Convergence disuffienency

[mar]

I am very interested on this topic. And if it wasn't for this site I would not even know what it is ever!! So thank you!!! Ds was first child so never had anyone to base his reading skills to until dd starting advancing so much at his age. So as ds has gotten older he hates to read. He is 10 soon to be 11 and hates to read. He does wear glasses for about 1 1/2 years basically needs them for reading and chalk board. But what I have noticed throughout the year is he struggles with reading which makes homework a struggle. He can't find answers In paragraphs. At times I have him read several paragraphs and he does is like hurts him and says I don't know the answer and I say it's their and he will and catch it. But I feel like he depends on me too much. I will recheck his work and be like this is wrong and he will be like oh yeah and will make him reread a paragraph and will find it. Basically I feel that he just does not comprehend what he reads. He has always been a strait A studend but since I backed of these past couple of years his grades have been slipping. Then I notice recently which I have seen many times before but assumed it was a tic that he does this eye roll that looks to me like he is trying to focus. it's not constant only when he is trying to focus and figure something out. He is in fifth grade and will only read diary of the wimpy kid.. He will not read any chapter book. He says his teacher says that those books are okay but to me it's half illustration and those are the books he always gravitates to. There are times where I am just talking to him and he does this side way roll of the eyes like he is thinking about something and trying to focus. This eye roll is not constant at all. But we struggle with reading and he avoids it constantly. Studying for a test is a struggle also because he just wants to read the study guide one time and say he is done. We argue that he needs to study longer and he has gotten f's on tests several times. Basically I think the struggles and fights are bc he doesn't like to read. These have to ci symptoms I am assuming but you know what you hear boys dont like to read. Maybe it's not his thing! But when I see school work being affected I feel it's not just liking to read. and then DH hates to read. Ds asked him something and he wouldnt do it! If anyone could chim in with ci and reading issues of if this sounds familiar.

Mat

E

[StillHopeful]

This sounds a lot like my DS12. He doesn't have an eye roll though. He had other tics but they have improved. He also hates to read even though he is a wonderful reader and is smart. He would tell me that he was skipping lines and re-reading. He would also tell me the pages were blurry now and then. I was at a loss and it was effecting his grades. I took him to a behavioral opthamologist who said he had convergence disorder. But something about the doctor and the way he was keeping the price of his therapy made me feel uncomfortable. I then took him to his regular opthamologist who retested him and said that he did not have it. She said she could show him exercises to do if I wanted and they have someone in their office that works w/children that have this but she said he is not having a problem bringing his eyes together so it would not do anything. Around the same time I started to treat my son w/ antibiotics for PANDAS and the vision issues went away. What has not gone away is a true phobia of school and school work (he is on homebound education due to the school phobia) and I think that for my son this is what the real problem is. His hw assignment was to cut out an article. He did not have to read it or discuss it. He was going to do that w/the teacher. This is somethinbg he can easily do. He refused to do it. You would think I asked him to put his hand in a box of spiders (another phobia). I would suggest you get his eyes checked but also see if you think it is routed in anxiety. Another thing to ask the teacher about and for you to investigate is a processing problem. Is there a reading specialist in the school that could also help you look into this?

[3boysmom]

My DS used to love to read but the severe attention issues that have lingered since thus began, makes reading a big chore because he no longer enjoys the stories. He says that he will be reading and then much later realize that he had no idea what he read or that he was "zoned out" and this frustrates him and the pleasure is gone.

[LNN]

My son is also in 5th grade and has been diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency. His symptoms are very similar to your son's. His vision is 20/20 but his eyes don't work as a team with his brain. Here's a great explanation of it http://www.childrensvision.com/reading.htm

 

My daughter also has this and was first diagnosed by her pediatrician when she was 4 (hooked up wires to her head and had her watch videos/images). They referred us to a regular optometrist who ignored the diagnosis and gave her glasses for far sightedness. For three years, she always said the glasses didn't help much. Last fall, we took her to a behavioral optometrist who confirmed the original diagnosis of CI and prescribed different glasses - bifocals that correct for both farsightedness and lower lenses that bend the light in a way that corrects for CI. She now wears her glasses all the time and says they help a lot.

 

From what I've read and from my own experience, regular optometrists pooh-pooh CI and won't test for it. Behavioral optometrists are the ones to see. However, the vision therapy they recommend is ridiculously expensive and only a small portion is reimbursed from insurance (medical not vision). The doctor recommended we do 24 sessions for each kid. We can't afford to treat both kids at the same time. So we got them both glasses but opted to treat my daughter first (we have spent tons on the Pandas/lyme son, so it was her turn to get first dibs on the funds). We've done 9 sessions for her and it has definitely helped. She still has some work to do, but I can see a significant improvement. Enough that after 12 weeks, we'll switch and do 12 weeks for my son. Then we'll reassess and see what sort of change we can find under the couch cushions to decide if we can afford any additional sessions.

