So, He'll Never Be a Fighter-Pilot

The Man-Cub’s first appointment with the Behavioral Ophthalmologist finally took place on Friday afternoon.

The doctor ran all the usual tests that ophthalmologist generally do including the test that requires the pupil to be dilated (the disposable sunglasses the Cub got to wear home were THE talk of the school, I have to say) and, the Cub did really well through all the testing. When all was said and done, the results were pretty much what Hugh and I had expected; the Cub’s eyesight is first-rate.

You know, other than the fact that he is most definitely color blind but; we knew that already.

The test on the visiogram- the fancy computer used to track how the eyes work together during reading- however, delivered similar results to the test that was done at the tutors and; there is clearly an issue with the way the Cub’s eyes and brain function together. The doctor prescribed twenty-four sessions of occupational therapy for the Cub which, at one session per week (which is all they do), will take about six months.

The doctor is highly confident that the therapy will make a huge impact on the Cub’s reading skills and that we will see a vast improvement in his abilities. I hope so because, at $78 a session, we can’t afford for it not to work.

The Cub won’t be able to start his therapy until there is an opening which could take weeks -if not months- to happen (limited staff, limited number of appointments, etc.). In the meantime, there are a number of exercises that we will continue doing with the Cub at home and, with any luck; we will have a head-start on building the eye muscles before he even starts the official sessions.

Fingers crossed that this all works.

As an aside, in the regular testing; the doctor found the Cub’s eye tracking and hand-eye coordination to be superb which probably explains his athletic ability. So; a career in professional sports isn’t necessarily out of the question.

Due to the color blindness, a career in the military is probably not realistic (Chelle: Oh, how sad. Not)) and, interior decorating or fashion design are probably not his best bets, either (Hugh: Oh, how sad. Not).

I think we can live with all that.