“Reading is easier. I remember what I am reading.”
-Aiden, age 9
“Aiden struggled with confidence with his reading and seemed to be working a lot harder than he should have. Since going through vision therapy he has built up his confidence. He is also where he needs to be to start fourth grade next year! The last couple of weeks he has been reading longer on his own at night before bed. He is not falling asleep as soon as he does his reading in bed. We are so proud of all his hard work and so grateful to have vision therapy to help him through this hurdle.”
-parents of Aiden
“Before vision therapy I had trouble doing homework. I never wanted to read, but now I read a lot and it’s much more enjoyable. Before I would always quit or get frustrated with homework, but now I do all my homework without complaining. Before VT I never enjoyed coloring, but now I love to draw, doodle, and color. Things I do with my eyes and brain feel easier. Also my eye hand coordination is also much better I had noticed that during PE or playing outside. Thank you for making my life easier!”
Cailyn, age 14
“Cailyn has always been a bright child. We wondered for many years why she had a hard time learning to read, why her writing was a struggle, and why she didn’t enjoy large motor or fine motor activities. Finally, we heard Dr. Wonderling speak at a conference. The struggles that Dr. Wonderling mentioned perfectly lined up with Cailyn’s struggles. When Cailyn was originally evaluated, there were some areas that she tested only at a four-year-old level. After four months of therapy and lots of hard work at home Cailyn is seeing drastic improvement! Now Cailyn colors for fun, remembers her spelling words, can do homework much more independently, enjoys PE more, and is more confident in her reading. When she finds a good book she enjoys reading, sometimes I have to ask her to stop. We can’t thank Kendra, Shannon, Nancy and Dr. Wonderling enough.”
-Cailyn’s parents
“The Vision Therapy Academy has been a God send for Felicity! Felicity was struggling with school in kindergarten, fell even more behind during the summer, which led to her being at the reading level of a kindergarten (during the first couple months of school) even though she was in first grade. Her reading was very choppy and slow. She would complain about her eyes being tired and burning. She would constantly lose her place while reading. After just a month of therapy we noticed a huge improvement in her reading. Halfway through the program her schoolteacher teared up during teacher conferences while talking about how hard Felicity has been working and how much she has improved! Felicity is now at the same reading level as her classmates and enjoys reading! We are so thrilled with this program and wish more children and families had access to it. We are so very proud of Felicity, better yet, she is proud of herself, and is so much more confident.
We owe a HUGE thank you to the awesome therapists at the Vision Therapy Academy and Dr. Wonderling for being so passionate and helping so many children and families. God bless you all.”
-Parents of Felicity, age 6
“Riley had a hard time reading. It sounded choppy, she would misread words, and she would get frustrated. She could read a word on one page correctly, but not the next time. She would complain on her eyes hurting and being tired. Now that Riley has completed her vision therapy program she is a confident reader. Her reading is smooth and she reads the words correctly. She even reads faster than she used to. She no longer complains of her eyes hurting or being tired. I could not be happier with her results.”
Riley’s Parents
“I think that I can see farther away, and I can see a lot better then I could see when I first started. I am so glad that I came to vision therapy because it helped me a lot. “
Riley, age 10
“Vision therapy has helped me with my reading. I used to hate reading, but now I love it. It is really fun working with Kendra. She is super nice. I am so glad that I can read now.”
-Niah, age 9
“Niah’s and my, as her homeschooling mother, journey to reading success was one shaped with much frustration, heartache, and guilt. Since we homeschool, I carried the burden of wondering what I was lacking in her path to reading, and dealt with much guilt when she failed to thrive and struggled so greatly. There were so many tears and difficult days of pleading with her to just continue trying. There were also many days of my assumptions that she wasn’t applying herself enough just needed to try with more zeal. I have much heartache when I think of all the tears she cried. It has been the greatest blessing to work with the vision therapy staff and to watch Niah’s transformation from hating books and reading to now being confident and excited to read. She has loved working with Kendra and will miss her greatly. The Vision Therapy Academy has not only helped Niah read, but has helped shape and mold her future into something much better than it would have been without them.”
