Before Vision Therapy:
Cormac has always been a bright, thoughtful kid. His first-grade teacher was amazed by his understanding of the concepts they were learning and how he could connect things together. But as first grade went on, he continued to fall behind in reading. Having an older child with a later diagnosis of dyslexia, I wanted to be as proactive as possible with Cormac. Our amazing eye doctor referred us to Dr. Oakland when we were told we would have to wait until second grade to test for dyslexia. Cormac has worn glasses and eye patches since he was three to help correct a lazy eye. But it wasn’t until our initial visit with Dr. Oakland that I fully understood what Cormac had been dealing with. I left that appointment with a much better understanding and hope. So many of Cormac’s behaviors made sense after meeting with Dr. Oakland. Cormac hated playing sports, really anything that involved a ball he would shy away from. He would skip lines and miss words when reading. Dr. Oakland explained a lot to us at the initial appointment but essentially because of the lazy eye Cormac is lacking depth perception, which explained his aversion to sports. It also caused blind spots in his reading that make words disappear and made it hard to follow one line to the next.
After Vision Therapy:
Cormac is a completely different child from when we started vision therapy. I have been amazed every week watching his progress and seeing his improvements. He no longer avoids sports and has even asked if he can take golf lessons, something he wouldn’t have ever asked to do before coming to Dakota Vision Therapy. Cormac started vision therapy at the beginning of his second-grade year. At that time, he was essentially a year and a half behind on his reading. By the end of the school year Cormac increased his reading and math scores by 130%!!!! More important than his grades though are his confidence and happiness. He is so proud of what he has been able to accomplish and loves telling people about his journey. He no longer feels ashamed that he couldn’t keep up with his peers. Now he understands why things were more difficult for him and Dakota Vision Therapy has given him the ability to overcome them! The excitement he has when he is finally able to master an exercise that he has been struggling with is contagious and he can’t wait to be able to show Alyssa. Cormac also learned an important lesson in perseverance working with Dakota Vision Therapy. He saw real changes in himself every week and he was motivated (most of the time) to work hard to achieve even more. You are simply amazing and I can not thank you enough for everything you have done for my son.
~Katie Gillespie