AD Symptoms requiring child psychologist or eye specialist

[kitty2]

ElmoWorld:

Dont be too quick to accept that it is ADHD!


There are many cases of misdiagnosis of ADHD as there are many similarities between children with ADHD and Sensory Integration Disorder (or Sensory Processing Disorder) & Convergence Insufficiency (CI).

Pls search the website and even youtube (type \"ADHD misdiagnose\") for these two terms if they sound alien to you, some will tell you their differences.

I went through a very long way to find out that most of my son's problems (forgetful, unable to focus, fidgety, cannot follow instructions, impulsive, difficulty copying from board, poor handwriting, cannot catch a ball, poor social skills, etc) are not related to ADHD or Sensory Integration Disorder but some vision problems!!!! [Yes, the school eye-test didnt pick it up - he has 6/6 vision with glasses and can read till the last line on the chart.]

It is a heart-aching 5 years of trial and error, wasting not only money but precious time (golden window of correcting his problems).

Looking back, I think I could have cut short my journey if I go straight to therapy centres that are familiar with vision therapies and sensory issues. I had not tried centres like BrainTrain and Dynamics Therapy Centre, but from testimonials I read, looks like they know the differences.

Read up and wise up.
Make sure you are convinced with what these psychologists tell you...because you are the expert when it comes to your child. Always rule out the sensory issues first, like eye-sight, hearing, taste, smell, balancing, muscle tone, etc.

Which centre did you go to?Please share how your kid went through tests to confirm the problems.

Thanks

[ElmoWorld]

I went through a very long way, totally unneccessary to follow my path.


I went to KKH’s Child Development Unit just before my son turned 3 years old. The psychologist ruled off autistism and said he dont need any intervention.

One year later, I went back for follow-up. He was having problems with friends in school. A therapist saw us but ended up talking to me all the time, spending only 10 to 15 mins with him. She taught things like taking turns, making entry point, etc. They were useful tips but I felt there are something deeper than that. After a few sessions we were told he dont need to come anymore.

We continued to receive complaints from teachers but brushed them aside - hoping he will outgrow them.

Last year, after meeting with his K2 teachers during Meet-parent session, his teachers insisted we seek help again or he is not going to do well in Primary school.

A friend recommended a child psychologist who specialised in art therapy. They did sand play, finger painting, role playing, etc. She is a great lady but I still feel his real problems are still not being detected nor rectified.

Sensing my uneasiness, she suggested doing a full educational assessment - turned out he has high IQ but learning disabilities.

With this report, I started looking around on how to help him. From another friend, I tried another psychologist who specialise in learning disabilities, who then referred me to a occupational therapist (OT).

He was diagnosed with possibility of Sensory Integration Disorder, although many pple suspected ADD (non-hyperactive) at that point of time.

During assessment, the OT also mentioned that there is something wrong with my son’s eye, among other things. He is not able to track properly and his eye contact is inconsistent.

The OT quit the centre shortly after the assessment so it was another therapist who handled my son. After a few sessions, I still dont see anything done to his eye, so I started searching the website for more information.

Then I discovered this thing called Convergence Insufficiency and became suspicious. I struggled over whether to see a specialised optometrist because he had done multiple tests and seen multiple therapists by then. I am drained physically and economically. He is also already attending Primary School has a very busy schedule.

But after seeing the optometrist, I have a feeling this should be the biggest missing puzzle. After six weeks of vision therapy, he improved drastically in terms of his spatial awareness, he is able to read faster, make less careless mistakes and even play ball games. His crying in school reduced drastically and he is making new friends - most of his strange behaviours slowly disappeared.

No two children are the same.
For those who have concerns with their children, I only hope that by sharing my experience, can shorten your path to finding the correct answer to your child’s problems.

Read up and ask questions. Dont assume that doctors know everything.
They usually tell you only things within their arena.
Like a Western doctor may only give you pain-killer if you sprain your back. Very often they wont refer you to a chiropratic or a Chinese "tui-na" doctor as these school of medicines are deemed controversial.

[DesertWind]

ElmoWorld:

But after seeing the optometrist, I have a feeling this should be the biggest missing puzzle. After six weeks of vision therapy, he improved drastically in terms of his spatial awareness, he is able to read faster, make less careless mistakes and even play ball games. His crying in school reduced drastically and he is making new friends - most of his strange behaviours slowly disappeared.

Hi elmoworld,

Thank you very much for sharing with us your experience!
Just wondering is the optometrist a normal optometrist or somebody specializing in special needs kids?
Can you give me the optometrist contact via Private Mail (PM)?
Thanks!

[New Age Parent]

Hello! I am new to this site. Recently my daughter’s teacher told me she is badly behaved in class, e.g.not organized, doesn’t listen to instructions, does not get along with classmates, etc.


what to do? I am sending her to motivational boot camp and EQ course, but I don’t think it may help.

[gerberadaisy]

Hi elmoWorld


I would like to find out more about this optometrist - does he/she specialise in detecting vision problems in kids?

Previously, I also suspected my son to have vision problem and sent him to an ophthalmologist who checked and concluded that my son does not have any vision problems. Wonder if the optometrist is able to detect other vision problems that the ophthalmologist could not. Would appreciate if you could provide more info about the optometrist that you’ve consulted. Many thanks!

[matrix0405]

You should ask for a refund from all the psychologist who made you run in circles.

