Colin J. Kageyama, O.D., FCOVD - Doctor Provided Vision Therapy

His parents looked for answers and took him to many specialists. They had his eyes examined and were told "his vision was perfect, 20/20!" The neuro-psychologist measured his IQ and told his parents that Timmy was gifted, but sometimes even gifted children have problems. His parents took him to a pediatrician, a neurologist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, educational therapist, got him a tutor, and even put him in a special class. They were told to change his diet, put him on ADD medication, gave him on medication for depression, and therapy for auditory processing. They did everything they could think of but the nightly "homework battles" kept getting worse. It was frustrating to everyone!

When Timmy's mother brought him into our office (located minutes away from San Jose), she said, "I always thought that Timmy had a lot of potential. He is really smart and always has been. But for some reason, reading is hard for him. It is hard for all of us."

I remember that Fall afternoon, when Timmy sat in my examination chair for the very first time. He was a smart boy, who had been retained one year, and was now almost ten years old, and in third grade. I remember asking Timmy, "Do you ever see blurry or double?" Timmy replied, "No, I see fine!" During the exam, I found a number of problems with Timmy's vision. I urged that Timmy's parents to try one more therapy. At Christmas, a few months later, Timmy’s mother asked him if he thought the work he was doing at Dr. Kageyama’s office was helping, and she was shocked when he replied, "Yes!"

"Why do you think the vision therapy is helping?"
"Because this time when I look at our Christmas tree, I only see one Christmas tree! And sometimes when I looked at you, I used to see an extra eyeball or two right in the middle of your head! I don’t see that anymore!"

When Timmmy's mother heard that she started crying, she ran to the phone, and called me at the office. It was hard to imagine how difficult it was for Tim to read, when his eyes kept playing tricks on him. He had been seeing extra Christmas trees, mother’s faces, words, and letters popping up out of nowhere! And for the first time, reading started to get easy. Instead of falling further and further behind, Timmy started to catch up. The homework battles ended. By high school, he made the honor roll for the first time. He went to college, eventually graduated, and got a job.

It is a wonderful and very common story at this office. And over the past 34 years, parents have told me stories like this nearly every month. Timmy did not know that anything was wrong with his vision because that is the way it had always been. He developed an attention problem to cope with it. This attention problem held him back for years. It made him think that he was a failure. When the reason for this attention problem was removed, he suddenly began to learn in a normal manner. It made family life much easier for everyone. It ended the "homework battles."

Timmy is not alone in suffering these types of problems. If you have a child like Timmy, finding a doctor who could identify these problems, and successfully treat them could change your child’s life forever. It could result in finally seeing your "child's potential" turn into success!

Close Timmy's Story . . .