Paige has been complaining about not being able to see for awhile now. Maybe a whole year. I took her to her 7 year old well visit and she passed the eye test (cover your eye and read the letters for me). Her cousins that she adores have glasses. The her best friend at school got glasses. When she told me she couldn't see the board at school I told her to ask her teacher to move her closer. She did and I didn't hear about it for awhile. It came up again and I saw on the calendar that the next week was the vision and hearing screening. Awesome. She came home and told me she got a 20 out of 30. hmmmmm...I fully expected to get a letter from them but I didn't. That's weird. I asked her teacher and she said Paige was NOT on the list of kids that needed to be re-checked.
Then I noticed her pulling her book REALLY close to her face when she was struggling with a word and the wheels started spinning. Is THIS why she has such a hard time learning to read? Can the poor kid not see the book?! Finally in Family Home Evening the other night I held up this little hand-out and asked her to read it. She was only 5 feet from me and the letters were big so I was shocked when she told me she couldn't read it because she couldn't see it. I took her to the doctor the next day.
Turns out she's far-sighted but has an astigmatism in both eyes. I don't really know what that means yet. I do know that she is happy as a clam to have glasses. She's seeing the world in a whole new way and it must feel good to be able to see well! She walked outside the other night to let the dog out and she said, "ohhhhhhh it's so pretty out here!". I'm thinking it's been awhile (or it's the first time) she's seen the stars so crisp.
Like I said in my last post, she's had a rough year - maybe a rough few years and I'm wondering if this was part of the problem. She feels dumb at school (she was in the lowest reading group and had to be pulled out of class to work with a helper) and hates going. We got her a dog for Christmas hoping he would help her feel loved and I think he has. I'm anxious to see if between the dog and the glasses (and maybe just being a year older) if she shapes up a bit. Oh sweet Paige. Breaks my heart. She looks so dang cute though with her glasses - and she knows it.
3 comments:
Poor kid! As someone who has worn glasses/contacts since the 6th grade, I can say that there's nothing worse than having everything blurry--I never feel quite awake and ready for the day until I have my contacts in. I'm near-sighted which means that I can only see things near (like a book right in front of my face)...everything else is totally blurry...far-sighted means you can only see things far, like the chalkboard, but can't see a book right in front of you--from your post it sounds like she can't see the chalkboard or a book--poor thing!
i have an astigmatism...just means your eye is a funny shape i think, shouldn't make a big difference for her until she needs/wants contacts. i still use the regular kind though because they are more comfortable, give paige a kiss for me, i can't believe how quick your girls are growing up!
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