Age 46. After struggling through my entire educational experience, I finally heard about vision therapy while tutoring students who were also struggling. Not until meeting Dr. Ho did I begin to understand the reasons behind my frequent accidents, fatigue, and excessive “efforting” in school and college. My brain was having to spend energy suppressing a far-sighted eye during reading. This was energy that could be redirected to a number of areas involved in mental tasks: Processing speed, working memory, executive function, and task switching. But I procrastinated making an appointment. Eye exams had always caused me anxiety because I could not tell the doctor what I was seeing. Yes I could name the letters, even the tiny letters. But I still cannot explain what I saw.
While having an IQ test performed, I got so “seasick” feeling during the visual-processing portion I had to stop the test. It took over an hour to recover. By the way, I scored higher than average IQ, but this subtest represented a point difference validating a learning disability. Also, as is the case with many other people with visual processing difficulties, I was misdiagnosed with adhd.
Then came the final event which luckily forced me to deal with the issue: A concussion. My maladaptive coping strategies could no longer get me by. I made an appointment with Dr. Ho who quickly put me at ease by explaining that we were going to take our time, over two separate evaluation appointments. Her individual attention, patience,and determination, were very reassuring. Throughout the process, from prescription glasses for distance, another for reading, and vision therapy, her continuity of care won my trust.
She’s a rock star. After three months, I now notice that my reflexes are heightened. Previous to the therapy, if I was knocking over, for example, a glass of water, and I tried to catch it, not only would I miss, but I would knock several other things over in the process! To my surprise, I am catching what is about to fall. I notice when I don’t run into the things that I used to run into. This feels pretty good! My threshold for tolerance is increased. I can drive at night without headlights from oncoming traffic splashing across my lane. I am more confident and oriented to my physical environment. I no longer have to re-read sentences. This is life changing.
As I continue to heal from the concussion, and attend cognitive therapy, I look forward to enjoying even more rewards from the vision therapy. Dr. Ho has literally freed up some of my brain power for the healing of my concussion. This is similar to purchasing more memory on a cell phone. My “battery” has longer life and is only getting better. Now that we know about the brain’s ability to heal at any age, I strongly encourage others to seek a behavioral optometry evaluation.