How Hard Should Someone Search to Find the Answer?

Answer: I only give up when all of my resources have been exhausted! This post is related to a very frustrating time in my life when I needed to help my youngest daughter, Katie (generic)

• **** I never forget seeing Katie sitting on her bed, crumbling up one sheet of paper after another, while trying her best to keep the tears from falling. I felt deeply for her! No matter how hard she tried, she was lucky to make average progress, while her two older siblings usually made the honor roll.
• ****I sat down next to her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
• “I can’t do my homework!” she cried. “I’m going to get a zero.”
• “I’ll help you,” I told her.
• Immediately, she asked, “Can you see the lines on this paper?”
• “Yes,” I answered, completely puzzled.
• “Well, I can’t!”
• **** I nearly choked on the tears I held back! I didn’t know what to do, but one thing for sure, I believed my daughter. I would keep taking her to this doctor and that doctor, until I found the right doctor!
• **** My youngest, Katie, had an undiagnosed visual problem. She wore glasses, so it wasn’t a sight problem. Poor Katie! She had been labeled as being a slow learner, later as having ADHD and then as being psychosomatic. Yes, indeed, the label of being ‘dyslexic,’ came into the scenario, but what she really had was photophobia (a visual handicapping condition).
• It took a long fight as a parent, to get a referral for her to see a neuro ophthalmologist. And that meant, she had to go through the process of seeing an optometrist, ophthalmologist, neurologist, neuro psychologist to finally obtain the referral needed to change her life. (more to come)
• Katie’s story, “Not Dyslexia, It’s Photophobia,” is available on Overdrive (digital public library system).
• DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional. The information shared in this post comes from my personal experience and opinion when it came to helping my daughter, Katie.