 

I can tell you that my son - even without the therapy but just the corrective glasses, has put aside Diary of a Wimpy Kid and is now reading a series (Ranger's Apprentice) that is considered a 6.6 grade reading level by scholastic books. AND he's reading it at a faster rate than his class mates, blowing through a book every 7-10 days (there are 11 books in the series, he is now a full book ahead of a friend who started the series ahead of him).

 

I learned about CI from a friend whose son has an eye tic. They explored Pandas, Lyme, mold - but what has helped the most has been the bifocals for CI. His academics were borderline - they debated about holding him back a year. He's now firmly at grade level.

 

What I find really interesting is that convergence insufficiency effects the basal ganglia - the same part of the brain effected by pandas. So for some like Stillhopeful, it could be a medically induced situation. But for my kids (one Pandas, one not), it's something that's responded to vision therapy and glasses. I wish it were more affordable and that insurance covered more of it but we've spent far more on other medical interventions that didn't yield nearly as significant improvements.

[mar]

Thank you for the replys! Now I have more questions. There was a couple of weeks where I sat down with him and I would have him read his reading book to me. he would skip a line of or at times be like where was I. He does not like to read out loud. Says its better if he reads to himself which is fine. Jhabe asked him if things are blurry says no. So I get progress report and ds is getting a c- in reading which is the lowest grade ever for him. I ask why he doesn't bring reading book home and says he forgets and then goes to say its boring. He says it's not interesting. I tell him he cant read about motorcross or hockey his whole life and that he is entering jonior high next year and will have tons of reading. He is having the not interesting And zoned approach. I will make an appointment to a opthamologist. He does have aniexty so not sure if this would cause it. What are the symptoms you see as a processing problem and could they relate to his issues. This is where I feel like which way should I go. I guess if it was all so simple we all wouldn't be here. But it's not and we need to see where the piece of the puzzle goes. Question when I make an appointment to a opthamologist is that like a regular eye doctor apt which tests for ic or do I need to specify the CI test. I would rather not mention concerns to see what they say. I feel that if I mention concerns then they are going to automatically say yes he has it. Thanks again and hope everyone stays well!!

Mar

[LNN]

There are three issues with CI - one is focal point - the ability of both eyes to converge on the same point (eye teaming). The second is tracking - the ability of the eye muscles to keep the eye on the same point and not jump around when the muscles get tired (this is what causes the eye to lose its place and jump from line to line on the page) and the third is focus - the ability of each eye to see clearly and sharply. Your son can tell you that things aren't blurry, but that's only one of three aspects. And things can be sharp at one distance but blurry at another, or may get blurry as the eyes get tired. So it's really best to have a screening.

 

Unfortunately, you aren't going to find an unbiased diagnosis. There seems to be agreement that CI exists. There is disagreement about what to do about it. Regular optometrists and ophthalmologists say that vision therapy doesn't help and that it is over-diagnosed. That those who treat it are snake oil salesmen. Behavioral optometrists believe it should absolutely be treated and that vision therapy is absolutely helpful. So your diagnosis is going to be heavily influenced by who you see for an evaluation. In my own experience, the pediatrician said DD had it. The regular optometrist ignored it and gave her regular glasses. DD said they didn't help. Behavioral optometrist said she had it, gave her different glasses and therapy. DD now wears her glasses all the time, says they really help and her coordination and reading is stronger since she started doing therapy. So my personal experience believes the behavioral optometrist. Enough that I'm now willing to fork out additional money for the second kid, as painful as that will be. Many of the research papers I found were inconclusive and seemed to depend on which camp did the study. I did find one study that seemed relatively unbiased and did find that glasses plus 12 weeks of vision therapy both in the office and at home seemed to help about 75% of the kids n the study.

 

It's also possible that your son is genuinely bored with the subject matters and/or has some ADD. Not everything is medical. Lots of 11 yr old boys find school to be boring and it usually isn't structured for the way they like to learn. But it sounds like you're seeing real vision/reading problems. And that's going to get in the way of academics even if the subject matter is interesting.

