We are continuing with the interview series. This time, our interviewee is Stephanie, whose son is experiencing esotropia and accommodative insufficiency. For curing this condition, they took different approaches, including AmblyoPlay. Read about their experience below. If you missed our first interview, where an adult user spoke about his experience, you can read it here.
How did you come across AmblyoPlay vision therapy and what made you purchase our solution?
Our son was diagnosed with esotropia when he was 2 years old. He had surgery, but it only corrected the issue as long as he was wearing glasses. We had no idea there were any other issues. We started seeing a different optometrist when he was 10 after a cross-country move. He was diagnosed here with esotropic strabismus and accommodative insufficiency. They recommended vision therapy, which he did in office for 6 months. It was expensive and the homework was tedious, so we started searching for other solutions. That’s when we stumbled on AmblyoPlay and decided to give it a try. Six months of AmblyoPlay was 1/7th the price of the in office treatment and looked much more engaging. It also had the benefit of me not having to drive him to appointments.
Did you take any previous approaches for treating esotropia?
Yes, surgery and 6 months of in office vision therapy. The surgery corrected the esotropia cosmetically but only if his glasses are on. The in office therapy was very beneficial, but expensive and a long drive there and back every week.
Were your expectations regarding the progress and outcomes met?
Yes! Prior to starting in office therapy, his baseline Right Eye score (testing used by his optometrist) was 17 (out of 100). After six months of in office, his score went up to 31. After six more months, this time AmblyoPlay only, his score increased to 50! We are working on another six months to see if his progress will continue.
What is your overall experience with AmblyoPlay vision therapy from the parent’s perspective? Is the process of starting vision therapy straightforward, with sufficient instructions?
Yes, it was all very straightforward and easy to get started. We appreciate that it’s available as an app, so we just downloaded it to the family iPad and helped him get it set up. After that we haven’t had to worry about it. He performs the therapy and the testing himself.
What about motivation? Was it hard to motivate your child to continue with vision therapy or is AmblyoPlay enough engaging without the need for additional incentives?
It has not been hard to motivate him at all. Much more engaging than the program his in office therapist used for his homework.
Do you see any added value in collecting gems and upgrading characters from the perspective of increasing compliance?
Yes! He loves upgrading the characters and then mixing and matching his favorite clothing and showing them off to us. He gets excited to work on unlocking upgrades for each new character.
Can you highlight some of the most important advantages you find out during vision therapy?
The biggest advantages for our son have been practical application. He no longer gets headaches during reading/school work, his depth perception has increased dramatically so he can easily catch balls now, he doesn’t need to sit so close to the TV to see things clearly, his hand-eye coordination improved so that video games are much easier for him now, and overall his confidence has increased.
Do you have anything to add? Any suggestions or comments are welcome.
We love AmblyoPlay! Anytime you guys add new games, he gets very excited to try them out. Keep up the awesome work!
We would like to thank Stephanie for taking the time to share her son’s experience, which we believe could help at least someone reading this interview! We invite you, our community, to share your experience with AmblyoPlay. If you are interested for an interview, we would invite you to send an email to [email protected]. Furthermore, we are available at this address for any questions related to this topic.