"AWAKENINGS"

By: Kama Hunter, MA, COVTT

Edited By: Marlene Inverso, OD and Margaret K. Dore, Esq.

Do you remember the movie "Awakenings"? It is an incredible story of a doctor (Robin Williams) who discovers a drug that produced tremendous results in the lives of people with brain damage from encephalitis. For the first time they become connected with the world, in touch with reality, truly living life. The story I am about to relate is of an "awakening" of a woman named Sherry Bell. Sherry was not at all mentally incapable but she now describes her existence like that of being in a coma, unable to communicate with the outside world.

I remember the day Sherry first walked into our office. Wispy red curls and freckles everywhere, middle-aged, appearing very sweet but withdrawn. Sherry later told me, that she felt ashamed and hesitant to talk, listen or try for fear of rejection and failure. Her fears came from a lifetime of criticism and embarrassment due to severe learning disabilities. Sherry didn't graduate from high school until she was twenty-five years old, never held down a job for more than a few months at a time, and always had to rely on public assistance. She was one of the people bound to the welfare system. As she recalls, she was "trapped" inside her own body with no way out.

Examination and testing by Dr. Marlene Inverso, a developmental optometrist, revealed that her eyes did not work as a team. Dr. Inverso found that Sherry was seeing double at a distance where she would read and write, which gave her brain conflicting messages. In addition, her focusing system was unable to make rapid changes. This made it difficult for Sherry to change focus from near to far and to sustain her focus on the page long enough to gain meaning from what she read. To Sherry this looked like the words were moving and jumping on the page. She also had extremely poor control over her eye movements. As her eyes tracked or scanned over visual images such as words, numbers or pictures, her eye movements were inconsistent. This made it difficult for her to make sense out of what she read. Compiled, these problems made the task of learning extremely difficult.

The "Dyslexia Determination Test" revealed her overall reading level to be third grade, phonetic skills for reading were in the 20% range, visual memory for spelling was in the 40% range. The "Test of Visual Perceptual Skills" showed that more than half of her skills were below 50% with some as low as 5%.

Sherry was given a series of vision therapy procedures to practice daily at home. She was a joy to work with because she was to faithful to do even more than we asked in terms of home training. She had suffered so severely all her life that she was extremely motivated to make a life change.

Each week she would report new found skills and talents. Sherry had never been able to cook a meal with more than two burners going at the same time and even then things might come out "dark". After just one month of vision therapy, she reported hosting a large family gathering where all the many dishes were done on time and came out the right color! Never before had she been able to ride a bicycle. Seven months after beginning therapy she is pictured in a video, telling her story as she rolls down a tree-lined lane on her bicycle, on her way to the community college she was attending.

Sherry astounded her counselors at college as she met and surpassed all the goals set out for her. She was admitted on a provisional basis into a program designed for people who could not handle regular college credit classes. It allowed them to receive a modified college experience and a certificate of completion without the pressure of making a grade.

After just one quarter, she enrolled in regular college level classes and held a B average. Her reading scores had gone from 3rd grade to 10th grade level in her first 10 months of vision therapy due to her hard work, determination and lots of prayers!

The beginning of Sherry's story is not unlike millions of other adults who fall through the cracks of the educational system. Adults with learning problems are just kids who got BIG! It is estimated that 30% of the population, big and little, have some sort of visual deficiency that inhibits learning.

Vision therapy was not the only solution to her learning difficulties. Vision therapy helped Sherry overcome the visual confusion she had experienced all her life. After she gained control over how she received information through her visual system, I administered the Wepman test of auditory discrimination and found that Sherry's skills were deficient in this area also. We referred her for Auditory Integration Training, which she found to be of tremendous help. Now Sherry has the visual and auditory skills she needs for learning.

These successful interventions have helped her develop confidence to face life's obstacles and overcome them one by one. She will continue looking for the missing pieces to her puzzle but already this story has a happy ending because Sherry is finding the answers she needs to WIN!

Kama Hunter, M.A., COVTT

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Kama Hunter is a vision therapist with Dr. Marlene Inverso at the American Family Vision Clinic, Olympia, Washington.