“It helps me see deer better. Vision therapy has helped me with many things like reading, math, seeing animals, and fishing. I can also tie my shoes.”
-Wyatt, age 7
“Wyatt has been attending vision therapy since August. He has become more confident in his reading and it has also gotten much easier for him. Wyatt can now tie his shoes and does not see double. Vision Therapy Academy has helped Wyatt develop depth perception that he didn’t have. Wyatt is doing well in school and is able to track where he is on paper after looking at the board. Vision therapy has helped Wyatt’s handwriting improve drastically. We highly recommend the Vision Therapy Academy to any child/ adult struggling with their eye.”
-Parents of Wyatt, age 7
“I have been doing Vision therapy for 24 weeks, because of this my reading and accuracy of throwing the football has gotten so much better. And the people there are super nice and funny. I give them so much credit for making my life so much better.”
-Jack, Age 12
“Math has always been easy for Jack but reading was always a struggle. He put in extra work at home and school. He finally got to the point where he couldn’t get title 1 help at school, but we still struggled reading books for school no matter what we tried. We were at a loss at what to try next. Reading is a life skill that I didn’t want him to always struggle with. When we found out about vision and discovered the reading for struggles, it all made sense. He thought he was just but at reading. He is now flying through his school books! He is putting in the work and making huge progress. He has had so much with Shannon. We will forever be grateful for the difference and change that vision therapy has made for Jack.”
-Parents of Jack, age 12
“Our son had a 4k teacher that noticed he was having a hard time with reading and letters. He was tested by the school but was above the mark to receive extra help. This went on every year until COVID hit during his 4th and 5th grade school years. We always took the school’s word at what it was, he needed to just keep reading and having us read with him to help him improve. Well he returned at the end of 5th grade and was now far behind all of his peers, so the school tested him again and he finally qualified for extra help. We were promised that by the end of 6th grade he would be in line with his peers on reading level. Well 6th grade came and went, and he had zero improvements, and we were told that he was going to need more intensive reading intervention. This would have made a lot of sense to us if he was doing poorly in all of his classes but that was not the case. He would get A’s and B’s in all of his classes, even ELA. We also noticed in middle school that he would come home from school tired, upset, and with severe headaches.
As parents we knew we needed to take matters into our own hands as we felt the schools were failing us. So the summer of 2022 we did so. We began by reaching out on a mom’s group on Facebook, and we started to finally find out what was in our area to help us. We first took him to the Natural Learning center, to be tested and get a reading program going. Well to our surprise we were told that he could benefit from their program but they didn’t see a need for it as he passed all of the tests at grade level or above but that they did notice some indicators that he might have a physical problem with his eyes. This was when we first learned about Vision Therapy Academy and Dr. Wonderling. We had no idea what to expect but we knew we had to get to the source of the issue. So we made our appointment to have him tested. The first thing that struck me was that we received a questionnaire about our son. Never did the schools actually ask us, the parents, about our son and how he was doing. I was impressed by that and when his mother took him for the evaluation they showed her what was happening and communicated throughout the process with her. After this, we finally had answers on the cause of his issues and a plan to help correct them. It was a big commitment for us and him, but we began his program at the beginning of August 2022. We let the school know what was going on, especially his reading interventionist.
After his first 10 weeks in the program I received an email from his reading interventionist about how she just tested him that he went from 60 words a minute in reading (that was from the end of his 6th grade year at school) to now at 144 words a minute. He also went from a level T to a level W reading level. We were beyond excited for him as we were only halfway through his program, and he was already having such success. Fast forward and he will be completing his 20-week program. He no longer comes home from school tired, he has energy to go out and play with his friends. He no longer comes home with headaches or upset. He is excited to tell us about his day and what he has achieved. Better yet, we do not have to hound him to do his at home activities; they were fun, different, and challenging but all the while engaging and easy to do.
We as parents are beyond indebted to Dr. Wonderling and the Vision Therapy Academy staff. They took time to engage with us and help us provide for our child in something we otherwise could not have. Thank you.”
