Success Stories in Omaha

Age: 13

Graduation Date: 6/19/24

Sofie: “Before vision therapy I always struggled copying down notes, reading and remembering long passages in my school textbooks. Double and blurry vision were always the cause of it. In addition, I often got headaches because of my eyes.

Vision therapy fixed all of that. My therapist was so understanding and kind about my struggles, which helped me stay persistent when my doing exercises. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to fix my diplopia (double vison).”

Age: 12

Graduation Date: 7/20/24

Keira: “Before therapy I would have severe headaches daily, motion sickness in about 10 minutes of driving or swinging and eye strain. In school I would have trouble reading for long periods with the class. I feel like I am more enjoyable to hang out with because I’m having less headaches.

Now, after completing eye therapy I only have headaches once or twice a month, motion sickness never, and eye strain little to none. In school I can keep up with the class while they’re reading, and I also communicate better in school.”

Mom: “Before eye therapy, Keira reported headaches daily. She was very down and in emotional therapy for depression. Naturally, this was multifactorial, but the headaches were a contributing factor.

A few (two or three) weeks after starting eye therapy the headaches had decreased in frequency. Over the course of therapy Keira reported improvement in her peripheral vision and noticed an improvement in her reaction time when playing games with her sibling.

Currently, Keira reports headaches maybe once a week or less. Her mood and engagement in activities are significantly better. I attribute this to both the emotional therapy she received and the eye therapy.

Eye therapy is a big commitment both in time and money. I would absolutely make the same choice again.”

Graduation Date: 9/26/24

Addison: “Before I started vision therapy, I had blurry and double vision. My vision is clear now, and I do not have any trouble seeing the board at school. I now enjoy reading and I am working on my reading speed. I have read ten books and have completed the Eerie Elementary series, and I have not complained once! The headaches I used to have are now gone, which makes doing homework easier. School is easier and now more fun!”

Mom: “As we began this journey of vision therapy, we were at a total loss of what else we could do to help our child. We had tried reading specialists, tutors, summer school, speech therapy and the list goes on and on. We were given this opportunity and jumped in with two feet and fully embraced the program. I’m not going to lie; we were a little apprehensive and questioning if this was “going to work.” After completing the program, I can say this was the best decision we made for our child. She is still working on grade level reading/speed, but there is no longer the daily argument over getting her to read and her desire to read has grown immensely. Her comprehension and word recall has grown also. Our daughter no longer has eye strain and fatigue which made reading very difficult. She is willing to do her homework with less frustration and on her own whereas before we would have to sit with her to complete. She no longer has the daily headaches and blurry vision that made reading challenging, which make learning and school more enjoyable and fun!”

Age: 70

Graduation Date: 7/2/24

Ann: “I was experiencing double vision when driving, attending concerts, and reading presentations at work meetings. My Optometrist referred me to Developmental Vision Associates at Heartland Eye Consultants. I enrolled in vision therapy, but I was somewhat skeptical at first and decided to try half the sessions. By then I was improving but not enough, so I kept it up. There was significant improvement, so I went ahead with all the sessions. I had an illness about 6 weeks before the last session and my vision suddenly got worse. My therapist gave me some recovery exercises and within two weeks I was much improved.

I now feel confident driving, attending concerts and reading at a distance without images doubling. After a day with lots of computer work my eyes are tired but much better than before the therapy. I will keep up the exercises to retain my improved vision.”

Graduation Date: 07/18/24

Adalynn: “My problem started with headaches and double vision. I went to ‘eye therapy’, and it helped. I also got glasses, and they helped me with my double vision. Now, I’m able to read faster, see farther, and I don’t get any more headaches.”

Graduation Date: 6/27/24

Edele: “Heartland Eye has kind people who will help you. When I started, I had trouble reading, and writing. It was hard the first three weeks. Now I graduated!”

