Dear Abby : Bright child could barely read
April 17, 2007
DEAR ABBY: My daughter, who was obviously bright, read at a first-grade level in fifth grade. She had undergone testing for learning disabilities, plus two days of testing at a respected university hospital. Nothing revealed what could be wrong. My child’s self-esteem suffered; she began acting out in school. She thought she was dumb. When studying, she could read for only a very short time.
We thought she just wasn’t trying. After much research, I came across “convergence insufficiency disorder.” The Mayo Clinic confirmed her condition, and she was treated with vision therapy. It was as though a miracle had occurred. After six months, my daughter Is reading almost at her age level. Her comprehension and retention have markedly increased, and her self-esteem and attitude are much better.
Children with this condition will not benefit from tutoring, special education or extra help from teachers until treated. My chlld had 20/20 vision and still had this disorder. It’s not routinely checked with eye exams. Plesse help me get the word out.
-Angie W. in Mlnnosota
DEAR ANGIE: My experts at the Mayo Clinic In Rochester, Minn., tell me this problem, where the eyes drift too much inward or outward, can also affect adults.
Symptoms can include eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision, sleepiness, trouble retaining information when reading, a “pulling” sensation around the eyes, rubbing or closing one eye when reading, words seeming to “jump” or “float” across the page, needing to reread the same line of words, frequent loss of place, general inability to concentrate, and short attention span.
Vision exercises can fix most cases.
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Dr. Seiderman replies:
ADHD occurs in 3-5 % of the population while convergence insufficiency is found in 5-9 %. In other words, convergence insufficiency is present in twice as many people as ADHD. And, the prevalence of symptomatic general binocular dysfunction is 21 %. Thus the over diagnosing of ADHD and the resulting over prescribing of medication. The New York Times reported a few months ago that the FDA has voted that drug companies be required to put warning labels on the medications being given for ADHD because of the many deaths attributed to the use of these drugs. Contrary to popular opinion, there are very significant side effects and, quite possibly, death. The symptoms of both conditions are very similar with the most common being the inability to stay focused or concentrate.
Convergence insufficiency is a condition where the two eyes are not working together as a team. It has nothing to do with 20/20 or seeing clearly. Many eye doctors do not even include binocular testing (two eyes working together) in their routine eye examinations. Thus the correct diagnosis is missed entirely. It is very important to understand that 20/20 IS NOT ENOUGH (the title of a book I wrote several years ago and published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York).
The treatment of choice for convergence insufficiency is a program of vision therapy, as was confirmed and provided by doctors at The Mayo Clinic in the Dear Abby article. Mother indicated, ” It was as though a miracle had occurred. After six months my daughter is reading almost at her grade level. Her comprehension and retention have markedly increased, and her self esteem and attitude are much better.”
And all of this without the use of drugs. The success rate of vision therapy, which is a non invasive therapeutic intervention, with patients having convergence insufficiency is about 90 %.
