Success Story

I am the parent of a seven-year-old boy who has received a year and a half of visual training from Dr. Dorothy Parrott. Our son Will developed normally as a baby. His movement, strength, and balance were normal. He crawled and walked on schedule and even learned to ride a two-wheeler at age five. As a baby and a toddler Will was loving and very verbal.

At about age four Will started hitting at preschool. He began to be distressed by getting dressed. The seams in socks drove him to tantrums. The sound of bath water running was all of a sudden unbearably loud to him. The water was too hot or too cold. Food was too hot or too cold. Asking Will to make a choice about what he wanted to eat caused huge fits. He screamed, “I don’t know! My brain is mixed up!” He only decided after everyone’s food was already on their plates. His food had to be placed in an exact spot on his plate.

Other puzzling behaviors were: fighting at playgrounds, especially in climbing tubes; extreme fear of dogs; swaying from side to side; blowing up unexpectedly and throwing things; getting “lost” on the soccer field—going the wrong way; headaches; carsickness; being able to throw but not catch a ball; and fear of new places. The saddest behaviors to experience as a parent were his increasing violence and his own words, “You think I am stupid. You think I am a jerk.” Because I have taught in the past, we do not use those labels in our home. I did not know where they were coming from.

Will attended a preschool that had a wonderful support staff. I asked the opinion of the teachers. I took notes on when behaviors occurred. I consulted parenting coaches, counselors and the school social worker. I began to use techniques suggested for children with sensory integration dysfunction. Our family became increasingly isolated. Will began biting other children when frustrated. Play dates were declined. A five-year-old described Will as “the meanest kid in preschool.” In kindergarten he broke markers in two, hit children in line and hit the principal when sent to her offices. Our pediatrician suggested that he might be bipolar. I sought testing, but he was not academically behind his peers and therefore not a candidate for testing by the county in which we live. We had missed the time for Child Find testing.

I was referred by a friend to a woman whose child had had behaviors like Will. Through her I was sent to Dr. Parrott. During testing I could see the difference between Will’s ability to do tasks with and without lenses immediately. He is far sighted so always passed the eye test at the doctor’s office and school with flying colors. Focusing on things close to him was impossible. Other odd behaviors such as excessive head movement (with virtually no eye movements) were explained and noted.

Within the first few weeks of wearing lenses and eye therapy, Will’s most aggressive behaviors ended. He is succeeding at sports. He can bat and kick a ball and shoot a basket. He can make a decision and remember a list of three things to do. Recently Will told me “If I get my glasses and brush my teeth BEFORE I go downstairs, I won’t have to come back up later.” This planning for the future is a new skill for him. He has the visual memory to succeed at spelling. He is reading and writing fluently at an appropriate level. He does not often get carsick or have headaches. Will’s issues about things being too hot or too cold have disappeared. He likes activities like skiing and sled riding that used to terrify him. He has been invited to a few birthday parties.

I am a teacher who has tutored privately and has worked especially with reading and writing in the elementary grades. Will was raised in a print-rich environment. We did everything “right” in early literacy instruction—read gorgeous books, told stories, recited rhymes, sang songs, wrote notes and lists, and drew attention to letters on cereal boxes and, most importantly, displayed a love of reading and writing. Will would not sit still and read a book. He was unable to focus. He showed no interest in print or the captivating “Where’s Waldo” type of book. The pictures that he drew were irregular blocks of color with jagged edges covering a whole paper. He avoided drawing objects and letters. I think now that Will drew what he saw—something like a kaleidoscope image of colors.

At this time, Will seeks out occasions to read. If he wakes up early, he has a stack of twenty picture books next to his bed to look at. He corrects my miscues as I read aloud to him… loving the fact that he can catch errors that I missed. This also indicates that he can track as quickly as an adult reads and does it voluntarily. He has begun to enjoy drawing freehand; while in the past he used any excuse possible to avoid holding a pen or pencil. His drawings are three-dimensional.
Eye therapy was so fun for Will that he was sad to see it end. When we return for a progress check, he has to go to the therapy room to play and visit the therapists. His level of frustration would have made it impossible for me to have him do eye exercises at home after he was already exhausted from a day of “holding it together” at school.

One night after things were better for Will, I told him that I was sad that I had put him in “time out” so much when he was frustrated. He patted me and said, “It’s okay mom, you didn’t know it was my eyes.” We have a book that tells the story of a seal that began to bite its trainer because it was losing its vision. When I read it, Will said, “That is just like me.” He felt so threatened in preschool that he bit people, but could not tell us why. Recently there was an assignment given at school to “Name Five People That I Depend On.” The first thing that Will wrote was, “I depend on Dr. Parrott to take care of my eyes.”

--Annie Siegrist