-parents of Grant, age 12
“When I started vision therapy I struggled with reading and writing/spelling. Then about 10 weeks in I started to get better at reading and writing. Soon I went from a level T to level W in 14 weeks. This proves vision therapy works.”
-Grant, age 12
“My success story is that the more I practice the more my brain got smarter. So that made me better at sports and that kind of stuff. It helped me read better and it made me like reading better. It helped me at school.”
-Tyson, age 10
“Our son really struggled when it came to doing schoolwork. He would fight us when asked to read anything. His teachers all saw that he was a bright kid, but somwehere there seemed to be a disconnect. We took him to get his eyes checked. He needed glasses. Hoping that would solve the problem he seemed to be having. However, he was in third grade when his teacher approached us about having his eyes tested with one of the reading teachers at school. We asked what she meant about testing his eyes. She explained that she believes that his eyes are not working together. We said sure. After the testing was completed we were referred to Vision Therapy Academy. Once he started his therapy we noticed a difference. His comprehension in his work improved along with his sports level. He stopped fighting us to do all the things he use to. He started to do his school work without hesitation.”
-Tyson’s parents
“This spring I suffered a head injury during a fall. I had no immediate symptoms after the fall, but over the next 4-5 weeks I began to have balance issues and my vision began to deteriorate. Initially, I had difficulty focusing on objects before me. Later my peripheral vision was decreased by at least 50%. It turned out that during the fall, I had suffered a subdural hematoma (SDH) which was affecting my vision, sleep and mobility.
After a follow-up CT scan, the neurological team cleared me for vision therapy. After just 6 weeks of therapy from the specialists with Dr. Ann Wonderling at Vision Therapy Academy, my vision began to rapidly improve! My focus was much better and my balance and mobility were near normal.
Were it not for Dr. Wonderling and the dedicated professionals at Vision Therapy Academy, my life would not be the same today. I’m so grateful and lucky that I found them and began vision therapy so quickly after my injury!
My best advice is this: if you have been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) – do not delay, start your therapy as soon as possible for the best possible outcome. “
**Joe went on to win the Wisconsin State Golf Association Match Play (super senior division) in July of 2022; in November of 2022 he shot a score of 63 on his home course (9 below par) and got his 9th hole in one**”
“I had a hard time staying focused on reading. I would lose my place all the time. I took a break from baseball to focus on improving my hand/eye skills. I worked hard all summer/ fall building and practicing skills working with my teachers at VTA. It was a lot of fun. I also got to build skills at home too. Now I get less headaches. I ride my 4 wheeler. I read faster.”
LJ , age 10
“We’ve always noticed LJ had a problem with staying focused well he was reading. Lost track of his place (even when pointing). Lots of headaches. Not a fan of riding his bike or playing sports. Dad did some reading online and research… finding out that maybe LJ’s eyes didn’t work together! We looked into places that offer vision therapy and we found VTA/ Dr. Wonderling. After his eval, we got to see where LJ placed/ on the scale (K-12) (reading ages). He was overall good, but definitely could use improvement. Biggest concern was his eyes not tracking together. They were on overtime! Kinda just all over the place. We chose to continue on and work to improve LJ’s eye skills! Through working with teachers a lot and homework at home he has major improvement! His reading per min has increased by 50%, wants to read to siblings without mom or dad now. Less headaches. Wants to play baseball this coming season, which he had taken a break from, due to fear/nerves! We are very happy for LJ. He has so much love for books now. We loved all the skill building we did at home. So cool to see.”
Parents of LJ
“Isaac is a bright kid. Math has always come so easy for him but he struggled with reading. The disparity between the two subjects made us question his eye sight. Since we had experienced vision problems with our daughter, Taylor, we requested to have Isaac’s eyes tested by Dr. Wonderling. Taylor and Isaac struggled in school so differently it wasn’t obvious to us at first that Isaac also had vision issues. Isaac would get carsick and have frequent headaches. Which we are happy to report, that both of those symptoms have gone away after starting vision therapy. Isaac is a much better reader now and is no longer receiving services at school. Words don’t jump around on the page for him anymore. We are still working on sounds out words, but it is coming. It is so much easier to read with him now. He recognizes repetitive words so we are no longer saying, “we just read that word on the previous page.” Everyone is less frustrated now.
