Examine & Re-Examine

It's hard to believe how much I've learned about a subject that I would have NEVER imagined I'd have to learn. That subject - cerebral palsy - and its ever-evolving, changing nature in my own child.

Vision problems are pretty common in children with cerebral palsy with a number of different manifestations for how these vision problems can present themselves in children including farsightedness, nearsightedness, strabismus and a whole host of other visual impairments. Nearly one year ago, I had Taylor's eyes tested for the condition of strabismus because I'd observed an occasional crossing of her eyes...the incidence of her eyes crossing only lasted for a couple of weeks and then went away and we haven't seen a crossing of her eyes since those first few observations. Her eye exam for the presence of strabismus last year also checked out just fine.

Well, in recent weeks, I have begun to observe what I would describe as a lack of depth perception in Taylor's vision. For example, navigating up/down curbs or maneuvering around objects on the floor at her feet appear to go unnoticed by Taylor which occassionally leads to her tripping or stumbling over things because it's like she doesn't even see them and shows little awareness of objects that reside below her direct line of sight. I talked to a couple of Taylor's therapists/doctors - her neurologist as well as her physical therapist and occupational therapist - and they validated some of my recent concerns with Taylor's vision. They agreed that it is probably a good idea to have Taylor's eyes re-examined to either verify or rule out any emerging or changing vision conditions because there is some evidence that both hearing and/or vision in children with cerebral palsy can become worse with age.

Taylor's neurologist described it in this way:

Children with cerebral palsy will often develop problems with visual concentration over time. Many of the children with Taylor's type of cerebral palsy have to expend so much energy and concentration on keeping their body upright, controlling their movements and coordination, etc. that they will often have little left over to use for visual tasks. For example, asking some children with cerebral palsy to hold their body in good alignment, look at a toy and then reach for that toy, might be like asking you to read "War and Peace" while putting a bicycle together while also serving your friends and family high tea. Now, I realize that's a pretty colorful, imaginative analogy, but basically, as the neurologist described it, we are asking the child to do too much at one time - coordinate and control their impaired motor movements while also visually focusing upon other tasks. They're things that "typical, normal" children and adults take for granted, but children with cerebral palsy have to exert far more effort and energy to achieve the same abilities.

So, I have scheduled an appointment for Taylor's eyes to be re-examined. I only wish that we could get her in right away...unfortunately, so many of the pediatric specialists Taylor sees always have VERY, VERY, VERY booked schedules and our earliest opportunity to get Taylor in for an eye exam is early June. Bummer.

Oh, speaking of specialists that Taylor sees, that reminds me...we have another orthopaedic surgeon appointment for Taylor in about two weeks. This appointment will give us an opportunity to meet with the surgeon and discuss any changes to Taylor's overall bone/hip structures and strategize on any new plans of action for therapy, surgery or otherwise.