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Testimonials

Why we do this

Chris' Journey

In year 3 it became apparent that our son, Chris, had gaps in his learning and development that were impacting on his general performance. He wasn't meeting academic expectations and was working below age-related levels in all areas at school.  His teacher said she thought he was dyslexic, and it was agreed that he would be included on the SENCO register. In year 4 everything became so much harder, and Chris's self-esteem hit rock bottom. He had hours and hours of homework in reading, English and maths – his most challenging subjects and his dad and I had to deal with the nightly fallout of tears and tantrums! It didn't matter what he did he continually fell behind at school and by the end of the autumn term he was nearly 2-years behind his peers. On top of this he was rubbish [his words] at sport too and would regularly say 'I'm rubbish at everything'. At the end of year 4 the school arranged for an educational assessment which confirmed that he had traits typical of dyslexia, but he wasn't dyslexic! The report identified weaknesses with his processing speed in addition to his attention and concentration skills. It was apparent that 'vision' was the recurring theme for each section that he scored poorly on. Thank God for Google! I trawled the internet researching on 'how to improve ...' into each of the areas highlighted on the report, particularly those relating to visual and memory dysfunctions and came across Vision Therapy. Huge in the States but not so much in the UK. At Chris's annual eye examination, I discussed VT with our optician who suggested that we needed to see a behavioural optometrist and directed me to www.babo.co.uk. As a result, we arranged an appointment with Alastair Wade. The initial appointment comprised of a full eye exam and assessment that resulted in Chris being diagnosed with convergence insufficiency, along with some retained primitive reflexes. Alistair recommended a course of Vision Therapy that would comprise of bi-weekly appointments at the centre and daily homework. From the start Alistair put Chris at ease, we watched our son flourish throughout that first conversation [despite him finding the assessments challenging]. Alistair talked to him in such a positive style – how amazing he was etc. - about his goals and Chris said all he wanted was to, 'catch-up' with his peers and be in the top set at school. Alistair said, 'we can do that'. We signed up for Vision Therapy there and then! Other than lockdown [that significantly delayed progress], the hardest thing for us was keeping up with the daily homework. It sounds ridiculous, let’s be honest it's 10- 15 minutes a night, but our lives were busy and finding the time was often a challenge. We persevered and eventually we agreed a set daily time, set an alarm reminder and got on with it. It's not like the weekly exercises were hard, they started off easy and were built on. Nothing was ever too difficult, and we didn't move onto the next activity until the previous one had been mastered.  The changes that took place were amazing to watch. And it just got better and better. At each school term review the progress that Chris was making was evident. Chris has gone from struggling with everything and feeling like a failure for both academic and sports, always in the bottom set and never picked for the team to a star student and a team player. Today, Christopher is a completely different person. He is now in Year 10 and thriving. Long gone are the tears and tantrums - it’s now all about his achievements, accomplishments and aspirations. This year he finally got into the top set for Maths and triple science and second set for English. As for reading, he is finally reading at his age level. I still can't believe he reads by choice! I am beyond amazed and thankful for the changes that Vision Therapy has made to my son – it has truly been a game changer.  The best decision and investment we could ever have made. In summary, I would say that Vision Therapy has been life-changing for my son.  He did not always like doing it, but the improvement that he has achieved has been nothing short of a miracle and that far outweighs the effort that we had to put in. Alistair and his team were all awesome! Everyone treated us so well.  Even when we were struggling or having an off day, they were always supportive and understanding.   I am so proud of my son especially for his determination and resilience and I will never be able to thank Alastair and the team at Wades enough not only for his extensive expertise and awesome vision therapy programme but for the confidence and self-belief that he helped my son find in himself!

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