Mom: “As Edele started learning to read, her father and I noticed instances of her skipping letters or words, rushing along, and mixing up letters and sounds. Her first year of school she was below grade level in reading and began private tutoring. She worked up to advanced but then she dropped in testing from high 90’s to 25th percentile. We couldn’t explain it until her optometrist caught a possible problem and referred us to Heartland Eye. After 10 months of therapy, Edele is back to high 90’s in testing, enjoying reading with confidence, and exceeding milestones.

The road was not an easy one for her as it was filled with a lot of tears, self-doubt, frustration, and feelings of inadequacy. But Edele pushed through and worked her tail off, so she no longer feels those things. She also had a lot of support from her teacher and school counselor to find ways to aid her success in the classroom. I recommend including them in the process so they can help cheer your child on. This school year was very hard on Edele, but she finished stronger and more confident. The cherry on top in all of this for her was winning ‘Student of the Year’ for her class. Thank you, Heartland Eye and Lauren C., for helping our child set herself up for success!”

Graduation Date: 06/20/2024

Mom: “Eli was struggling in many areas before coming to vision therapy. His biggest complaint was reading. When he would read it was difficult for him to recognize words because his eyes would focus in the same area, which caused a blind spot that wouldn’t allow him to see letters, whole words, or would block the space between two words that would make the two words appear as one. That has been corrected, making it easier for him to read. He also struggled with controlling his eye movement and couldn’t cross his eyes. He is now able to cross them. Another area he struggled with was losing his place while reading. This still periodically happens; however, the frequency of this happening is far less than before.”

Graduation Date: 6/5/24

Knox: “My eye therapy helped me a lot. It helped me with basketball, football, and baseball. I can see a lot better. I’ve been focusing a lot better and been writing better.”

Mom: “Before we knew Knox had a vision issue, he was complaining of headaches. Once we figured out, he was having issues with convergence insufficiency, we knew we wanted to take steps to correct this. Heartland Eye Consultants’ staff have been so great at telling us what was expected, and the steps needed to correct it. It didn’t take long for us to see a change in his overall behavior, headaches and schoolwork. His focus is better and his overall blurting out information before thinking and self-awareness is better. We are very, very, happy with the overall progress of his therapy.”

Graduation Date: 05/29/24

Tracie: “My Journey to Better Vision and a Happier Life: For years, I struggled with debilitating headaches, vertigo, double vision, and nausea. These symptoms affected every aspect of my life making it difficult to enjoy activities that I once loved. Simple pleasures like reading, drawing, and working with my horses became sources of frustration and pain. I had a fear of falling because I was not aware of my surroundings. Always worrying about triggering these symptoms kept me from enjoying and participating in many activities. I often found myself retreating to a dark room or laying down hoping for relief.

Everything changed when I discovered eye therapy. Under the guidance of very skilled doctors, Dr. Dembin and Dr. Ferguson, I embarked on a journey that transformed my life. The therapy helped me understand the root cause of my symptoms and gave me the tools to manage them effectively such as:

1. Remarkable Improvements: It doesn’t happen overnight. You build on it until one day you notice you’re not experiencing symptoms anymore.
2. Elimination of Symptoms: I no longer suffer from the debilitating headaches, vertigo, or nausea that once controlled my life.
3. Enjoying my Hobbies again: I can read, draw, and work on my horses without fear of pain or discomfort. I can now go for long drives without feeling motion sickness.
4. Confidence in Activities: I now confidently engage in activities, free from the fear of falling, bumping into things, or becoming nauseous or getting headaches.
5. Quick Symptom Management: I’ve learned to recognize early signs of discomfort and correct my eyesight promptly, preventing symptoms from escalating. Eye Therapy has given me my life back. The improvements have greatly enhanced my quality of life. I cherish the freedom and joy that comes with newfound clarity.”

Mom: “Vision therapy has helped improve Kyler’s focus when he is up to bat in baseball. He says he is able to focus on the ball better and his hitting efficiency has improved from last year.

At school, his reading has had huge improvement as he used to have a lot of double vision. Now, he is not only able to recognize when his eyes start to drift into double vision, but he has learned to self-correct this without help.”

