My daughter, Anna, began having difficulty reading in thefirst grade. At the same time, she became shy, anxious, andfairly dependent on her first grade teacher duringreading/language arts. Because of her DIBELS score, shequalified for reading support three times per week for thelatter half of first grade. We began private tutoring in thespring. During the summer, Anna went to a six week readingprogram. With all of these interventions, Anna progressed.Unfortunately, she progressed very little. Her difficultieswere very similar to those described of children withdyslexia.While waiting for the school district to evaluate her after mywritten request, a neighbor described to me how much herson had benefited from vision therapy with Dr. Wilamowski.She suggested that I get Anna tested. Anna has 20/20 visionbut vision therapy was recommended and we began therapythe beginning of September of her second grade year. Theschool district battery of tests showed an above averagechild functioning on various tests and subtests fromanywhere from the 85th

percentile except readingtests which were in the 50

percentile. The acting schoolpsychologist concluded that she was just a late reader. Herhome room teachers testing as well as the readingspecialist's testing both placed Anna roughly at a Jan-Febfirst grade level during the fall of her second grade year. Thediagnosis of Alternating Intermittent Exotropia enabled Annato be eligible for a 504 education plan as her difficultieswere deemed to "substantially" limit her abilities in school.This was helpful for Anna and her teachers to correctlyaddress her challenges in school.Anna attended vision therapy twice a week from September

to February. Within a month or two, I noticed that shestopped word and letter reversals. She did not drift toanother line on the page or to the end of the sentenceanymore. Throughout her therapy, she stated that could nottell a difference but my husband and I could. In January, herteacher administered testing to the class again.This time, Anna tested "on target" for her grade level. Shetested at a second grade, December level, when tested thebeginning of January. Within a few months time she hadprogressed almost one year in her reading ability. Duringthose months, she was not seeing the reading specialist atschool or receiving any outside tutoring: although her schoolhad begun utilizing RTI (Response to Intervention) reading forthirty minutes each afternoon for all students.I truly believe that vision therapy made the difference in Anna'slearning to read. In making the decision to start therapy, Iencountered 5 or more people who spoke positively about visiontherapy. Either they or their children had been treated. One of themwas actually my daughter's tutor. She had been treated forheadaches that developed when she was in high school. I did meetone person who thought it was not beneficial for her son. I looked atour situation and my daughters symptoms. She intermittently hadglassy eyes when she read. I observed her rubbing them as well.While she was unable to describe any difficulty seeing the letters,she routinely reversed and skipped to the next line on the page.Quite honestly, I was hopeful but a bit skeptical. I decided that itwas worth giving it a try.I am very happy that I did. As I stated above, I believe vision therapyenabled Anna to finally learn to read. The frustration melted away.Her confidence and ability greatly increased. On her graduationnight from therapy, I also realized what a positive experience Dr.Wilamowski and her staff created for Anna. Twice a week, as theyworked on her visual processing, they also created a wonderful,