My dd just diagnosed with a Convergence disorder...

[Dedee]

My daughter has complained for years that she has trouble reading the board but every time I take her to the eye doctor they say her eye exam is normal. Last year she kept taking my reading glasses to school saying it helped her read. Again, another normal eye exam. Last year I asked her the questions about whether she had trouble with words moving on the page, or missing sentences and she always said no. However, this year when I asked her she said "sometimes". So when I took her to the eye doctor I asked him if he could test for convergence insufficiency. My daughter explained about the headaches and told him the words jump around sometimes. He did a very thorough exam and said she didn't have convergence insufficiency, she had convergence excess. She over compensates instead of under compensates which actually is within the same disorder and causes the same symptoms. So we have ordered the special glasses and hoping and waiting to see if this will help. Amazing how many of us have this same type issue. I found the following article interesting about Lyme disease and convergence issues:

 

http://aoj.uwpress.org/content/56/1/147.abstract

 

Dedee

[pr40]

thanks for this post. ds has his eye exam next week for similar reasons your dd had it. i'll make sure to mention convergence.

[LNN]

Pr40 - you may need to really push. Many optometrists do not test for it or do so in a cursory way. Ironically, our pediatrician diagnosed my DD when she was 4. We were sent to a pediatric optometrist who never addressed the CI but instead prescribed galsses for an astigmatism. DD always said the glasses didn't help. I finally learned more thru a lyme friend and went to a behavioral optometrist who dx'd both kids with CI and gave them both bifocals with prism lenses. (My son has 20/20 vision yet still has CI - no other optometrist ever tested for it, despite his reading problems). Both kids felt reading got easier with the glasses. My son in particular jumped several levels in his ability and comprehension.

 

DD did 24 weeks of vision therapy and went from the 1st percentile to the 60th percentile in many areas. In some areas, she's still weak but better than where she started. The optometrist would like to do 12 more weeks but I need to squirrel away the money first. DS should also be getting therapy but funds don't allow at the moment and since al the money has gone toward his medical needs, it was his sister's turn to get the funding on this one. But we are doing the home exercises with both kids. It was a good investment for us.

 

Here's a good site http://www.childrensvision.com/reading.htm

[SSS]

Well, this is very interesting. I visited both links, thank you.

My dd8's weakest academic link is reading (my personal passion)

She will NOT pick up a book on her own- and cannot tolerate more than, say, 15-20 minutes at a time,

furthermore, I MUST sit next to her, and she prefers to read out loud to me (and sometimes I take a turn when she gets weary)

She reads out loud fast- sometimes skipping a word,

or actually substituting a like word.

I couldn't glean from what I've read if this is a sign of CS-

she spells beautifully...

[Dedee]

S & S,

 

My daughter is a straight A student and actually reads above her grade level. She also does great in spelling. However, the last two years her reading progress has slowed down and she always complains that she gets headaches when she reads. She was always using my reading glasses saying that it helped her. People kept telling me that she just wanted to wear glasses because her brother had glasses and some of her friends did also. She would also complain that the board was blurry when she tried to read it but then would test 20/20 at the Dr. office. When I brought up convergence to our optometrist, he knew exactly what it was and said that all made perfect sense. I really wish I had said something about it before. It was really when she said the words were moving around that it clicked for me. I didn't put the reading fatigue and the headaches together. From some of the things I have read, this can be pretty common in chronic lyme. I think most of these kids should at least be tested. It didn't take our optometrist that long. He had some special glasses he used and some techniques I had never seen before but he said she was definitely convergence excess. I am so hopeful this helps with her headaches and school fatigue.

 

Dedee

[julie_2girls]

OMG this is my girl. Making an appt on Monday to get her checked. i wish I knew about this sooner. Our poor kids just think it is normal for words to jump on page or blur. I know understand why she hates reading, tries to pick books with larger font, smaller chapters and fewer pages….lots of headaches and homework takes hours and hours now (common core not helping). I am actually excited to know there may be more then lyme disease/pans and something we can do about it. I have a name of a developmental optometrist i just happened to have saved not knowing i would ever need it:)))0

[Hopeny]

We have this issue too i believe from Lyme. One of her initial Lyme symptoms was visual disturbances that have never gone away . My daughter has been able to compensate and is at a high reading level so I have been slow on getting her vision therapy but it's on my list.