[smartmummy]

Please don’t get angry with me!I just want to share my experience.

When My DD2 in Nursery, teacher suspect my DD2 socially mute.I searched in web the cautions were same as me.So I scared so much.She did’t attend playgroup.We didn’t go to friends house and playground.So first time she mingle with about 15 kids.So she can’t remove her shoes,she take pencil,colors from the cupboard,etc.Teacher always told me that remind her to do that.I also did then it made worse.I brought to library and asked her to bring books.she coudn’t.Then my friend advised to me don’t force her.Just let her and i just read some books for her.Every week, I has been bring her.And more important I show my love to her then slowly she improved in her behaviour.I saw a movie that time it helped me a lot.One boy separated from family and studying,suddenly he muted.Then a Teacher found out his problem and he show his love to him.Then he changed back.I always shouting when two kids were fight and my elder son always beat her.Before that her grandma took care.So she felt very unsecure.Then I realised that I take care of them separately don’t allow them to paly together.Now sometime they play together happily.Most of the time they have fight.Now they strong.Most of the time I avoid to play together at home.When we go outside is ok.

[ElmoWorld]

gerberadaisy:

Hi elmoWorld


I would like to find out more about this optometrist - does he/she specialise in detecting vision problems in kids?

Previously, I also suspected my son to have vision problem and sent him to an ophthalmologist who checked and concluded that my son does not have any vision problems. Wonder if the optometrist is able to detect other vision problems that the ophthalmologist could not. Would appreciate if you could provide more info about the optometrist that you've consulted. Many thanks!

Sorry for the late reply, I was overseas for a while.
I am sure there are quite a number of optometrist around but I was referred to two:
1. Zoran Pejic from Orthovision
http://orthovision.com.sg/en-zoran-pioneered-non-surgical-treatment-squint-singapore-national-eye-centre/40.html
2. Yap Tiong Peng from IGard
http://igard.com.sg/index.php?pr=Yap_Tiong_Peng

We always thought eye doctors are all the same. But according to what i read, looks like ophthalmologist and optometrist are quite different and they dont seem to \"like\" each other. :pokeeye:

Correct me if I am wrong, ophthalmologist make sure that your eyes are in good physical conditions - u can see clearly and they can cure your eye diseases.

Development optometrists, on the other hand, are focus on how efficiently you can see, eg. some patients can see 20/20 but suffer from headaches and see light rings/ double vision, esp at night or when they are tired, which makes it difficult for them to drive or read.

Optometrist runs eye exercises (vision therapy) to train the patients' eyes so as to help the eye become more agile. This is the controversial part. Some opthalmologists and PD are skeptical about it. They are also expensive.

But at least for my boy, I think it works and is worth it as I can tell the differences in him.

One of his problem is a weak right eye muscle, which make that eye difficult to zoom in and zoom out effectively.
It is especially tedious when copying from board (which require his eyes to shift focus frequently- zooming in and out) He often lost his focus and end up dont know where he was at.
This also make a lot of daily activities difficult, including catching a ball, maintaining his balances, cutting a paper, etc.
After vision therapy, his speed definitely improve. So are some other areas.
I wont say he is fully \"normal\" now but he is definitely improving.
We are still working on his stamina as he gets tired easily when reading smaller fonts and doing homework that need more concentration.

Another thing to share:
There are a few centres (eg. BrainFit Studio, Singapopre Brain Development centre) in Spore that claim to be able to help children improve their memory and concentration.
Recently I learnt that a small part of their so called \"brain-trainings\" are in fact vision therapies!!!
I guess these centres may have sort of figured out that part of the underlying problems of some children with poor attention span and memory actually lies with their vision??

Dont get me wrong. Vision therapies are not miracle cure for children who are \"different\". It works for my son and some other children, but it is because they indeed have some vision problems.

For those who are unsure. I wish you all the best.
It can be a very frustrating process.
I have talked to many parents who have special needs kids and many of them share the same feeling. Somehow, there doesnt seem to be a systematic way of diagnosing children that are different, not only in Spore but worldwide.
For the same children, psychologists can come up with very different diagnosis.......

One thing I think Spore can probably do is to improve on the eye screening provided by schools.
We falsely belive that our children have good eyesight because they do well in their eye screening, but sometimes that are not true.

Lastly, for those who are interested, here is a very good website on how vision problems can affect children's reading:
http://childrensvision.com/reading.htm
It even shows u how words \"dance\" - what some children are in fact seeing.

[cnimed]

To add on to Elmoworld's very informative post, if your children say the words \"dance\", \"jump\", \"disappear\", \"change color\" etc etc, there is also the possibility of Irlen Syndrome which vision therapy will not alleviate. Irlen Syndrome is a perceptual issue - how the information from the eye is delivered to the brain, and has nothing to do with the eye or its muscles.


http://www.irlen.com
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Colors-Helen-Irlen/dp/0895294826

It can also affect depth perception, so the child may also experience symptons overlapping with sensory integration issues, balance,eye-hand tracking etc. I imagine for those who are both on the spectrum and whose Irlen Syndrome are severe, negotiating a new environment can be especially challenging.

A parent should rule out/treat other vision issues before screening for Irlen Syndrome.

[gerberadaisy]

Hi ElmoWorld


Many thanks for sharing the information. Can I just check - so did you send your child to Orthovision or IGard? Do both of them offer similar therapy?

Thanks!