Behavioural Optometrist- an eye opener!!

As part of the standard school kindergarten check up the school nurse checks each child's eyes. Miss A got a note home saying she needed to have her eyes checked as there was an issue. So 2 weeks ago I took Miss A to get her eyes checked by a behavioural optometrist. I had never heard of them until asking other special needs Mums who they would recommend. A behavioural optometrist undergoes further training to see eyes as a part of our sensory system not just our vision.

http://www.acbo.org.au/about-us/behavioural-optometry what is behavioural optometry?
"Behavioural Optometry is an expanded area of optometric practice. Behavioural optometrists have a holistic approach to the treatment of vision and vision information processing problems. Functional visual efficiency is known to influence visual status. The way that you interpret what you see does not depend solely on how clear your eyesight is.
Consideration must be given to all your visual, visual motor and visual cognitive skills. In this way your behavioural optometrist will not only consider the remediation of any eyesight difficulties but also the benefits of prevention, protection and enhancement of your visual system in order to improve all aspects of your visual performance."

The appointment was such an eye opener for me as I had never considered the eyes as part of the sensory system. If your child has sensory processing disorder it makes sense that the eyes would be affected as well. I personally think all children with SPD should be getting checked. When we did a sensory checklist for Miss A they covered eyes and vision with only a few questions and no one thought to recommend she get checked over. Miss A has been diagnosed as having difficulty with depth perception, vestibular awareness and proprioception.....all things that rely on the eyes to work.

I booked an appointment at http://www.thefocalpointoptometrist.com.au/ to get Miss A checked over and was surprised by how intensive it was and what was covered. It took nearly an hour and I would recommend not having other kids with you if possible. Bernie looked at her sight, how the eyes work together, movement of the eye, eye health, peripheral vision. For a child of Miss A's age (5) I did wonder how it would work. Most of the things she had to look at where pictures and she described how they looked and what changed.
ie look at the clown what is different? Each picture a part changed like the nose changed colour or it had a hat then no hat.
Then we went on to wearing the glasses and having a look at a timeline. This bit was tricky as it checked her focus and depth of field and she had to say what number the line pointed at. This made Miss A uncomfortable and was definitely where she wanted to give up.
We then had a mini break while talking about her movement and what she can and can't do. She finds it hard to move the opposite arm to leg and we did some practice runs as a test. After this we went back and did more testing of how her eyes focus and work together. She had to say whether she saw double of a picture or not. Then pictures of animals were flashed up and she had to quickly name them as they went.
By this point Miss A was getting tired and the hour was nearly up. Bernie then talked to me about the results and the difficulties she was having. One eye has the focal point further behind the eye than it should be making her short sighted and her other eye is struggling to work together. In the end when she said she would need glasses it was still a surprise that I didn't expect.

We both talked to Miss A about why she need glasses and how often they have to be worn. When we went back to pick them up she wasn't as happy and was bothered initially by the feel of them. We are slowly getting used to it and I have to remember to remind her to wear them. The teacher has a questionnaire to fill in with the hopes of seeing a change in her school work.

At home I am wanting to see an improvement in the everyday. Not tripping over little gaps or steps. Writing on a straight line. Not feeling tired after watching T.V. Combined with the orthotics an improvement in her walking style and balance would be a huge bonus for us...I will update you all on those changes in a few months.

While there I asked if Miss L (age 2) should get tested and she said absolutely, she can test babies or toddlers. So now I have booked her in and will update on how they test a non verbal baby :)

For those wondering about cost it was $116. As we are over the Medicare threshold we got 100% back but normally it would be about 80% covered so not an expensive exercise but well worth it.

                                                  Picking out a pair she was a happy girl.....

               Picking up her new glasses she wasn't so sure. 2 weeks on she is still adjusting.