How does it feel to be the parent of your child?
As a parent it is very frustrating to see your child be suffering academically. My child struggles in math and writing and I'm trying to figure out how to help her in those areas. Also, it has challenged me to think of new, inventive things that might help my child. There is specialist who can help with this disorder, but appointments are pricey sometimes. The hardest part, is my child is intelligent and can grasp many concepts, however, there is just an interruptions in the connection between vision and the brain.
How is your child developmentally the same or different from other children at the various ages?
My child is developing relatively the same physically. They do develop differently educationally. My child and children with VPD tend to have short attention span, hyperactivity, distractions, social adjustment difficulties, delayed motor perceptual ability, depressed academic achievement, inadequate body image and low frustration level. Other than his inability to process what he sees, he does have great vision.
What professionals/agencies do you deal with? What services are available to you and your child?
There are at home services that parents can do to help their child with VPD, such as using tape recorders, using graph paper for math, and colored papers for reading, but the best thing is to visit a specialist who deals with VPD so they can do procedures and testing. Doctors can provide vision therapy through computers and other equipment, which will actually improve the condition. At school, your child can receive testing modifications as well as different teaching strategies that gears towards auditory rather than visual.
How did you find out about the above services?
I found out about these services through other parents experiences and also with discovering through medical advice on the Internet. The best advice was from parents who also had children with the same disorder because they could relate to the same frustrations and stress of having a child with visual processing disorder.
What financial burden, if any, are you experiencing?
For Visual therapy, it is expensive and I’m looking into those treatments because parents do claim that it really helps. Depending on your health plan, the services might be covered, but most likely you will pay for it out of pocket. Also, schools do not cover testing for visual processing disorder, so again, most things will be out of pocket. Currently, we are trying at home treatments, which only involves costs for materials such as paper, recorder and other objects.
What other information do you want to share?
Visual processing disorder is a disorder that completely affects students learning experiences. Once diagnosed, parents and teachers need to become a team to try and develop the type of VPD it is. There are five different areas affected by VPD including: Object Recognition, Spatial Relations, Visual Closure, Visual discrimination, and Whole/part relationships. Within each area there are different strategies to help children learn and develop, so just make sure you get proper testing done and do what you can to help your child have a positive learning experience.
