning college, has been accepted into an English Honors class, and finally this diagnosis.
Stay tuned for the journey, because I hope our story helps others, since I had no idea of the terminology or how to find an eye doctor specially trained for this.
Turns out this is such a little known field, with little research, and few eye doctors agree with it or are even aware.
This should have been a class when I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education, with a concentration in reading.
