If you think taking a non-verbal child to the doctor is difficult, you are right! It is even more difficult when it is a doctor visit that relies heavily on following instructions and giving answers to questions!
After the pediatrician's fiasco visit last week, I changed my approach for the eye doctor. I had my son go to a 4 hour gymnastics activity so it would just be me and Chelsea at the doctor. She was THRILLED to have girl's time, and was really, really happy.
When we got there, she started out very compliant. We played lots of games in the waiting room and talked about what would happen with the doctor and about princesses (as always). The receptionists love Chelsea and complimented her outfit and hair, so she was beaming by the time it was our turn.
We first attempted the typical eye exams with the technician. All the "rest your chin on this and lean forward until you see the green light" or "use your right eye to focus on the barn" type of machines that make you feel like something is going to stab your eyeball. Needless to say, those were all dismal failures. Which I had anticipated.
After being unable to complete a single test, the technician took us to a room where she tried to do another test by having Chelsea follow a rubber duck with her eyes. The technician did her best, but just wasn't good at holding Chelsea's attention. So she did that test halfway, then lost interest, and we waited for the doctor.
When the doctor came in, she didn't dive right into trying to test Chelsea. Instead, she asked about the kind of diagnoses Chelsea has, what that meant, went through some family history things, and just listened. I LOVE that in a doctor!
Then it was time for the "One- Two" test, where the eye doctor puts the big black "goggles" in front of your face and switches the clarity and has you say if the first or second image is clearer.
The doctor realized that this would be impossible with Chelsea, so instead asked what Chelsea's favorite TV show was. I said Max and Ruby, and she pulled up an episode on her computer.
HOW DO YOU TEST THE EYES OF A NON-VERBAL CHILD?
I had wondered this often! The doctor turned off the lights while Chelsea focused on the video, and then shined a light through different lenses into Chelsea's eyes. The doctor said that the way the light reflects in her eye tells her how clear it is. I'm guessing that was WAY dumbed down for me, because I have no idea how they could tell that! But I trust the doctor, so full steam ahead!
Chelsea was wearing her glasses for the "test", and the doctor said that as long as she knows the prescription of the glasses, it is better to have the kid leave the glasses on, or they get frustrated that the video image is blurry.
Chelsea favors her right eye BIG time, so kept getting annoyed when the doctor would partially cover it. The "test" probably took 15-20 minutes, and the doctor was more thorough than any other eye doctor I had taken Chelsea to. She says she would rather get a very accurate prescription in the glasses than do eye patching to correct Chelsea's occasional lazy eye.
Her reasoning was that if a kid's vision is clear, the brain will naturally accept that eye. But if the prescription is off, that eye's picture will be a little blurry, and the brain will reject it, causing that eye to be "less needed" and go a little lazy.
So we picked out some frames, and Chelsea got a baggie of cookies from the receptionist for being so sweet, and her new glasses should arrive in a week or two! We will do a follow-up in about 2 months to see how well the glasses are working, and see if the frequency of the lazy eye has changed to know if we need to do a little eye patching in addition to having new glasses.
If patching IS needed, the doctor says she doesn't recommend a LOT of patching; that a little goes a long way if you do 20-30 minutes of a long-range vision activity (like watching TV) and an active short-range vision activity, something that uses motor skills (like doing a puzzle, or coloring).
So we will see!!! Wish us luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment