Have you ever watched your precious child struggle with the simplest task and thought, -Something is not right-? Have you ever watched him give up on things he wanted to do because he just couldn't do it and thought, -He should be able to do that. Something is not right"? Have you ever watched him begin to blame himself for not being good enough and decided you have to do something about this?
Maybe you've accepted that he is a little awkward when he runs. After all, not everyone is going to be a great athlete. Someone has to come in last — every time. Some of us fall over the furniture and dance like we have two left feet. Maybe you are waiting for him to find the one thing he will master and love.
But then school starts. Even though he's obviously plenty smart, reading is hard. He comes home discouraged and starts talking about not liking school. You talk to the teacher. She tells you what a good kid he is but has no ideas about what to do. You get his eyes checked, but new glasses don't help. You get his ears checked, he hears just fine (unless you are asking him to do his chores). You get a physical and the doctor says everything is fine. People keep saying to give him time but you know that something is not right. Something is very wrong.
If you are lucky, a friend will mention Dr. Lewis and the Focus Vision Therapy Center. Even though you have no idea what such a place does, you are desperate enough to try anything. There are assessments and words like amblyopia that you learn to understand. And then there are "lessons". Lessons on how to see differently.
Once it is all done, you notice that your son runs much faster and doesn't look so awkward. (What could that have to do with his eyes?) You hear the parents next to you at the ballgame point him out as the best player on the team. His reading scores move from "below expectations" to "outstanding" in less than a year. His conversations change from excuses not to go to school to conversations about how strange animals developed special traits to adapt to their environment.
Something is very right.
Thank you, Dr. Lewis. You and your staff completely changed the possibilities available to my grandson. I can't wait to see what he does with them.
