Vital Visionaries: Ali Camps – Vision Therapy Helped My Son Realize His Dream of Becoming a Pilot

Introduction and early eye diagnosis 0:00

Hi, my name is Allie Camps and I'm from Bethesda, Maryland. So when my son was about two years old, we took him to the pediatrician, and they said he needed to get his eyes checked by an eye doctor. So we went, they had a stigmatism and a double-lazy eye. And the doctor at the time said, he'll be fine. He'll just never be able to be a pilot.

Vision problems affecting sports and confidence 0:42

Don't worry, Babe Ruth had the same issues. We went about life. wore glasses, went to the eye doctor once a year. We were talking about my son Nate's vision and how, you know, different things and he was having some difficulties, playing sports and things like that. And he had fears of, balls coming to his face. Dr. Appelbaum said, I was never going to say this to you, but I can tell by his eyes that they're not working together. And it makes sense that he can't see the ball coming and that, he is afraid, you know, to do things at, like going on roller coasters and doing things that a lot of kids liked.

We started vision therapy. At the time, my son was somewhat interested in aviation, but as the times went on, we became very involved in it and we began vision And after a couple

Starting vision therapy and early improvements 1:35

of months, he was able to see depth and that obviously is very important to be a pilot. The notable difference once Nate began vision therapy was that he was very into golf and his golf game got a lot better. He seemed to have a lots more confidence in himself even, you know, to play basketball with the kids on the street and to plays soccer with kids in the streets where he wasn't doing that before. His overall confidence just seemed just sore. Things he didn't seem as, haphazard with everything he was doing.

His whole body awareness became, you know, much more in tune to what it should be.

Better depth perception and athletic performance 2:25

Since my son was young, he's been very into aviation and plans and planes and transportation. And as I said earlier, previously when we went, when he was younger, the doctors said his only limitation was he could never be a pilot. Well, now he now could pass the vision test to be pilot, so that's quite exciting for us and for him. As a mom, I saw my son struggle a lot, especially when he was in preschool with his body awareness and knowing kind of where to fit in, big play. And I just took at the time the eye doctors worked for that this is how it is.

I wish I would have dug deeper because vision therapy has opened so many opportunities for him, not even long term that he could be a pilot. But in the media, he can, you know, interact with the other kids in neighborhood and play, play ball and do all these things.

Pilot dreams and the value of vision therapy 3:14

And he's gotten very into the golf game, which has really raised his confidence and I wish I would have known this sooner because I think his competence would've been, a lot better. To me, to be a vital visionary, it means to really see success in your child and see them reach their dreams and all of their goals. My vital vision for the future is endless. We have all these more opportunities and open, exciting things that can really make my family happy and succeed and reach all their goals and dreams.

Daughter's concussion recovery and closing thoughts 3:59

And my daughter is an avid soccer player, and she's had a few concussions. And after vision therapy, her eyes are now working together, And everything is so much safer. So if she does have another concussion or another injury, Her vision is not going to go to shame. It's just been so helpful and so reassuring that I never realized how important these vision exercises and these Vision techniques can really impact your overall life and overall day.