Cortney: “For years I suffered from severe chronic dry eye and inflammation. I couldn’t go five minutes without putting in eye drops. It was so severe I couldn’t perform my daily tasks or enjoy my life. At one point, I remember telling my parents I wanted to pluck my eyes out because they were so bad.

Over a period of three years, after seeing four different eye doctors, I was fortunate enough to find Dr. Holly Ternus. She accepted me as a new patient, and I began treatment right away. After the first visit, I felt a major improvement within just a few days and the inflammation was gone! The second visit she put in eye plugs to treat my dry eyes. Within a week after that procedure, my eyes were like new. It has been a year now since treatment with Dr. Ternus and I haven’t needed to use any eye drops. I am able to enjoy my life again. I am so grateful to Dr. Holly Ternus and her staff.

Graduation Date: 5/27/24

Hugh: “Vision Therapy helped me because I can read my assignments at school. The printing in books is clearer now which is going to positively affect my education.”

Mom: “The daily work is worth the lifetime effect on improving the quality of life for your child. Imagine being in school every day and not being able to read your assignments clearly.

Hugh’s confidence in reading has skyrocketed and now reads on his own daily. He is mentally stronger even more after working hard on his daily assignments. Kari and Dr. Ferguson was made vision therapy enjoyable and fun for Hugh. They helped make Hugh want to do the daily assignments because to him they were kind, playful, and relatable.

We could not be more grateful to work with everyone at Heartland Eye Consultants as they helped improve the quality of our son’s life.”

Graduation Date: 05/20/2024

Chelsey: “Beckham had a positive experience at vision therapy. The staff was kind, caring, and encouraging. He has experienced fewer headaches and made great progress in reading. His hand-eye coordination improved, and his confidence increased. Having to work hard in therapy created a rewarding sense of accomplishment and he’s a proud little dude.”

Graduation Date: 5/8/24

Vincent: “I can feel when my eye wanders and I have the ability to correct it easily most days. I now have better depth perception, and everything is often in better focus and more vivid when driving or even watching tv. I feel the vision in my weak eye has improved.”

Graduation Date: 5/6/24

Tucker: “When I started vision therapy, I did not like reading much. It was hard seeing the words and sounding them out. I got tired real fast. Lauren taught me how to control my eye movements. This made words easier to see. Now I love reading and ‘freaking out’ my mom when I cross my eyes at her. I am doing better in school, sports, and am very proud of myself!”

Mom and Dad: “We contacted Heartland Eye Consultants at the encouragement of our son’s school librarian who is also the grandmother to one of his classmates that had completed Heartland’s Vision Therapy Program. As I spoke with Jessie, one of their Vision Therapy Coordinators, I broke down in tears. We had a very smart and outgoing son in second grade shutting down and giving up on school. He had no confidence and doing nightly reading was like going to war! The attitude, anger, and dumbness he felt at not being able to read simple sight words and flashcards meant constant stress for the entire family! We had tried everything we knew about extra programs at school, spent more time attempting to read, and even looked into cognitive therapy.

Jessie calmly told me she thought Heartland Eye Consultants could help and quickly got us scheduled for testing. Through the testing process we discovered that our son had an incorrect lens prescription and some vision issues. We signed up for vision therapy! Ten weeks into therapy our son presented us with a gorgeous picture he colored during school over several days. He had never colored much before, let alone stayed in the lines! About three weeks later, he informed us reading is fun!

Lauren has been a great therapist! She kept Tucker engaged, talked to him when he wasn’t working hard enough, and communicated wonderfully with us and his teachers!

Dr. Will Ferguson has helped every step of the way encouraging Tucker during therapy sessions, answering any questions or concerns, and even helping us figure out non-flash card ways for Tucker to learn multiplication! Everyone at Heartland Eye Consultants wants to see their patients succeed. Heartland Eye Consultants is there with support every step of the way!

This program takes dedication and hard work but is well worth every minute and penny! We now have a son that does his therapy and enjoys reading! He has gone from hiding in his school reading groups to leading them and has his confidence back! He even amazed his teachers with a dramatic increase in his reading test scores! We will always be appreciative of the referral to Heartland Eye Consultants and the support they have given us. The only regret that we have with this program is not getting referred to it a year earlier!”

