About this blog.

My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 24 months. I created this blog to bring meaning to the often-confusing label. Sometimes I have answers. Other times, just more questions.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Annual Physical.

Like most kids, Brad gets an annual check up around his birthday, which is in January. Two notable aspects of his most recent appointment:
  • He failed the depth perception test. He passed the eye exam, meaning his eyesight, in the conventional sense, is fine. The nurse practioner administers a test with multi-directional Es and special glasses aimed testing depth perception, and he failed. Which means he wasn't trying, he didn't understand or, what I suspect, he has issues with ocular musle control and visual perception that interfere with depth perception.
  • I unbundled one of his vaxes. Since, for better or worse, there is a "vaccine debate" (although I don't think the debate is debatable, meaning, I think it's well-settled that vaccines don't cause autism), I thought I'd share my views. Although I don't buy into the vax-autism link and I'm very pro-vax, I don't have a problem with a modified schedule, so I unbundled varicella from the other shots he received at his 4 year appointment. I don't follow the Dr. Sears modified schedule; I just follow my intuition, but in any event, I make sure he is fully vaxed - it just takes an extra appointment. I'm happy with my decision.
Why am I posting now? Because Brad goes for his varicella shot this upcoming week, and I'm going to have him re-tested for depth perception. I'll post the results. Wish him luck!

7 comments:

Kris said...

Alex (name changed due to weird stalker on my old blog) failed a similar test and we had him evaluated by a developmental opthamologist who (of course!) recommended vision therapy (more therapy!!) He was found to have a convergence insufficiency.

We will probably do the vision therapy at some point but for now just don't have the time or frankly the money for it since it isn't covered by insurance and neither is speech or OT (benefits ran out long ago.)

I am somewhat skeptical of vision therapy since many traditional doctors say it is a bunch of crap but I have heard that it is very effective from many parents on online message boards. Kind of like OT for sensory integration. Not well accepted mainstream but many parents swear it works. Incidentally, Alex also needed glasses and is now recognizing people better!
Good luck!

father of four said...

Hey Laura. I wonder if it's worth seeing an orthoptist about this. We had some exercises prescribed for our eldest son which improved his tracking and convergence (after we realised his glasses weren't really helping with his focus). I know our OT has some ideas about this too and I think Kris was doing some vision therapy" - whatever that means! It's so good to hear from you again and to know how Brad is going.

father of four said...

... Kris, you beat me to it!

father of four said...

... I just posted something about what these "vision deficits" mean for our son too, but mostly about social acceptance or lack of it.

Anonymous said...

I have unbundled all the kids vaccines. Like you, I don't believe there is a connection between autism and vaccinations, but I also don't see any harm in spreading them out a little bit.

Frankly, it's easier on the kiddos too.

tracey (aka rainbowmummy) said...

good luck Brad!

Anonymous said...

Best of luck! I've wondered from time to time if our girl has vision differences; I see her cocking her head when she studies things. Hard to say b/c she can't tell us yet. I'll be interested to hear about your experiences.