Saturday, January 30, 2010

#28 Eye Appointments

Two and a half years ago, we took Jack to the optometrist on our military base for his first eye exam. The doctor was able to get enough information to say that Jack's eyes were fine, but now we need to take him again, this time to a civilian provider. She's highly recommended by the schools and an acquaintance from church who is very calm and competent. I think Jack will be much more cooperative now, especially because he WANTS glasses, just like his friend at school. We went through this with our firstborn (who may now actually need glasses) two years ago when several of his friends got glasses.

Please share your experiences with optometry exams for kids on the spectrum. Eye exams are, of course, less invasive and have fewer weird sounds and smells and sensations than dental exams, but they're still definitely outside the routine.

2 comments:

tinamarie said...

Tony has had glasses since first grade. We found an optician that specialized in children with developmental disabilities and Autism.
he used charts with little pictures that are familiar to kids like rabbits, cats things like that. He also used a pointing technique for non verbal children. They would look at the eye chart and point the a chart they held to what picture was next in line.
It made it the appoinment go smooth. It did take a bit to get Tony to wear his glasses though.

JoLynn said...

Max has to have his first eye exam as a state requirement for Kindergarten. I am very interested to see how this goes. I'll try to remember to come back and post... We're going to try our eye doctor unless she recommends a particular doc for Max.