RE: Getting our 3 year old to wear glasses

[Guest guest]

Kathy,I dont know if this will help or not, but a woman I know that has a child

w/special needs had problems getting her child to wear glasses. So she invented

these cute little charms that attach to the glasses to encourage her to wear

them. You can see her site at http://Ficklets.com/

Maybe you can use the charms as rewards as incentive to keep them on:-)

Best wishes!

Phoenix, AZ ( 7 yrs old DS/ASD and Monika 6 yrs old)

Villanueva Viajes To Go Vacations erika@... www.viajestogo.com

Subject: Getting our 3 year old to wear glasses

To:

Cc: " Wuarin, Anne-Lise " , " Dudero, Phil "

Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 1:08 PM

 

Hello everyone!

I guess I'm like a submarine diver - I " went under " for December and January

up til now and ducked out of the daily email circuit due to travel. BUT

we're back in France again and just received 's new glasses from

Minneapolis by FedEx today.

Have any of you ever needed to introduce glasses to your small child - if

so, do you have any suggestions for how we can do it? is extremely

sensitive around his face - wrenches away when I wash him. He also likes to

" fling " things. Constantly. We've been trying to get him to stop this

(besides being hard on the toys, he could hurt his little sister!) So - I

am anticipating a struggle with the glasses.

Also, recently, he has become more resistive in general to being asked to do

things (like feed himself or walk - he'll just tuck his hands tightly under

the high-chair tray or sit on the ground) and these are things he has done

independently before. I don't want the wearing of glasses to become a power

struggle but I believe the quality of his life will improve greatly by being

able to see things. But then, maybe he won't like the additional sensory

information he has to screen out either?!

Thanks for any advice or thoughts you can send our way,

~ Kathy

--- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! -- http://www.usfamily

..net/mkt- freepromo. html ---

[Guest guest]

Hi, Kathy,

Oh, my favorite subject...lol.  I have a four year old who has been wearing

glasses since he was 2.  He also is very sensitive and hates anything on his

face or head.  It continues to be a struggle at times, although it has gotten

much better. 

Here are a few things that worked for us:

We started small, having him wear them for 15 - 30 minutes at first and

gradually increased the time. 

When we first started putting the glasses on him, we tired to keep him

visually busy while he was wearing them so he wouldn't focus too much on the

feel of them.  So, we would sit with him on our lap in front of the tv with his

favorite video on and wrap our arms around him in a big hug (but not restrain

him) so he couldn't easily reach up and grab them off his face.  

We would also do action songs (Wheels On The But, Itsy, Bitsy Spider, etc.)

which helped to distract him and kept his hands busy and away from his face. 

 

We still do lots of praising and complimenting when he wears them.  (He

loves to be applauded, so that works well for him.) 

I have also found that putting his glasses on while standing behind him

goes much better than trying to put them on from the front. 

Once we got him to the point where he would tolerate them for a few minutes, we

started attaching them to activities (i.e. you must wear your glasses to go

outside, you must wear you glasses to watch tv, etc.). 

A couple of things to watch for:  If your son is very oral driven and puts

things in his mouth, watch for him to take the glasses off and chew on

them. Aidan is very stealth-like and we went through a period where if we

turned our backs for a minute, he would take them off and gnaw on them.  He

scratched several lenses by biting them.  He also liked to twist them and

break the arms off.  He's much better now and we have gotten him to the point

where he understands that if he needs a break from wearing them, he can take the

glasses off and hand them to Mommy or Daddy and that has cut down on the

destruction.  Recently, he has actually tried to put them back on after taking

them off and that was a major stepping stone!

Consistency is also very important and was something we were lacking at first. 

We now do much better at home and we had a requirement added to his IEP that

he wear his glasses during class.  That has helped with his willingness to

wear the glasses and his teacher reports that he is much more focused at

school now that he's wearing them all the time there. 

Some people will say that once they realize they can see better, they will wear

them and I'm sure that's true for most kids, but not mine.  There's no

question that Aidan sees better with them and he seems to enjoy the visual

stimulation, but he still takes them off the minute he's tired of them.  

Patience and persistence...

Good luck!

Dana

________________________________

To:

Cc: " Wuarin, Anne-Lise " ; " Dudero, Phil "

Sent: Tue, February 16, 2010 3:08:33 PM

Subject: Getting our 3 year old to wear glasses

 

Hello everyone!

I guess I'm like a submarine diver - I " went under " for December and January

up til now and ducked out of the daily email circuit due to travel. BUT

we're back in France again and just received 's new glasses from

Minneapolis by FedEx today.

