Today, Bubs and I braved the elements to attend his vision therapy screening. Going into the appointment I didn’t know if I should be praying that he has a vision problem or not. If the learning difficulties were visual then the issue could be fix with glasses. Seemed like an easy fix to me. But if the problem was not visual, then we had an internal issue.
Well…Bubs has perfect vision. His eyes are doing exactly what they should be doing. Praise the Lord!
Yet, I felt down.
We learned that he is dealing with a visual perception problem. He has a problem translating to the brain what he sees through his eyes. Not a simple fix with a pair of glasses. As the optometrist put it “The hardware is a there but there is a software problem.” In explanation, the hardware is all there (his eyes work correctly) but the software is having malfunctions (what he sees is not translating to his brain correctly).
In my research, I am learning that this is much more common issue than teachers and parents realize. Could you imagine trying to read when every letter that you see is messed up?
Since then, I have had several people ask me “What is Bubs seeing?”. Good question.
We haven’t figured it out yet. We know that he sees diagonal lines backwards and most shapes backwards. We are working to correct that. He has some “closure” issues but we are unsure to what extent. For example: If Bubs has to chose the matching drawing from a list of different drawings, he chooses the one that has one line missing or is not closed.
Everything else, we simply don’t know.
Through the use of visual perception worksheets and activities we are hoping to fix these issues in his brain.
Each of the worksheets and activities that we used are available on the ABC Jesus Loves Me Preschool Curriculum website for families for free. I can only pray that they will help your child as much as they did Bubs.
Block Activities: Building with blocks and noticing what is missing.
Block to Block Direct Match: This is an activity that I learned through visual therapy. Because there are so many wonderful developmental points to this activity, I have added it to the 4 & 5 Year Curriculum. Plus, it is fun!
Visual Perception Worksheets: I created these worksheets after having a hard time finding worksheets to use with Bubs.
Also included on the ABCJLM website: Lacing, Mazes, Dot-to-Dots, Misc Activities, and Roll-a-Picture Games (pictured below)
