It has been snowing since some time very early in the morning.  Just enough is on the ground to justify using my snow blower, more to make sure it is working and ready for the really big snows to come than to clear what is there now.  But I promised myself a writing this morning before anything else.  And so . . . 

On Saturday, I drove to Northbrook, IL, near Chicago, to see an eye doctor, Deborah Zelinsky.  Consulting with her is perhaps the beginning of my exploring non-evidenced based therapy/treatment for Julia.  Without explaining what I can about the eye care that Dr. Z offers, an online description  that is not on her website says:

The Mind-Eye Connection was created to fill the need for evaluation of interconnections between auditory and visual processing systems.   Most people don't realize that alteration of eyeglasses and/or contact lenses affects auditory localization.  Even people who have 20/20 central eyesight can benefit from peripheral and other sensory integrative processing.  In addition to the eyes themselves, we evaluate systems connected with the eyes. We emphasize peripheral eyesight and moving targets, and have a patient base consisting of routine eye care patients as well as people on the autistic spectrum, those who have suffered brain injuries and children with developmental delays and/or learning problems.

The exam was incredible.  All the regular eye testing was done and then some others.  Dr. Z, herself, is pretty much brilliant.  Using the tests and her observation and interaction with Julia, she told me and her intern about Julia and described her spot on.  Julia has trouble seeing the board in front of the classroom.  I see her squinting at things like her sheet music if it is not very close to her.  Dr. Z says that Julia has 20/20 vision but that her internal focus has kept her from developing the muscle strength to see at a distance.  Like, she doesn’t reallyHer prescription is pink tinted lens that are a slight prism which should get Julia to look out further and to encourage her eyes to work her muscles.  This is a very simplistic explanation but I cannot explain the workings of the eye the way that the doctor can.  

I did a good deal of research before I made the appointment.  LEND and my friends at Waisman have given me a very healthy dread of non-evidence based treatments.  I know I can suffer from wanting to believe that there is something out there that will make a world of difference to Julia -- to fill in her holes.  David was, for better or worse, so much more skeptical.  Possibly he kept me from a few foolish endeavors.  Now,   I must be both the dreamer and the rationalist.  

Perhaps that is why I was incredibly anxious as we drove to Chicago on Saturday.  At one point, there were snow showers -- not awful at all, but the first of the season -- and I was almost in tears.  I took many slow long breaths which helped my physical anxiousness but not what was going on inside my head.  

Julia did splendidly at the appointment.  There were a lot of tests and most of them as boring as all eye tests are.  Julia has never been one for doing tests that are not of interest to her and she did complain some.  She also allowed herself to be coaxed into finishing the tests which I have rarely seen.  The big pay off, that neither of us knew about in advance, is that her halloween Harry Potter glasses can be used for her prescription.  The way this therapy may go is that the lens will be changed every few months.  We will not know for sure until Julia uses the glasses for a few weeks and she is examined again.

When I asked Dr. Z what to expect, she would not tell me.  She says she does not want to prejudice me in any way.  This could sound rather like a scam but I trust this woman.  She read Julia like a book.  I’ve rarely seen someone work with Julia so well and so quickly.  I think she is sincere, brilliant, quirky and possibly is really onto something.  Well, I say “she is on to something”, there is a whole cadre of Neuro-Developmental Optometrists and an association.  It is not just her.  What I researched goes hand in hand with the idea of neuro-plasticity and bottom line, if it can give Julia a small hand up, fill in a few holes, it will be a miracle. 

I drove home, exhausted, not only from the amount of driving but from the emotion toll of the day, but I felt very much at peace.   I still do.

And Julia woke up this morning asking when her  glasses were coming!