My little girl had been an enigma to her family, teachers and doctors for years. She is clearly bright, asks intelligent questions, is interested in finding out about the world and loves arts and crafts. However at school she was below average with everything that involved recording information. She struggled with PE, noisy environments and bright lights.
Teachers found it difficult to pinpoint her difficulties as she didn’t fit into any obvious special needs categories. She was referred to the SENCo, head teacher and outside advisors to see if anyone had any ideas. She struggled in every area of school work.
The big clue to a vision related problem was that when attempting to read music she would cover her eyes and look away from the page.
She undertook some tests for Dyslexia and although the test proved negative the specialist recognized evidence of Visual Stress and suggested visiting an optometrist for tests with the Colorimeter.
The day she got her glasses her whole world changed. She walked around as if she was a tourist. She pointed out how amazing the corner shop was because there were lots of things she could read and loved adverts and said she didn’t know they had words on before. She learnt how to tell the time in 1 week and her headaches stopped completely – she now only gets headaches if she has been in an over-stimulating environment with lights and noises.
One year on and my little girl has learnt to catch a ball, skip, read big thick chapter books, knit, make loom bands and do 4 figure addition and subtraction. Her confidence has increased dramatically and she is loving life. . She never complains about her glasses because she doesn’t like taking them off.
On the positive side she now considers herself a bookworm, writes little stories for pleasure and loves a wide range of arts and crafts. She is happy and thriving and I am very thankful that her Visual Stress has been detected early so she can enjoy her childhood.