I picked up this book from Bookazine one afternoon and really enjoyed it. We’ve been deep in the throes of eye therapy with a behavioural optometrist (never knew this profession existed!), occupational therapy, working on a ton of eye exercises since April and this was a helpful way to look at things from my child’s perspective.
NYT opinion Whale Eyes documentary from emmy award winner James Robinson.
Eye therapy
We’ve made great progress with handwriting and still working on effortful reading as we taper off eye exercises this month. We will have another formal assessment in January, but boy, am I glad that I don’t have to battle with my six year old to do his daily eye exercises this December!
The book has been really helpful with the unique perspective and trying to understand the loneliness and frustration of not being able to see like the others or do a task that the rest of the normal population goes about normally in their daily lives.
Seeing the world through the lens of James Robinson has shifted the way I manage my six year old’s frustration with learning to read and write. In turn, it’s made me rethink my frustration with his learning journey. Whale Eyes illuminates the struggles, difficulty along with a refreshing perspective of experiencing life in a nonlinear way.
I’m learning to be more understanding and empathetic to my child’s learning journey as well as talking to him about differences and celebrating it. What matters most is effort and doing his best, we will get there, one way or the other. Life always works out.
I am now fully aware he will not be scholarly or academic as the tasks of reading and writing are a huge challenge, but he’s got infinite creative ideas and such a wonderful curiosity for the world and how things work, I am hopeful he will find his place and interest.
