Dr. Ludlam was my pediatric eye doctor for much of my childhood. I am writing because I feel very strongly about the information I and my mother received from Dr. Ludlam. First, I would like to note that I remember Dr. Ludlam as a kind and personable man.
I was born legally blind. I was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic with Optic Nerve Hypoplaisia--a congenital malformation of the optic nerve. I also have nystagmus--involuntary movement of the eyes--and a lazy eye.
As a child, my mother told me, and she was very happy to hear this, thar Dr. Ludlam told her that I might see well enough to drive as an adult. My vision has never--never--been better than 20/70 in my better eye with correction. I remember my mother and step father sitting me down and making me try to follow a pen with my eyes for ten minutes every day--eye exercises suggested by Dr. Ludlam.
Later, I was taken to bio-feedback sessions at another practice unaffiliated with Dr. Ludlam. I don't think Dr. Ludlam recommended them--but they were certainly along the same line as the pen-following exercises he showed my mother and instructed her to have me do. Both the bio-feedback and what Doctor Ludlam told my mother filled her with false hope. It may be possible to correct a lazy eye but it isn't possible to correct a malformed optic nerve--certainly not by having a child follow a pen with her eyes for ten minutes a day.
It wasn't until I was about fourteen that I realized I really was never going to drive a car. It took me until I was sixteen to start advocating for large-print testing materials in school. It took me until I was 20 even to get my hands on a white cane. I taught myself braille in my early 30s. That is far too long to wait for someone legally blind since birth.
My time would have been much better spent learning the skills blind children--even blind children with substantial useful vision--need to succeed than it was trying to follow a silly pen my parents waved in front of me on the advice of Dr. Ludlam.
If your child's vision really can be corrected--corrected to 20/20--with glasses or whatever, great! But if you see that your child has low vision that isn't going away, please don't put your faith in curing what cannot be cured. Put your faith in your child's ability to learn time-tested skills like braille, the use of a white cane, synthesized speech on a computer and the use of an abacus. These skills--not false hope--will allow your low-vision or legally blind child to experience real integration and success.
by Anonymous
December 17, 2011