Niahs parents
“School was really hard before I did vision therapy. School is better now. Vision therapy was hard at first, but it got easier each time I went thanks to Kendra and Shannon for helping me.”
-Gabe, age 7
“For the past few years we’ve been going round and round trying to find help for our son. His teachers, as well as us, noticed he was struggling, falling behind in school (Kindergarten) and hated school. We had our son evaluated for an IEP but we were told he wasn’t “far enough behind” to receive any help. Our chiropractor at Coulee Health had noticed his eyes were not tracking and suggested having his eyes checked. In the meantime we had taken our son to occupational therapy at kids space and she had noticed his eyes not tracking as well. We proceeded to take him to see an eye doctor and he dismissed the idea that our son’s eyes weren’t tracking and told us to go the learning disability center at Gundersen to see if there was any underlying learning disabilities. They tried telling us our son had ADHD, which we didn’t see. We got another opinion from another eye doctor who clearly saw that he had eye tracking issues. We ended up finding the Vision Therapy Academy and did the initial consultation. If we would have known then what we know now we would have skipped everything and went straight to doing vision therapy. Just watching him change and grow in his confidence, has been worth every penny spent. He is starting to enjoy reading on his own, going to school, and is overall more confident. We are so proud of everything Gabe has been working on and it is amazing to see how much progress he has made. We want to thank his therapists (Kendra and Shannon) and Dr. Wonderling for everything they have done to help our son succeed. Don’t hesitate to look into vision therapy, we wish we would have done it sooner.”
Gabe’s parents
“Before vision therapy I disliked reading, school, and struggled to get good grades. I also struggled to track a ball and just couldn’t stay focused for long periods of time. Within a few weeks of starting I could see a difference. Now I like to read and I read harder books. I like school and don’t struggle to get good grades. I can also track and catch a ball better. My balance is also better. To me, I think that vision therapy has given me a newer and brighter future. Thank you for giving me the tools to succeed.”
Bryce, age 12
“Before vision therapy we had questions. We could never figure out how Bryce could so greatly succeed then do something again and fail so miserably. We could see little things but could never find the answers. We had teachers ask if we had his eyesight checked but his sight was always 20/20. Then, the COVID era hit and the struggle became much greater with school. He had always been able to work hard and hang in there but now the frustrations grew and he was falling farther behind. Finally some friends had recommended us to VTA to have him get an evaluation. The evaluation was tough to watch, but we could see it. When we left that day there was a sense of relief/optimism that we had some answers and a plan.
Within 2 weeks of beginning the program we were already seeing positive results. Bryce looked forward to going to each session so much. He was eager to do the work at home as soon as he would get home from school. Now, he likes going to school, gets good grades, LOVES reading, has greatly improved balance, and is starting to overflow with confidence. VTA was like getting the master key to a lock to set him free. We look forward to seeing the continued growth. We are even a little sad to be finished with the therapy program. It truly is life changing for Bryce! We are so grateful for what VTA has done. We cannot thank VTA enough.”
-Parents of Bryce.
“I am thankful for vision therapy. I never wanted to read because my eyes were tired and hurt when I read. Now I love to read and my eyes don’t hurt. I ask my mom for new books all the time. Vision therapy was fun. Thank you Kendra and Dr. Wonderling!”
-Drew, age 8
“We are so incredibly thankful for the vision therapy program! Prior to vision therapy Drew was at the top of his class for math but he was always a little behind in reading. Drew always made excuses to us that he didn’t want to read because “he wasn’t good at it” or “it made his eyes hurt”. Reading always made Drew tired and he struggled to remember what he read with no interest. Today, thanks to vision therapy Drew is thriving in reading and every time we turn around he has a new book on his list to read. We are so fortunate to have this program in our community and I can’t thank Kendra, Dr. Wonderling, and her staff enough for changing Drew’s world. Love you all. God Bless!”
