Vision test?

august06mom

DS2 is going to have a vision test done this month. His providers are concerned about his tracking. He liked to hold toys a few inches from his face and roll them back and forth. It could be a stim, but we're just going to rule anything out. He also likes to play with non wheel toys like that too. How do they do eye exams for kids this young? He's 2.5 for those using mobile. I'm afraid he won't want to participate because he often ignores people he doesn't know. We are going to a pediatric optomologist.

realisticdreams

You are going to the right eye doctor.  We have seen the pedi ophthalmologist every 3 to 6 months starting at age 6 months for both girls..(So..a lot lol) and don't worry about his age/lack of participation.  While it is difficult if they are flailing/crying/not into it they will still get the job done. They typically have a few tricks up their sleeves and also you can tell alot about the eye from just looking at it.  For instance, they can tell what prescription your LO would need just from using their tools/prisms/eye dr stuff lol, same goes for adults, we are just able to verbalize which makes it better, etc.
Good luck! 

ToastieSimons

We just did our yearly opthamology appointment for both boys (DS1 is 3 and DS2 is 1) in June.  It was not fun, but it wasn't the worst.  

The dr started by looking in there eyes with a light to check for reflection, she held lenses up to their eyes, prisms, etc.  They ask them to track and light and are usually pretty good about being distracting.  I would bring a preferred toy or ipad etc to help.

Then she dilated their eyes.  Thankfully my boys have blue eyes and only needed one set of drops.  If you have dark eyes it may take 2 sets of drops to get the eyes to dilate all the way.  But, they tend to take longer to wear off of light eyes.

Then the awful part came.  She holds this object (I really have no idea what it's called)  It shines a light in the eye and measures how it comes back.

This is how we found out that DS1's vision is okay, he has optic nerve hypoplasia but there is nothing wrong with the rest of his eye.

and DS2 has severe hyperopia.

this only took about 10-20 seconds but was the worst for DS1.  We had to hold him down and pry his eyelid open, he was not having it.  However, he is cognitively delayed and doesn't understand what is going on at all and cannot follow commands.

DS2 was perfectly content through it.

The whole appointment outside of waiting for their eyes to dilate was about 10-15 minutes.

august06mom

Ugh, thanks for the warning. I think I'm going to have DH come for backup. DS2 won't follow commands either.

heedy07

DS has vision issues and does the same stimming that you described. Durinf his eye exams, which are every few months, I literally have to pin him down while he screams. However, they aren't hurting him, he just doesn't like to be messed with/people in his space. He is 2 yo. Just try to remember that even if he screams, they aren't hurting him and it is short lived.

kcisthebombdotcom

We haven't done an eye exam yet (we do this month) but as the mother of a young child who doesn't understand language well and has been poked and prodded quite a bit, my advice is bring candy and an iPad (or any device where he can watch his fav show). She does something uncomfortable for her and she gets an instant reward afterwards. She cries for a few seconds then its done.

Rachel Sonnier

We see a pediatric ophthalmologist and vision therapy specialist. DS's OT had us specifically ask about his tracking this time, because she thought that it was very poor. The Dr explained to us at his appointment last week that tracking is something that children are not born knowing, but that gets better over time as they practice the skill. She said that DS's tracking was poor, but that she isn't concerned about it at all, because he is still so young. She said that if he is still having trouble tracking at 7, then she would be concerned. They did give him the tracking test (which is made for 6 or 7 year olds, I think she said), since he is able to identify numbers, but she mentioned that they usually don't test tracking on children that young. 

As we found out last week, there are also other problems that can cause similar issues. For example, our son has trouble with the convergence of his eyes, because of his tone issues, which makes him want to hold things closer. And his visual attention is very low, and it takes a lot for his eyes to comes into focus on an object. 

I think there are some test that can be done without participation, but I am not sure what types of tests they are and what information they would reveal. I am curious as to what they say about your child's tracking, being that he is so young. Please keep us posted! :-)