Have any of you ever needed to introduce glasses to your small child - if

so, do you have any suggestions for how we can do it? is extremely

sensitive around his face - wrenches away when I wash him. He also likes to

" fling " things. Constantly. We've been trying to get him to stop this

(besides being hard on the toys, he could hurt his little sister!) So - I

am anticipating a struggle with the glasses.

Also, recently, he has become more resistive in general to being asked to do

things (like feed himself or walk - he'll just tuck his hands tightly under

the high-chair tray or sit on the ground) and these are things he has done

independently before. I don't want the wearing of glasses to become a power

struggle but I believe the quality of his life will improve greatly by being

able to see things. But then, maybe he won't like the additional sensory

information he has to screen out either?!

Thanks for any advice or thoughts you can send our way,

~ Kathy

--- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! -- http://www.usfamily

..net/mkt- freepromo. html ---

[Guest guest]

had glasses to correct strabismus and for minor nearsightedness when he was

4, and he like your guy hated things around his face (still does). I hate to add

this, because it was a total failure. He would not tolerate them. His

opthalmologist suggested giving them up; that his vision wasn't bad enough, and

usually a kiddo will leave them on if there is enough improvement. So we just

decided 's vision wasn't " bad enough " yet. Fortunately, the strabismus self

corrected after leukemia treatment - the chemo just made all his muscles weaken,

including the ones around the eyes.

Beth

________________________________

To:

Cc: " Wuarin, Anne-Lise " ; " Dudero, Phil "

Sent: Tue, February 16, 2010 3:08:33 PM

Subject: Getting our 3 year old to wear glasses

Hello everyone!

I guess I'm like a submarine diver - I " went under " for December and January

up til now and ducked out of the daily email circuit due to travel. BUT

we're back in France again and just received 's new glasses from

Minneapolis by FedEx today.

Have any of you ever needed to introduce glasses to your small child - if

so, do you have any suggestions for how we can do it? is extremely

sensitive around his face - wrenches away when I wash him. He also likes to

" fling " things. Constantly. We've been trying to get him to stop this

(besides being hard on the toys, he could hurt his little sister!) So - I

am anticipating a struggle with the glasses.

Also, recently, he has become more resistive in general to being asked to do

things (like feed himself or walk - he'll just tuck his hands tightly under

the high-chair tray or sit on the ground) and these are things he has done

independently before. I don't want the wearing of glasses to become a power

struggle but I believe the quality of his life will improve greatly by being

able to see things. But then, maybe he won't like the additional sensory

information he has to screen out either?!

Thanks for any advice or thoughts you can send our way,

~ Kathy

--- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! -- http://www.usfamily

..net/mkt- freepromo. html ---

[Guest guest]

We were successful using an adjustable strap with Kayla. We have the ones

that are cloth covered so you can push the holders all the way up the arms.

We also need the strap because otherwise they just slide off her nose, and

of course she'd just throw them without a strap! She only kept them on for a

few minutes at first, but now she keeps them on for the most part when we

put them on her, although she mostly just wears them at school. She's

far-sighted, so it's not surprising that her fine motor skills are so poor.

Ecki

Mom to Kayla (DS/ASD, 4/5/04) and Laurie (PDD-NOS, 7/12/01)

Sullivan County, NY

http://oppositekids.blogspot.com/

[Guest guest]

First of all: remember this web site- EYEBUYDIRECT.com inexpensive place

to buy eyeglasses.

We bought racketball glasses for Elie after 3 pair were broken. Racketball

glasses have an elastic band around the head instead of ear pieces. We

started out at 5 minutes at a time with immediate bribes. We finally got

him to the point after much rewards where he would wear them in school for

an hour at a time.

They were never a sucess for him. After a year, the doc said it was not

worth the improvement.

>

>

> Hello everyone!

>

> I guess I'm like a submarine diver - I " went under " for December and

> January

> up til now and ducked out of the daily email circuit due to travel. BUT

> we're back in France again and just received 's new glasses from

> Minneapolis by FedEx today.

>

> Have any of you ever needed to introduce glasses to your small child - if

> so, do you have any suggestions for how we can do it? is extremely

> sensitive around his face - wrenches away when I wash him. He also likes to

> " fling " things. Constantly. We've been trying to get him to stop this

> (besides being hard on the toys, he could hurt his little sister!) So - I

> am anticipating a struggle with the glasses.

>

> Also, recently, he has become more resistive in general to being asked to

> do

> things (like feed himself or walk - he'll just tuck his hands tightly under

> the high-chair tray or sit on the ground) and these are things he has done

> independently before. I don't want the wearing of glasses to become a power

> struggle but I believe the quality of his life will improve greatly by

> being

> able to see things. But then, maybe he won't like the additional sensory

> information he has to screen out either?!

