Released on: September 16, 2008, 3:45 am

Press Release Author: Hannah Lane/apt marketing & pr ltd

Industry: Healthcare

Press Release Summary: 12 year old Christian Wiechert was struggling with reading,
keeping up in class and even had difficulty seeing the blackboard. An optician
prescribed him glasses to help him at school but when local optometrist Michael
Blackstone examined Christian, he quickly determined that these glasses weren’t
needed and wouldn’t help him improve.

Press Release Body: At the age of 12 Christian from Chesham Bois had been wearing
glasses for one year after his optician prescribed them. He was still having
difficulty at school and the glasses weren’t helping. As well as this, his behaviour
and concentration were worsening and he was becoming easily led by other children.
Christian needed specialist treatment to help him develop his visual process, so his
mother sought help from local optometrist Michael Blackstone.

Christian’s mother recalls, “I knew something wasn’t right because his glasses
didn’t seem to be helping him in the classroom at all and he hated wearing them.
He’s always had a balanced diet; I was packing all his lunches so I knew exactly
what he was eating, so I couldn’t understand his behaviour was getting worse. Then
someone suggested that I should take Christian to see a Behavioural Optometrist,
which is when we went to see Michael Blackstone.”

Behavioural Optometrist, Michael Blackstone remembers the case, “Christian is a boy
that tried hard but had visual problems until he had Vision Therapy. He was given a
small spectacle prescription that was not needed; it could have become the permanent
walking stick! Instead, five sessions of Vision Therapy eye exercises overcame his
difficulties. Christian worked hard at his exercises to develop the visual tools to
comfortably keep up with his classmates. Consequently he could see the board and
read for long periods without becoming tired.”

As soon as Michael Blackstone examined Christian he quickly established that his
visual problem didn’t require him to wear glasses. Christian only needed to
exercise and strengthen the eye muscles that hadn’t developed properly as a child;
consequently preventing his visual processing from developing.

Christian had regular 45-minute vision therapy sessions as well as exercises to do
at home between sessions. His vision therapy had started in August 2007 and there
had already been a big improvement by the time he went back to school in September.
By the next parents’ evening, not only was there an obvious improvement in
Christian’s school work, his teacher also commented on his improved attitude.

Further information and interviews with BABO members available on request


Web Site: http://www.babo.co.uk/

Contact Details: apt marketing & pr ltd
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01242 250692
hannah@aptmarketing.co.uk