We would like to thank Kendra for all the help she gave Isaac. He would often say, “Therapy with Kendra is more fun than with you, mom.” We also appreciate Dr. Wonderling and her program so much. She has made the futures of our kids brighter. We are eternally grateful to have these kind of services within driving distance of where we live.”
-Parents of Isaac, age 7
“Camden struggled to learn her letters and has always been a poor reader. She was below her class benchmark for reading. She hated reading and didn’t even want to try and would have a short attention span and issues with staying on task in school. Her listening comprehension was also poor. We knew that we needed to get Camden extra help to be successful. We were referred to Vision Therapy Academy and learned that Camden had convergence insufficiency or poor eye teaming and tracking.Camden worked so hard over the 24 weeks. At first it was hard to get her to do her home sessions, but after she realized how much it was helping her, she wanted to do the sessions. Camden loved working with her vision therapist, Sandy. Her focus and attention is so much better and we have also seen big improvements in her wanting to read, writing, ramden said that vision therapy has changed her life. Thank you, Vision Therapy Academy, for this amazing program as well as the amazing staff that we worked with. We are so thankful for this program!”
Parents of Camden, 8 years old
“Vision therapy is hard sometimes but it helps. It is sometimes fun. The activities started hard, but got easier. I like to read now. It helped me see the TV better. Going to vision therapy was fun, I liked the virtual reality. It helped me see video games better. It would help you too! I will miss vision therapy!” -James, age 9 “James has come so far since starting vision therapy. We ended up here after a lifetime of academic and developmental struggles that had no read “cause” or answers. Our expectations, we were told, should be lowered and we were unlikely to see much improvements in his struggles. Discovering how swift and marked his improvement could be gave us so much hope. We watched him go from a second to a fifth grade reading level in nine months. We watched learning become less of a chore and more of a joy. Improved coordination means we can worry less about safety and teasing. Vision therapy, in concert with vestibular therapy, has changed our expectations about what is possible for James’ future and I will always be grateful.” James’ mother
“Before vision therapy it was harder to read books. It was harder to see things far away and then up close again. The words would overlap. When I look at a paragraph it just looked like so many words. I was tired a lot at the end of the school day. After vision therapy my eyes have completely changed. They got stronger. Now when I see words it’s way easier to read just as well as or better than my classmates. It fun getting to know all the people at vision therapy.”
-Reed, Age 8
“We are so thankful to have found Vision Therapy Academy. Our 8-year-old son, Reed, was avoiding reading at all costs. He loved being read to, and excelled at math, but would do anything to not have to do reading or writing work, even though he loved school. Reed would be exhausted at the end of the school day and experienced frequent headaches. Reed’s second grade teacher was concerned about his reading level, and she and I agreed that something wasn’t adding up. For a bright child who had been exposed to books his whole life, it just didn’t make sense for him to not be a great reader. We knew about Vision Therapy because Reed’s cousin had gone through the program and had great success, but it never occurred to us that Reed might need it. We decided to have him evaluated and Dr. Wonderling explained to us that he had convergence excess and accommodative insufficiency. He was over focusing and seeing double when looking at print, and his eyes weren’t strong enough to go back and forth focusing near to far all day at school. No wonder he was tired at the end of the school day!
Reed absolutely loved vision therapy and his teacher noticed a difference after only a few sessions. His confidence has improved along with his academic achievements in reading. He was moved to a more independent reading group and his computerized testing score for reading went from the 6th percentile at the beginning of the year, to the 63rd percentile for his grade level by the end of the year. His tracking and automaticity changes were even more impressive. He is now at or above grade level in all areas which is just where he needs to be.
Reed seems calmer and more at ease, and his headaches have decreased while his stamina for school has increased. We couldn’t be happier with the progress he made with vision therapy. Even though it was a huge time commitment with a 1.5 hour drive each way, twice a week, it was worth every minute. He loved both of his vision therapists and the homework was always doable and helpful. We are looking forward to seeing continued progress during the school year and beyond. Thank you all for your dedication to this amazing field.”
-Parents of Reed
