The Day I nearly cried

I'm not a very emotional person.

I love to smile and laugh at the things Little Red does

but I don't really cry.

Yesterday Little Red went for his eye and colour test.

The appointment was different from the start.

Instead of going to a normal optician we went to see an optometrist.

Her name was Marie and from the very start she made it fun

for Little Red.

When you go for a normal eye test the optician points at a letter

and the child reads it.

Little Red had no problem with this last time he was tested.

The difference just making a little change can make.

Marie would point at a letter but move her finger away before he read it.

As soon as she did that Little Red would read the letters near it.

Straight away you could tell how the letters were moving for him.

Them Marie pointed at the letter and didn't move her finger.

He got them right.

There were loads of other tests she ran using different lenses,

the green and red circles and the x's and o's.

The big one for me was when she got a pen

and asked Little Red to look at the tip of the pen.

Everytime it started getting closer he looked away.

Turns out if anything gets anywhere near his face

he sees double.

After all his tests with lenses it was on to the reading.

They went through all the colours to find which colour overlays

made a difference to Little Red.

He needs two colours together - aqua & blue.

Then he had a test to see how many words he could read 

with the different options.

1st he just read the white page with black writing. Even using his finger to follow where he was

reading he still managed to loose his place and go onto another line.

He made mistakes and read quite slowly.

2nd was the page with the coloured sheets on. He used his finger and didn't loose his place.

He made a couple of mistakes but could read quicker.

3rd he had a pair of glasses and the coloured tint sheets - For the 1ST time ever in his life!!!!!!

he was able to read without having to point at the words.

I didn't know whether to jump up and down or cry!

It just seems normal to most people to be able to read by just looking at the page.

For Little Red he has never been able to.

To do something so small but sooooo significant just made my year!

I can't tell you what it feels like to even think about it.

Reading and writing has been such a struggle for him.

This one thing has the possibility to change everything for him.

I know he'll still be dyslexic but now he might have a fighting chance.

Anyway back to the appointment.

Next Marie put drops in his eyes to dilate them.  

We had to wait 1/2 hour for them to work.

He then went in and put the lenses on that he had chosen in the previous tests.

The lights were switched off and then she pointed a light in and out of his eyes.

Doing this she could tell if the lenses prescription was right.

Now his new glasses are ordered, we have his coloured sheets to work with

and this is a new start for us.

If your child is struggling to read I would highly recommend

having them tested by a professional optometrist and not just a normal optician. 

I found out soo much yesterday!

I now know that when my son won't look me in the face,

it isn't something I've done or he has.

It's he is seeing double and it's uncomfortable to look.