Parents of Drew, age 8
“Before I started therapy I did not like to read. After school I was always tired and did not like to do homework. Now since I have gone to therapy, I love to read and able to do homework without complaining. I can do homework all by myself. I loved to go to therapy because Ms. Jen and Ms. Kendra were always nice and fun. I liked the activities and how they helped me.”
-Natalie, age 10
“We are so thankful that I had heard of Vision Therapy Academy from a parent while on a school field trip last year. My daughter seemed to have the same symptoms as their child, so I decided to check into it further. Natalie struggled on a daily basis with reading, spelling, and daily homework. Her concentration, comprehension, and self confidence were also affected daily.
At 2nd grade I had noticed that she was continually having difficulty with reading and spelling. Upon consulting with her teacher I asked to have her evaluated with a reading specialist at school. Sure enough, the tests found that she would benefit from some extra help during school. One day my daughter commented that she had a hard time seeing the whiteboard at school, so I set up an appointment and had her eyes checked out. Her vision was 20/20 but they suggested for us to do some eye exercises at home. Unfortunately, it only lasted a short time as her concentration and frustration made her very upset when she was doing this and it became a battle. That summer she continued with a school reading summer class a couple times a week. She continued to get extra help in school through 3rd grade. During this time, thinking this is what she needed but actually not realizing how badly she needed help to “correct” her eyes and how bad they actually were. I truly thought she would grow out of it and that she just needed to “focus” better. Every night she would struggle with homework and concentration after school. I would always need to sit at her side to work with her on the homework. She would cry and get so frustrated, which was very difficult and frustrating for me to see.
In July, just before returning to school for 4th grade, I made a consultation appointment with Dr. Wonderling at Vision Therapy Academy. I knew I didn’t want her to get any further behind for her age and grade as I had a feeling that something was wrong. The tests at the appointment were saddening. Results showed that she struggles with convergence insufficiency, which is an eye condition that affects how your eyes work together when you look at nearby objects. We found that her right eye would wander, along with this, she was having some double vision and tracking issues. She needed help with correcting this and it was no just an easy fix by getting glasses as her vision was 20/20, nor would she ever grow out of this either. She needed a vision profession to help her.
Natalie’s first therapy was in August with Vision Therapy Academy and after the 1st and 2nd month we started to see big changes. She was more confident with her reading, able to work on homework herself, and was not completely exhausted after coming home from school. Family members all noticed a difference and how she seemed to be much more confident and happier. Her vision testing scores improved dramatically. We owe this all to Dr. Wonderling and her staff, Ms. Jen and Ms. Kendra, whom worked with her twice a week. Our daughter loved going there and working with them one-on-one and doing new activities to help train her eyes to work together along with the processing. She also worked hard on the three days at home with the activities they gave her for homework. They got to know her well and treated her just as their own, willing to help her in any way needed. Any problems or questions were always addressed at each session and solutions and ideas were given.
We are eternally grateful for this vision therapy program and for all the help that Dr. Wonderling, Ms. Jen, and Ms. Kendra has given to our daughter. We look forward to her continued progress and her future success stories.
P.S. They had a FB post on 10/9/22 titled “A Little Secret About Your Vision Therapist” which I found is truly the truth about Dr. Wonderling, Ms. Jen, Ms. Kendra, and the entire VTA staff ”
-Parents of Natalie, age 10
“Karsyn has come so far with vision therapy. He would struggle in school and with reading, but we were not aware of the eye problems that he was having. We had been to the pediatric eye specialist and did months of patching and drops. These things helped some, but Karsyn still struggled. We learned of vision therapy and are so thankful to them. Karsyn’s reading and confidence has improved so much in these months.”
-Parents of Karsyn
“Vision therapy has helped me see better. It has made reading, school, and computer work easier.”