 

When we started down this road, the behavioral optometrist did a 1 hour preliminary screening. From that, we got a diagnosis and a prescription for bifocals. That exam was $200. You could always go that far, get the new glasses and see what improvements came from that alone. We opted to take the second step, which was a 2hr evaluation and a battery of tests that measured all sorts of vision/perception issues. Was the child able to predict the next pattern in a series of patterns, did the brain see correctly, where the problems in all three areas of vision (eye teaming, tracking and focus) or just in one or two areas? From there, we got a lengthy write-up that we gave to the school and that gave my kids 504s with accommodations for school. Most importantly was that they get extra time for tests like the state standardized tests. Things have improved.

 

You'll have to read up on it and go with your gut. At the least, based on your description, I'd consider an initial exam and new prescription for glasses. You can find behavioral optometrists here: http://www.covd.org/ChoosingaDoctor/tabid/84/Default.aspx If you don't have luck, there are other organizations that have similar sites. I just don't have them bookmarked.

[jtp]

My son is 12 and had vision therapy when he was 8. We noticed when he was 2 that his eyes were a little off and had him checked by an opthamologist and he said nothing was wrong. We then found a pediatric optometrist who diagnosed my son with CI. He gave us home therapy to keep his eyes in check until he was 8 then we paid for 12 weeks of VT at his office. I hate to think of what could have happened had we not followed through with VT. Today he reads way above his level, has an excellent vocabulary and also writes way above the 7th grade level. He loves to read so much that I have to make him stop and do a bit of VT to rest his eyes. He will always have CI but he has learned from VT what exercises to use when his eyes get are overworked.

 

Those remarks about an eye roll you say that are not a tic do sound like a tic my son had. He has had eye rolling very badly when he was in a flare. It was the most prominent tic. As he got older he was able to control that eye rolling and I would catch him doing it occasionally. I asked him about it and he said, " Mom I can control the eye roll, so when it starts I try to stop it". I'm just wondering if that's what your son is doing, controlling it when he knows someone's watching.

 

Now that he's being treated for Pans I haven't seen that eye roll anymore.

 

We are very happy we chose to do the Vision therapy.

Edited February 13, 2013 by jtp

[reactive]

Hmm...interesting. Our DS 12 PANDAS/PANS has complained over the years of an eye roll and darting eye tic. He has had reading comprehension issues and failed his 3rd grade state reading assessment even though he had A's and B's in reading in school that year. This past year- part of 5th grade and 6th grade this year we began having him use audio books for his reading when required to read novels. He is currently reading the Artemis Fowl series, and needs to read so many books per grading period and then test on them to get points...it is part of his reading grade. His comprehension went from getting 6 or 7 points out of 10 to 9 or 10 points out of 10. This is huge because it takes awhile to get through a novel with all the other things he has to do.

 

So...I guess for us that is working...our DS says this seems strictly a tic for him, no other vision symptoms...he wears contact lenses for myopia. He says the tic would cause him to lose his place...plus I think his comprehension is better with audio regardless of tic issues too.

[Missmom]

Sounds just like my son when he was in 5th and 6th grade. HATED to read. I would not stress out over this too much. As long as he has found some books that interest him. My son also only read wimpy kid and big Nate type of books. He is now in seventh grade and doing fine. What I have found is that once kids get to jr. High, there is not near the emphasis on reading that there was in the elementary grades. They start changing classes and the focus just really changes. No more reading grades to worry about. My son is In jr. Beta club and holds a 93 average. He said he was just never interested in other types of books. And after seeing some of the required reading type of books I understand why. I never really liked to read either so I can't really blame him.

 

Really all I am trying to say is that you as his mom should really not stress out too bad over this because he will be fine. Since pandas hit us here, I find I don't have time to stress out over the little things. keep watching the eye roll thing. It may or may not be a tic. My son had this as well, but has since "graduated" to a sort of head nod/hair flick type of tic. I never know from one day to the next what to expect.

[mar]

Thanks for all the replys!!! I still have this gut feeling that it's more. Last year his lextile score for reading was absurd extremely high and he had to do a book report on it which was torture even I would not read this book book and was confused and then his score fell like 200 points this year. I just know and feel that reading is hard for him. He ignores it to the point where I say you have to read for this and that. He has a log at school where If he does not read 60 min a week he stays in for recess and I stopped reminding him of it and he stays in and says whatever. I feel that he totally ignores it. I see that he would sacrific recess for not reading which is crazy bc he is very active. I do see add in him. It has gotten better as he gets older. There is the clumsiness , spilling things. We go to the library with dd and he comes along and I show him books and no mom I am rereading my diary of wimpy kids. Also with his rolls or tics that at times correlate with reading and focusing. It's very interesting!

Mar