>

> Thanks for any advice or thoughts you can send our way,

>

> ~ Kathy

>

> --- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! --

> http://www.usfamily.net/mkt-freepromo.html ---

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Dana. These were excellent ideas! and his daddy are going

to the occupational therapist this morning, glasses in tow, to see if they

can introduce them there. But if not, I feel more hopeful about some ideas

we can try here at home. ~ Kathy

_____

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf

Of Dana Lewellen

Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:25 PM

To:

Subject: Re: Getting our 3 year old to wear glasses

Hi, Kathy,

Oh, my favorite subject...lol. I have a four year old who has been wearing

glasses since he was 2. He also is very sensitive and hates anything on his

face or head. It continues to be a struggle at times, although it has

gotten much better.

Here are a few things that worked for us:

We started small, having him wear them for 15 - 30 minutes at first and

gradually increased the time.

When we first started putting the glasses on him, we tired to keep him

visually busy while he was wearing them so he wouldn't focus too much on the

feel of them. So, we would sit with him on our lap in front of the tv with

his favorite video on and wrap our arms around him in a big hug (but not

restrain him) so he couldn't easily reach up and grab them off his face.

We would also do action songs (Wheels On The But, Itsy, Bitsy Spider, etc.)

which helped to distract him and kept his hands busy and away from his face.

We still do lots of praising and complimenting when he wears them. (He

loves to be applauded, so that works well for him.)

I have also found that putting his glasses on while standing behind him goes

much better than trying to put them on from the front.

Once we got him to the point where he would tolerate them for a few minutes,

we started attaching them to activities (i.e. you must wear your glasses to

go outside, you must wear you glasses to watch tv, etc.).

A couple of things to watch for: If your son is very oral driven and puts

things in his mouth, watch for him to take the glasses off and chew on them.

Aidan is very stealth-like and we went through a period where if we turned

our backs for a minute, he would take them off and gnaw on them. He

scratched several lenses by biting them. He also liked to twist them and

break the arms off. He's much better now and we have gotten him to the

point where he understands that if he needs a break from wearing them, he

can take the glasses off and hand them to Mommy or Daddy and that has cut

down on the destruction. Recently, he has actually tried to put them back

on after taking them off and that was a major stepping stone!

Consistency is also very important and was something we were lacking at

first. We now do much better at home and we had a requirement added to his

IEP that he wear his glasses during class. That has helped with his

willingness to wear the glasses and his teacher reports that he is much more

focused at school now that he's wearing them all the time there.

Some people will say that once they realize they can see better, they will

wear them and I'm sure that's true for most kids, but not mine. There's no

question that Aidan sees better with them and he seems to enjoy the visual

stimulation, but he still takes them off the minute he's tired of them.

Patience and persistence...

Good luck!

Dana

________________________________

From: Kathy Dudero <kduderousfamily (DOT) <mailto:kdudero%40usfamily.net> net>

To: @yahoogrou <mailto:%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com

Cc: " Wuarin, Anne-Lise " <anne-lise.wuarin@

<mailto:anne-lise.wuarin%40bluewin.ch> bluewin.ch>; " Dudero, Phil "

<pduderousfamily (DOT) <mailto:pdudero%40usfamily.net> net>

Sent: Tue, February 16, 2010 3:08:33 PM

Subject: Getting our 3 year old to wear glasses

Hello everyone!

I guess I'm like a submarine diver - I " went under " for December and January

up til now and ducked out of the daily email circuit due to travel. BUT

we're back in France again and just received 's new glasses from

Minneapolis by FedEx today.

Have any of you ever needed to introduce glasses to your small child - if

so, do you have any suggestions for how we can do it? is extremely

sensitive around his face - wrenches away when I wash him. He also likes to

" fling " things. Constantly. We've been trying to get him to stop this

(besides being hard on the toys, he could hurt his little sister!) So - I

am anticipating a struggle with the glasses.

Also, recently, he has become more resistive in general to being asked to do

things (like feed himself or walk - he'll just tuck his hands tightly under

the high-chair tray or sit on the ground) and these are things he has done

independently before. I don't want the wearing of glasses to become a power

struggle but I believe the quality of his life will improve greatly by being

able to see things. But then, maybe he won't like the additional sensory

information he has to screen out either?!

