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 When our child was having unexplained difficulties with schoolwork and sports, we were fortunate to discover early that he had a significant vision problem. We decided to do Vision Training, given that other courses of treatment did not offer long lasting or significant improvement, but were treatment of the symptoms.
We started the weekly sessions, and continued for eight months. When he was first tested his vision could not be corrected to 20/20 in one eye, and after consistent VT sessions and working regularly at home, he has better than 20/20 vision (uncorrected) in both eyes. This alone is impressive, but the impact on his life has been truly amazing.
He was able to make up almost a year's worth of progress in reading. He generally found school much more enjoyable as he was able to fully participate in the activities of the classroom, where he could better focus and learn. In other realms of his life as well, things have improved dramatically. Whereas before VT he would only turn his bicycle in one direction (toward the good eye), he has become accomplished on his bicycle, and improved his skills in a variety of other physical activities-even hitting the bulls eye in target shooting at summer camp.
The eight months spent in VT was very important, and has brought lasting benefits for us as he continues to grow and learn-more easily now as he can see things clearly. Graduation day was a celebration for out entire family.
 - Christie & Mark, grateful Parents
[Note: The successful treatment of Amblyopia (lazy eye) can be done for adults and children. Those who say that nothing can be done are usually doing nothing to help.]
When in first grade, my daughter began complaining of headaches. Although very bright and happy, when reading or doing homework, she appeared so frustrated. She's never enjoyed looking at books or even being read to. She periodically mentioned she saw two of things. At her parent teacher conference, her teacher told us that she thought Anna may have some learning issues; perhaps she may be dyslexic. A pediatric ophthalmologist assured me her vision was fine, and that maybe the headaches were caused by allergies.
Fortunately, I met Dr. Emily Schottman at this time. She told me about Vision Training. I was immediately relieved to learn that there could be a visual reason why Anna had these complaints and there was something we could do about it. Tests showed that she did indeed exhibit double vision and difficulty maintaining visual focus (as well as many other issues), which explained so much of her behavior to me. She was prescribed a pair of reading glasses, given simple tips to help during reading and classroom times, and we began Vision Therapy one time a week at the Dr. Office. We did home activities that were done daily. I can honestly say I saw immediate results with Anna. It was as if a new world had opened up to her. She now reads everyday and sometimes she will say, "Can I just read one more chapter?"
As a parent I feel so fortunate to have learned about this resource. It has made such an improvement in my daughter's self confidence and reading abilities. I had never heard of Vision Training before, now I cannot imagine what Anna would be like without it.
- Eileen, happy Mom
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I wanted to take the time to thank you all at Stars in Your Eyes. The 10 months of vision therapy flew by and you made the experience wonderful. My daughter still speaks fondly of you all and we miss you. The graduation ceremony was a big deal to Allie and she is so proud of her certificate. She has been in a lot of therapies over the years including physical and occupational none of which she enjoyed as much as this. Her willingness to do the homework is largely due to your enthusiasm and support.
I am so grateful that you discovered her visual processing problem. She has seen multiple specialists and none of them picked up on it. I often wonder what would have happened to poor Allie if we had not gotten your help. She really would have suffered in school and learned to hate reading. Because of all of the therapy she now loves to read and she is back to playing the piano and reading the music. The teachers at her school are thrilled by her progress and are now acutely aware of what to look for in children who may need vision therapy.
Allie has a friend in another state and he had the same issue. Sadly he is worsening because their pediatrician told them not to bother with therapy. He is scheduled to have eye surgery at 6 years of age. I believe as a Mother and a Nurse Practitioner that if he had gotten vision therapy he would not be in the shape he is in now.
I hope you realize how much you have impacted our lives. As a parent there is no price I can put on the health and happiness of my child. I know there is no way to repay you, but know that we think of you often and you are all in our prayers.
- Lynn, Nurse Practitioner & Mom of Patient |
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Jeff and I will never be able to convey our thanks and gratitude to Dr. Emily and Summer. They literally changed my 8 year old daughter's life.
It was by chance that we happened upon Stars in Your Eyes in the first place. I shudder to think how things would be for us if we hadn't discovered you all (I suspect many, many hours of tutoring and an uncorrected root cause that would give her trouble for her entire life)...we had never heard of vision therapy. Nor did we realize that a basic 20/20 test is in no way a comprehensive eye test. We thought as long as you had 20/20 vision everything was just fine. Wrong!
Prior to Stars in Your Eyes our very bright 8 year old was not doing well in school. She was 7 and couldn't read and would grow tired almost immediately when attempting to read and then started resisting reading all together. Sadly, we thought she just wasn't trying very hard. We also noticed that her general disposition had gone from a happy child to a frustrated child. In our view, she had a great life so we didn't understand why she was so frustrated. She also began to feel like she wasn't smart and she fell behind her peers academically. Something was amiss but we didn't know what.
Turns out she had double vision which required so much effort and focus for her to interpret and translate what she was viewing. She was actually working really hard just to see the words on paper and that's why she wasn't reading. She had a few other vision issues as well. Dr. Emily met with us and explained in great detail where our daughter's issues were and how to correct them. We tried doing research on the web and found different views especially from Ophthalmologist. We were desperate to help our child but at the same time not confident that it would even work. Thank goodness we tried it. I will tell you it wasn't easy. It is both an investment of time and money. In retrospect, I now know that we could've never spent our time or money more wisely than this. We now have a daughter who is doing great in school, loves to read, is confident, and is no longer frustrated. She is like a new kid or really like she was before she got old enough to not be able to read. She went from being so far behind on test to now actually way ahead in many areas. I am so thankful that we discovered Stars in Your Eyes as I think we would still be in the exact same boat with a weary outlook.
I am so thrilled both of our daughters were lucky enough to get to have Dr. Emily do a comprehensive eye exam for them. Our 4 yr old only needed glasses and not vision therapy. Our 8 yr. old did have almost a year's worth of Vision Therapy. Summer was her Vision therapist who did an amazing job of holding her accountable but nurturing and supporting her at the same time. My 8 yr old really misses Summer. She knows, that without Summer, her life would not have improved so dramatically. She now has 20/15 vision, no longer sees double and loves to brag to her friends that she corrected her vision and has incredible vision now. All that hard work really paid of for her.
I wish everyone knew that if you find out early enough in your child's life that they need glasses then you can prevent them from needing glasses for the rest of their life. Also, if your child is struggling with reading/learning, has headaches, tilts head when trying to read, can't copy from a chalkboard or handwriting has declined then have them checked at Stars in Your Eyes.
- Teresa & Jeff - grateful parents |
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Before I figured out that I had trouble seeing, I was squinting at things just to see them. Everything looked blurry and out of control. When I figured out I had trouble seeing, my parents weren't surprised I had trouble reading and spelling.
When I figured out how to fix my eyesight, I was very surprised and happy. It was called Vision Training. I was in Vision Training for several months, almost a year. I was upset sometimes because the exercises were hard and I was stressed. However, I didn't give up because I wanted to fix my eyes. It took a lot of confidence and trust to get me through. At the end we had a celebration in honor of my accomplishment and graduation.
Today I can see perfectly without glasses. It was long, but worth it.
- Thomas, 8 years old
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