An End of an Era

Some of you know that Ian was dx'ed with a focusing issue when he turned 6. Not really exactly sure what the medical term is, but the first time they did a vision test, they thought he seriously needed glasses because he did that poorly on the eye test. They got the dr. in the room, he had Ian read the chart . . .and he was 20/20! We'd been sent to this OD because we'd had Ian in OT because he couldn't color! Yes, the kid figured out multiplication in K, had been spelling since he was 3 .. . .but the kid couldn't color to save his life! So, off to OT we went .. .seeing if it was poor fine-motor skills. She asked if his arms got tired at school, and he said "No, but my eyes do!" . . so off we went to Dr. S, the OD PA (whatever PA means . . .maybe pediatric something? He has a ton of kids in his practice). So he went through the most thorough eye exam I've ever seen. I thought that perhaps he was just doing this extensive an exam because we'd been referred by an OT. . . .nope, those are his regular exams! Both the girls have been too, and it was just a "regular" check.

And the dr. discovered this focusing issue. Apparently, it's not often discovered this young . . .and a lot of times the kids are dx'ed with Dyslexia, ADD, etc before they are properly dx'ed because it's harder to catch. They gave him a script for prism lenses. Literally overnight, the kid went from being very relunctant to read, to reading vary well. He had all those words in his head, he just couldn't see them properly! He's worn the lenses for 3.5 years. . .they basically retrain the eyes to work properly, and we did, I don't know . . . a TON of vision therapy sessions. Not cheap, but so well worth it! Who knows what kind of student he would've been without them.

Today, we went to visit Dr. S and he did an exam, checking to see how fast he would read things structured oddly, etc. And the kid ACED it! He doesn't have to wear the glasses at all anymore, unless he's having a particularly stressful day, hard time with the eyes, etc. So no more glasses. . . on a regular basis at least. I had to capture Ian today in his glasses. You can't see it so much in the pic, but man, these glasses have been well loved. After 2 frames broke, we went with those flexible ones. . .and oh, are they bent out of shape, lenses scratched. . . they've been worn on the playground, wrestled in . . .they're definitely used!



Allie did a drill team dance clinic today, since we had no school. 6 hours with a gym full of girls of all ages! The other 2 kids and I were there for the "showoff" time, and I'm not sure Allie learned anything. She wasn't enthusiastic, by any means (as you'll see below). They're supposed to dance at halftime at the ballgame tomorrow night. I was not thrilled to miss my first photography class for it, and even less thrilled with the aspect that I'd be missing class to watch her stand there! So, Mom and Dad are taking the 3 kids and going to the game, and I'm going to class.


The first picture was when she noticed I was sitting there. Vast improvement over last semester, when she rolled around on the floor with a couple other girls when they were supposed to be sitting quietly! Photo 2 . . .well, you can see how enthusiastic she looked!
Third photo . . .I can't get why their drill team counterparts (the teenagers) gave them party blowers before the day was over! Allie was more into it than the dance! ROFL And yep, all the girls in her group had these tiaras . . . and they blink! ROFL

Okay, I don't normally do this . . .you guys will notice I don't even have a "my favorite blogs" sidebar. . .but if you're in for a giggle and 40-something women and undergarments . . . go check out this post (sorry, Kelly . . . I just had to! Too Darned funny .. . besides probably a majority of the people who come here, end up here because of one of your links here! tehehe) Kelly's blog