My son has been asked to undergo a VEP/VER test for his vision. Has anyone done it for kids ?

Question

Have the defects been rectified after the tests ? Can you give me tips to help a special needs kid go through it successfully ?

Answer 1

As I understand the testing process, it is a safe and effective way to evalute vision in children who can't assist in a regular opthalmic evaluation. It isn't a really new testing method, and if you do a web search you should be able to find a lot of information on the test procedures and the studies done with it. I used to work with Down's Syndrome children, and it was sometimes the only was they could do the visual exams with enough reliability to treat them.
Since the tests are done routinely on children with special needs, the practitioner who is going to conduct the testing should have lots of practice and would be the best person to give you advice to prepare your child for the testing. It would really depend on how cooperative your child can be, and how much they will be able to understand about the process. The doctor would be the best person to work with to help you. I imagine it might help if you could show the child all of the things and the room before hand, so they will have some familiarity with it all, and meet the people they will be dealing with. Giving it an air of familiarity often goes far in removing the fear factor and making things easier on the child and parent. I hope this helps you somewhat. I've never given the exams, nor had a child who had one, so I can't give you that sort of advice. But I can assure you the tests are reliable, and quite useful to determine the next step to improve the visual problem. After the testing, they were able to provide corrective lenses for two of the children who had probably needed glasses for years. The new glasses literally gave those children a new look on the world around them, and did improve their lives immensely. We discovered one of them was very nearly blind without the glasses, and was not actually as clumsy and accident prone as was previously thought. Just very very near sighted. So yes, I would say at least some of the defects have been successfully rectified. Maybe not all, and not all of the time, but certainly enough to make the test a worthwhile thing.

Answer 2

A VEP is easy I had one the other day. They put three wire on your head cover one eye and have you stare at a tv with a red dot on a checkerboard, on the screen. you do that for about 5 minutes if that and then they do the other eye