Thanks for any advice or thoughts you can send our way,

~ Kathy

--- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! -- http://www.usfamily

..net/mkt- freepromo. html ---

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathy

Here are a few tips I have used:

Get a cord for the glasses so if they are removed it is harder to fling

Make it fun-Get in front of a mirror & put them on your child. Immediately have

him put a pair on you & talk about your mirror images

Go slow & build up the time glasses are worn (he will have to adjust anyway to

how he sees)

Give rewards every time he keeps glasses on for set amount of time. Gradually

fade the rewards to extinction.

Immediately put glasses back on if he removes them while giving verbal cue of

your choice (ie glasses on until Mommy says take off, or whatever). Do this

even if it seems like a billion times.

These are some of the things I did when I taught. And would do for my DJ.

You are right-avoiding a power struggle will help. Avoiding stress will help.

Keep it cool & calm & matter of fact.

I had to patch DJ's eye. This with a child who abhorred having face touched let

alone something put on his face (or any body part), I actually put a patch on

myself first & wore the sucker for the time frame he had to the first day. Since

it was an eye bandaid, it was no fun taking it off either. We basically cheered

him & gently told him not to remove it. It took awhile but finally worked. We

bribed-er rewarded as well. Of course, he also got very good at cheating by

loosening a corner so he could see but we nipped this asap. Eventually DJ had

to wear it every hour he was awake for years, so the school staff helped alot to

keep things consistent.

IMHO, it is always a good idea to have a spare. I wear glasses & cannot see

without them so I speak from experience. I also am into UNBREAKABLE lens for

kiddos (ie:my bio son-so again I speak from experience)

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Kris

>

> Hello everyone!

>

>

>

> I guess I'm like a submarine diver - I " went under " for December and January

> up til now and ducked out of the daily email circuit due to travel. BUT

> we're back in France again and just received 's new glasses from

> Minneapolis by FedEx today.

>

>

>

> Have any of you ever needed to introduce glasses to your small child - if

> so, do you have any suggestions for how we can do it? is extremely

> sensitive around his face - wrenches away when I wash him. He also likes to

> " fling " things. Constantly. We've been trying to get him to stop this

> (besides being hard on the toys, he could hurt his little sister!) So - I

> am anticipating a struggle with the glasses.

>

>

>

> Also, recently, he has become more resistive in general to being asked to do

> things (like feed himself or walk - he'll just tuck his hands tightly under

> the high-chair tray or sit on the ground) and these are things he has done

> independently before. I don't want the wearing of glasses to become a power

> struggle but I believe the quality of his life will improve greatly by being

> able to see things. But then, maybe he won't like the additional sensory

> information he has to screen out either?!

>

>

>

> Thanks for any advice or thoughts you can send our way,

>

>

>

> ~ Kathy

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> --- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! --

http://www.usfamily.net/mkt-freepromo.html ---

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathy,

will get used to the glasses over time once he understands the benefit

of them. My son, , started to wear them at age 4.....initially he did not

like them, but within a week it was much better. We started with having him wear

them a minute at at time, coupled with the phrase, " first glasses, then toy,

video, etc. " He eventually understood that he had to wear the glasses before he

got what he wanted. Just FYI- we found a raised slantboard to be very helpful

for to use while doing table top activities with the glasses on....he

focussed better. Now he wears them with no problem, however he will throw them

if no one is looking and had done this on the school bus as well, so someone has

to be with him at all times.

Best of luck,

Mom to 6 yrs. old, DS/PDD-NOS

Colon Cancer Survivor- In- Training

10th round of chemo in progress, 2 more to go

To:

CC: anne-lise.wuarin@...; pdudero@...

From: kdudero@...

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:08:33 -0600

Subject: Getting our 3 year old to wear glasses

Hello everyone!

I guess I'm like a submarine diver - I " went under " for December and January

up til now and ducked out of the daily email circuit due to travel. BUT

we're back in France again and just received 's new glasses from

Minneapolis by FedEx today.

Have any of you ever needed to introduce glasses to your small child - if

so, do you have any suggestions for how we can do it? is extremely

sensitive around his face - wrenches away when I wash him. He also likes to

" fling " things. Constantly. We've been trying to get him to stop this

(besides being hard on the toys, he could hurt his little sister!) So - I

am anticipating a struggle with the glasses.

Also, recently, he has become more resistive in general to being asked to do

things (like feed himself or walk - he'll just tuck his hands tightly under

the high-chair tray or sit on the ground) and these are things he has done

independently before. I don't want the wearing of glasses to become a power

struggle but I believe the quality of his life will improve greatly by being

able to see things. But then, maybe he won't like the additional sensory

information he has to screen out either?!

Thanks for any advice or thoughts you can send our way,

~ Kathy

--- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! --

http://www.usfamily.net/mkt-freepromo.html ---