So it is official, we are celebrating the one-year anniversary of Elizabeth beginning vision therapy.

I think because we started this therapy a bit late in her life, we are truly old hands at doing pretty good follow up at home, so even though it has been a year, we have actually only gone for adjustments around each month and a half. And we just did the work when we wanted.

I told everyone that Elizabeth loves doing this therapy and that still holds true. She absolutely never, not ONCE has said no to therapy time or even the slightest hesitation to do it. I have not been able to make this statement about really any other thing we have done. And I am not sure why other than that her eyes must have bothered her enough ( dyspraxia) that the promise of relief from tired eyes via the therapy made her agree readily!

In any event, I am excited to report that she reads well now!

We have a friend who is working with her on her reading because as all of you may know first hand or been told by others, our children typically do better with others than with their parents. Truthfully, I just muddy the water.

I know it.

She knows it.

Any and all therapists know it.

So, with that said our friend is reading with Elizabeth twice a week for an hour and in that hour Elizabeth is reading out loud for the great majority of the time.

She is sounding out words! Which is new and wonderful as those with dyspraxia typically memorize their language and not sound out words.

She is reading at a wonderful cadence!

She is comprehending what she reads as evidenced by her answers to questions about her reading both written and verbal ones.

I am ecstatic! It is just wonderful to see this growth in a skill that she will have a need for forever!

And here is the kicker, she does NOT complain that her eyes hurt or ask to stop as she has always done prior. She sometimes would cry that she needed to stop.

So, imagine how wonderful it is to be in the other room and her words from a book!

I love that the hard work we put in this year has created this kind of good things.

For those who have read my books, you will recognize our beloved therapist called Mary. She has been with Elizabeth since she was 2 years old and is like our quarterback and has helped us when Elizabeth’s SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder ) and Global Dyspraxia were near to overwhelming.

Well Elizabeth was having a session with Mary and it required reading a paragraph out loud to Mary. According to Mary

” Elizabeth’s reading and the understanding of what was being discussed and read was phenomenal. I actually had to ask her to slow down her reading rate to articulate clearly”

So how exciting is that?

I shared it with her vision therapy team when we went on Friday for her session.

Talk about happy people when they read it.

I am always so excited to see the successes that Elizabeth has and to think that each one represents that she can have that much of a better life and that it is one more thing that she doesn’t have to have anxiety about. And she feels proud of herself.

We all want nothing more that that for our kids.

I know we are a work in progress, I get that. But the good needs celebrated and celebrated well.