Triumph over Brain Injury I want to thank you for all your help and support in treating me after my Šcar accident..Š. When I came to you, I had a list of symptoms ranging from dizziness and nausea to trouble reading and trouble retaining what I read. I was amazed to find that my symptoms matched up to one of your pamphlets describing Post Traumatic Eye Syndrome. The therapy has helped. Iım reading again and my retention of what I read has improved. I still have my only wish that I found out about Behavioral Therapy earlier. I canıt believe with all the doctors I saw, no one was able to pinpoint this problem. Thank youŠ. -- Tina (age 32) Since Paulıs brain injury which affected his right eye, he could not judge his footing, going downstairs, stepping off the curb, grabbing for an object was difficult. His depth perception was truly off. It seems as though his brain had to learn what his right eye had to do all over again and with your good work, it did. -- Wife of Paul (age 56) One of the results of the accident is that Tanya suffered from many visual problems. She was seen by an eye specialist at the hospital who told me that there was nothing that could be done for Tanya. Š..Vision Therapy has helped with Tanyaıs balance, coordination and eye movement. I would strongly recommend vision therapy before listening to ³nothing will help.² -- Mom of Tanya (age 24) "What did I gain by doing Vision Therapy? I believe a much, much faster recovery, and possibly, in the long run, better vision than I started with before the stroke. I believe that the fast start that I took getting into Vision Therapy made my recovery far more successful than many others in the same situation. The additional support system of being with the positive and encouraging vision therapists, twice a week, also had a very positive impact on my recovery. I could not have done this at home on my own. I have regained my life!" "I awoke one morning with double vision, due to a paralyzed left eye muscle which I later learned was due to a stroke, at age 37, on a thin, fit mother of two small children. My left eye turned in completely toward my nose, reminding me of the Siamese cats I've had. I was also dealing with total numbness on my right side. After spending many hours with me for three weeks, Dr. Copeland fitted me with prism glasses to move the images together, and I started Vision Therapy. The therapists were so kind, caring and incredibly helpful. Every six weeks I got new prism glasses with a weaker prescription. Once my eye was positioned correctly again, I continued working hard to retrain my eyes to work together. I corresponded on the Web with others who have the same brain disorder, Cavernous Angioma of the brain stem. All of us have had to deal with double vision and a numb side. The numbness usually cleared in under a year, but many said their double vision lasted for years. I was determined to see properly again and drive again. I was very aggressive with Vision Therapy, and did the at-home therapy for at least thirty minutes a day, six days a week for four months. After the first two months of therapy, the swelling in my brain reduced, and my eye started regaining its normal position. Following another few months of therapy, I began to drive around my neighborhood, still with prism glasses and some double vision to my far left. What a glorious feeling that was! Three months later, I no longer needed prism glasses and was driving a bit further. After eight months of therapy, no one but me would know that I had had a visual challenge. Today, I can tell that a tiny visual disturbance exists on my far left peripheral area, but it is amazingly slight. I still do the at-home therapy to continue improving, but I am doing so, so much better. My hand and arm are still partially numb, but I can see well!!!"   They Don't Call Me "Cross-Eyed" Anymore At the age of 4, Justin had surgery on his left eye to correct a pronounced eye turn. The surgery did not work. Four years later, another surgeon said he could not operate again on the left eye, but he wanted to operate on the right. He said the operation would misalign that eye, and as it worked to straighten itself out, it would bring the left eye into alignment. That recommendation was frightening to us. At age nine, vision therapy was recommended after testing had found Justin to be writing at age level five. His writing was essentially illegible, and as he progressed in school it was becoming an issue for his grades. Given the test results ­ and knowing we couldnıt bring ourselves to authorize surgery on an eye with nothing wrong with it‹we decided to explore the possibility. Dr. Stern explained the concept on our first visit: that Justinıs misaligned eyes left him confused as to where he was in relationship to his world. Her testing showed he sometimes saw double. But it showed that mostly his brain was shutting off the misaligned eye to blot out the confusing information. His handwriting was simply a symptom of all this. So was his poor gross motor control. (Justin could fall down just standing next to a counter.) So we began a year long therapy, driving an hour weekly for the sessions and creating a routine at home to do the exercisesŠ.. And in the end, Š.Justin is using both eyes. He still hates to write. But his writing is 100 percent better. His eyes appear straight‹something a colleague who hasnıt see Justin for months recently remarked upon. During one of his first visits, Justin told Dr. Stern that the kids called him ³cross-eyed² and he hoped the therapy could make a difference. At his last check up, he told her, ³They donıt call me cross-eyed anymore.² -- Mom of Justin (age 9)