VT Appointment 26 – Combining Exercises for Magic!

Click here to read about last week’s appointment.

How did the Last Week Go?

It’s been a good week. It started off a little rough and I even canceled my appointment for today, but I got over it and regrouped and rescheduled. Sometimes I can be so funny when I start feeling overwhelmed. I ultimately decided that I want to choose to pursue therapy even when I’m overwhelmed. Overwhelm isn’t scary and isn’t something that must be avoided. It’s just a feeling, right?

It is incredible what happens when I stop resisting negative emotion and just allow it. This time around I tried some new ideas, reached out for help and made some great accomplishments.

First off, I combined the Brock string with the Gem Vectograph. I simply taped the Gem to my door and then taped the Brock string to the gem. I started by watching the gem and trying to visualize it moving down the string and being around the different beads. I could get it to go around the blue bead, but not much further than that. I really struggle with seeing depth with the vectogram.

Then I changed my focus to the Brock string and took turns looking at each bead and seeing the “x” with the gem in my peripheral. It was just a beginning, but I see so much potential with this! Maybe I will finally start believing that the gem can float.

I reached out to a vision therapist friend, Collin, at WOW Vision Therapy and asked him for some ideas on visualizing depth with the vectogram. He suggested mixing the Gem exercise with a Marsden Ball. He instructed me to swing the ball from side to side and move the gem from BI to BO notice if the ball was in front of, behind, or going through the gem. It is easy to see the gem in front, but the going through just kind of blows my mind and I can’t get it to go behind the ball at all.

When I started to swing it forward and back it was awesome. With Base In (the gem moves back) it looked like the ball went right through the gem! So crazy!

I just held the ball still and tapped the gem with the ball and it made the gem have a lot more depth. I think it’s because I have more awareness about the actual shape of a ball and my brain already knows what to look for. Come on brain! You can do this!

Collin also recommended a book, “The Shape of the Sky” by Dr. David Cook. He was the second person to recommend Dr. Cook’s work to me so I decided it must be important. I forked over the money and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive at my house! I had another friend from instagram send me an article written by David Cook so I am hoping to dive into it tonight! Hopefully, he will have some answers, explanations and ideas that can help me and my brain! I told Dr. Dan about it and he was interested too, he has heard of Dr. Cook’s research, but hadn’t heard of the book. I love learning and I love the science behind what is going on so I am excited to keep learning.

The progress pictures look pretty good this week. My right eye view and distance view pictures are looking better this week!

How did the Appointment Go?

Binovi Touch Board

I STRUGGLED with this one. I couldn’t keep my balance and was trying to talk the whole time so I just flailed around. About halfway through I found my balance and remembered to use peripheral and that always helps so much!

Red/Green Glasses with VTS4

We tried a new activity and I can’t remember what it was called. I was wearing red/green glasses and looking at an image on the screen that was a large plus sign. It sort of looked like the picture below as far as texture/color. Someone help me out here, what is it called?

There was a circle that moved to different parts of the plus sign and I had to point to where it was. Unfortunately, you need to engage both eyes to be successful and I was not able to do it. There were a few times I could see a flicker, but not really too much. I could feel my brain working. So even though I couldn’t “see” it, my brain was trying to sort it out.

Polarized Glasses with VTS4

With the normal VTS4 activities, I looked at the normal big ring and this time Dr. Dan gave me the controller and instructed me to move the rings from base in to base out and visa versa and practice seeing the change right when I pushed the button. It seemed pretty brilliant. My brain knew that I pushed the button and that the ring should move back. It just needed to match what it “knew” with the visual input it was receiving.

I didn’t make any huge progress, it was a lot to take in. But I think it is definitely going to be worth spending more time on at future appointments. We are just slowly pushing my brain to believe the impossible, but giving it some facts to help bridge the gap.

We also tried out a new activity shown in the picture below. With the polarized glasses it looks like a pyramid with the very center sticking out of the screen and the end of the spiral behind. I wasn’t able to see a real pyramid shape, but I could see some depth, I just couldn’t take it all in at once. Last time we tried I could really see any depth so I definitely could see progress this time around.

It’s all about relaxing and allowing the images to come forward towards me. I feel like I’m pulling them towards me with my eyes. Not pulling hard, but more like relaxing and watching it flow towards me like an incoming tide or something. As of now, the tide is not strong, but hopefully it will turn into waves with time.

Brock String

I can never seem to have success with the Brock string during my visits. The beads were definitely further apart than I have them at home, but it shouldn’t be that different. It made me realize that I still have a very long way to go. I am ready to do the work, but I’m going to educate myself to hopefully help things move more quickly.

Chalkboard Circles

Our new activity this week was “Chalkboard Circles.” While focusing on a star in the middle of a whiteboard (“Whiteboard Circles” ???) I use a marker in each hand to simultaneously draw shapes.

At first, I just had to draw circles going the same way at the same time. So simple, I rocked it! Then he had me draw triangles, starting at the point and going the same direction. I still did pretty well. Last he had me draw triangles, but start and different points and move in different directions. WAY harder!

A huge key is to keep both eyes engaged and open up the periphery. It was fun to do something new and when I practiced at home I realized that my left side (good eye) was consistently worse than my right (bad eye). At first I thought that it was because my good eye is used to central work, while my right does more periphery. It was a brilliant hypothesis. Then my husband walked in and suggested that perhaps it was because my right hand is my dominant hand. Maybe, maybe not….only time will tell. LOL

This week I have plans to study every night and make some big strides in educating myself about how to treat strabismus with vision therapy! Science, here I come!

Homework:

1. AmblyoPlay – 15 minutes each day on the AmblyoPlay app. Focus on looking soft and creatively adjusting exercises to engage peripheral.
2. Chalkboard Circles- Draw circles and triangles with both hands at the same time switching directions and starting points to add an extra challenge. Keep focus on the star and use peripheral!
3. Gem with Ball- Practice combining the gem with the Marsden ball having the ball swing left-right or forward-backward in front of and behind the gem to try to appreciate the depth.
4. Virtual Reality- Spend time on the Optics Trainer app using peripheral.

To read about my next appointment, click here.