Views on Vision By Dr. Charles A. Boulet ~ C.I. Sally

Sally came to see me at one of the three clinics I attend. She is a smart and pretty 13 year-old who, despite many gifts, is floundering in Grade 8. She has seen various doctors and been 'tested' too many times to count. Sally's frustrated, feeling like a loser, bothered by the fact that she spends time in a 'reading room' at her age, despite the fact that she CAN read.
This gets a little complicated. And by the way, the moral of this is NOT that Sally needs glasses.
At the end of Grade 2, it was clear Sally was going to need more help than other kids. Teachers were quick to notice what was going on, but because Sally is smart and well-intentioned, it was hard to determine where the problem was. Her teachers in her old school in small-town northern Alberta did what they could and put together an IPP to try to get her to learn her material. Some reading testing and rudimentary visual perceptual testing was done which showed mixed results. She could do well enough when things were explained to her, but this was a problem for the general classroom with another 30 kids to manage - there is simply not enough time for one teacher to teach one child for any significant period of time in one day. That is, in the regular classroom in Alberta.
When told to do so, Sally will read to you and she understands the language and how words work. She has a reasonable vocabulary and can carry on a controlled conversation with an adult and she can also laugh easily. Still, when you ask Sally to study to prepare for a test, or to read a novel, she can't go any longer than a few minutes before she quits out of frustration. Reading is intolerably tedious for Sally, to the point that she has cried and has fought it out with her parents over homework not done and poor grades. Sally hates reading aloud because of all the mistakes she makes, mixing words and letters around. It's a nightmare and she turns red, even now, at 13.
Along the way, Sally's mom was offered and refused anti-depressants and behaviour-modifying medication for her daughter. She didn't think Sally had an attention problem (nor did I when I interviewed her) and was determined to work out the frustrations in the family for now and forego any pharmaceutical help for Sally's teenage mood swings (which I also agreed with). She brought her in to see me because she thought Sally's eyes might be a part of the problem, maybe a glasses update would help.
One of the things I love about my job is that fundamentally it's quite straightforward: Heal illness and fix troublesome behaviour. The more you look at the details of vision, you get to know what to look for and how things will affect a person's life in far-reaching ways. In Sally's case, I could easily describe the trouble she was having TO her, before she would explain it to me. With maybe 90% accuracy, I explained what she sees and feels as she tries to read, how her visual system struggles against badly aligned muscles and causes confusion of letters and words, and some notable pain and headaches. I could also appreciate how she must be feeling.
If I were Sally, I wouldn't like to read either. This is Sally's fifth year in an IPP with weekly reading therapy. Fifth. She doesn't get much done at these sessions and is basically biding her time while trying to be polite. She is cut off from her friends and classmates academically, and at times in scheduling, and somewhat isolated socially. Because Sally's problem (Convergence Insufficiency or 'CI') is readily treatable without surgery, I expect that we'll have Sally's reading problem largely fixed within four months. Then at least, Sally will be playing on a mostly level playing field. Yes, Sally's glasses needed an update. In fact, she might need a few pair for different training and reading needs. It's really a good thing Sally's mom brought her in.
Sally has some catching up to do and therapy comes with a price, in terms of time (perhaps 15 - 20 minutes daily) and some discomfort when muscles learn to stretch and work together. Sally also has some other trouble in mathematics that requires more of a structured mathematics program that can break things down to concrete facts. The schools will attend to this and programs are available online and through other sources. I am also recommending varied changes in diet, sleep patterns and entertainment and exercise regimens.
There is work to be done in therapy, but Sally and her mom are willing to make the effort because they both know what I know: Sally is neither 'slow' nor 'disabled' - she's just awesome.
That's the moral of the story.

Dr. Boulet is a former teacher and now operates Diamond Valley Vision Care in Black Diamond where he continues to work with children with learning difficulties.
Call 403-933-5552.
www.dvvc.ca and www.LearningManagement.ca