vision therapy - experience with it and any luck getting insurance to pay?

[Anonymous]

My 5 year old had a consult today with a vision therapist. He has refractive amblyopia. I have no doubt the therapy will help him. It is 200.00 a session, and they want to see him weekly for a year. I'm a bit in shock. As I proceses the feasibility of engaging in this, I'm wondering if anyone has any first-hand experience? He is currently patching the good eye 2 hours a day in order to strengthen the weak eye. Any luck getting insurance to pay for this? We have BCBS Federal Basic.

[Anonymous]

Have you consulted an ophthalmologist? My understanding is that vision therapy is largely nonsense *except* in the case of convergence insufficiency, which is the exact situation under which insurance will pay for it.

I have a kid with strabismus in both eyes and this is what was explained to me, although my info may be a couple of years out of date.

[Anonymous]

PS: you might want to post in the SN forum because low tone is very common in neurodevelopmental disorders and is a common corbidity with amblyopia and strabismus.

[Anonymous]

My DD had convergence insufficiency and 3 eye muscle conditions, one of them rare. Insurance did pay. It was always a struggle and required notes and retesting fairly frequently. Vision therapy did resolve her conditions, also confirmed by a different pediatric ophthalmologist. However, in her case, it wasn’t one year, it was more like 4 or 5. From K - 4th grade. She’s in college now and studying for a very visual profession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 5 year old had a consult today with a vision therapist. He has refractive amblyopia. I have no doubt the therapy will help him. It is 200.00 a session, and they want to see him weekly for a year. I'm a bit in shock. As I proceses the feasibility of engaging in this, I'm wondering if anyone has any first-hand experience? He is currently patching the good eye 2 hours a day in order to strengthen the weak eye. Any luck getting insurance to pay for this? We have BCBS Federal Basic.

The cure for refractive amblyopia is corrective lenses, patching, and/or eye drops. Two hours a day if patching doesn't seem enough. . Why would you see a vision therapist? Most of what they do isn't supported by research.

[Anonymous]

Seems like quackery. Your child has a serious vision problem that should be taken seriously as a medical issue.

You should take your child to an ophthalmologist focused on strabismus. I went to David Guyton at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. He's literally one of the two or three top strabiismus specialists in the world, he's an hour away, and is on every insurance plan imaginable. Call now, or find some other ophthalmologist focused on this specific condition. I can guarantee they won't be referring you to a vision therapist.

[Anonymous]

I never understand why people say that vision therapist isn’t supported by research I have found tons of pure Aveda articles that dude in fact support this approach. In addition, I’ve talked to adults and vision therapy who reported that it was hugely helpful to them.

[Anonymous]

I work with children with special needs. Some receive vision therapy and it is almost never covered by insurance. I put almost bc there might have been a few families over the years who have been reimbursed after a fight.

[Anonymous]

Vision therapist can really help children/families with low vision. Do ophthalmologists bring different light boards, materials to a child’s house? Do they work with the rest of a child’s team to help them learn what kind of communication device might work with a child? I think just like any other profession, you can have good therapists and bad therapists.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t do a thing for us. Worth a try though.

[Anonymous]

There is zero scientific support for vision therapy. Meanwhile, while you're forking over 10k a year and wasting your kid's time on nonsense, your child's eyesight will get worse. Depending on the exact condition, left untreated (and vision therapy counts as being untreated), your child could end up blind in one eye. Get to a good ophthalmologist and don't screw around with charlatans.

[Anonymous]

There is zero scientific support for vision therapy. Meanwhile, while you're forking over 10k a year and wasting your kid's time on nonsense, your child's eyesight will get worse. Depending on the exact condition, left untreated (and vision therapy counts as being untreated), your child could end up blind in one eye. Get to a good ophthalmologist and don't screw around with charlatans.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Yes, we have consulted with an opthamologist, who is the doc who made this diagnosis. We are following her treatment plan. I am just researching my options and making sure I cover all my bases. The doc for sure doens't recommend vision therapy, but I still like to learn all I can in order to make my own decisions.

[Anonymous]

I researched vision therapy extensively for my kid. He has other issues besides vision. Except for convergence insufficiency vision therapy is largely thought to be bunk and our three ophthalmologists said so. That being said I called around after being given a referral by a psychologist for it. What I found was that prices varied widely and some places did take insurance. The most expensive place was more expensive than any other type of therapy my kid does. Vision therapists generally have a certificate not even a masters and that place was going to charge more that our OT or SLP. Our doctor said that for every 10 people who do it 9 will say it was a waste and one will find it miraculous. You might want to do some searching on the SN forum for my past discussions of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I researched vision therapy extensively for my kid. He has other issues besides vision. Except for convergence insufficiency vision therapy is largely thought to be bunk and our three ophthalmologists said so. That being said I called around after being given a referral by a psychologist for it. What I found was that prices varied widely and some places did take insurance. The most expensive place was more expensive than any other type of therapy my kid does. Vision therapists generally have a certificate not even a masters and that place was going to charge more that our OT or SLP. Our doctor said that for every 10 people who do it 9 will say it was a waste and one will find it miraculous. You might want to do some searching on the SN forum for my past discussions of it.

thanks for this! the place near me (I'm OP) is staffed by two doctors (MDs) and tehn their therapists, so it doesn't seem shady. however, it is super expensive.