Graduation Date: 05/01/2024

Dad: “Eye therapy is a difficult and rewarding endeavor for a large family and especially for the child involved. Our son is the second oldest of five kids and he was diagnosed with severe amblyopia as his right eye was significantly worse than his left in vision terms. Patching alone helped some to improve the vision in right eye from 20/ to 20/10 and then 20/60 when we started therapy.

During his time with Dr. Dembin and Dr. Ferguson, our son experienced several changes in his vision and his overall performance. Each eye improved to the point where at age 16 he’ll be able to obtain a driver’s license without vision restrictions.

His hand and eye coordination improved demonstrably in throwing, catching and using digital devices. He can read music and play piano with both hands! His attitude and response time improved!

Like all experiments it’s difficult to say vision therapy was uniquely responsible for all the above changes but we know it certainly helped. The supporting literature “Jullian’s Story” and “When Your Child Struggles” tell similar tales. Best advice to parents, divide and conquer. One parent who has agreeable temperament with the child should do eye work at the time most convenient. Prioritize these over chores.

Graduation Date: 4/24/24

Natalie: “I suffered a stroke in 2017 that left me unable to speak, read, write, etc. After 2 years in speech therapy, I was able to speak again, however reading and writing were still difficult. I was sent here to see Dr. Kent (who is wonderful) for unrelated eye issues. She suggests I see Dr. Will. I was then sent to Dr. Dembin throughout therapy. I have increased the amount of time I can read, got prism glasses can type longer and write better. The best thing is I have been able to do is read a bedtime story to my 4-year-old son, which I have not been able to-do.”

Graduation Date: 4/15/24

Mom: “I would highly recommend Vision Therapy, go in committed and with an open mind. Our son was six years old during therapy. We called his activities “games” and had set the mindset that it was fun, exciting, and just for him. Like special workouts just for him and his eyes. Like anything consistency will lead to success. Sure, he had nights when he was tired and not as excited, yet we still did it. The seemingly simple activities do create huge steps of improvement. Trust the process, give yourself and your child grace, and you’ll see improvement.”

Graduation Date: 3/22/24

Harper: “Therapy has helped me focus more and work hard at school. Therapy helped me to not have headaches anymore. I am doing much better with spelling and reading. Ms. Kari has helped me so much. I am going to miss her so much. Dr. Will has helped me feel so good about my vision.”

Mom: “My daughter struggled so much with school and fell behind in many of her subjects. She knew she was different. Often, she would come home so frustrated and tired.

Being in vision therapy has changed all of that for her. She is no longer tired after school and enjoys trying to do homework. Her biggest improvements are doing so well at spelling that she recently received a 100%. We were so proud of her. She is also ASKING me to read before bed now! We have a lot of work to do to get caught back up, but she has all the tools to get there. I could not be more thankful for Dr. Will, Ms. Kari, and the staff. They have helped Harper in so many ways and helped advocate for her in the help she sees at school to learn HER WAY. I started this process helplessly not knowing what to do for our daughter. NOW, we’re ready to take on the world!”

What do you want for Christmas? Too soon a question? Not for Aeric, he already knows he wants BOOKS! Thank you, Dr. Annette Astuto, for your referral that allowed us to help Aeric succeed.
“Before COVID, Aeric disliked school but could not explain why. WHen I homeschooled him, we discovered many issues & really, deeply struggled with learning. We sought help in many ways & landed at Heartland Eye Consultants. Here we found real answers, a solid game plan, and caring/dedicated support. Dr. Will made a good connection with Aeric right away. Lauren was patient and supportive. The road was long & there were struggles with staying on track, but the benefits were… amazing.

Aeric went from hating to even try to read, to asking for books for Christmas! He finally understood why he had such vision issues and was able to see clearer, better, and experience the world more fully. I won’t forget the day he said “I can see the leaves, not just green blur” & “there’s a pattern – its texture” as he looked around. And the day he got another set of glasses & could see depth better – he was astounded & could barely explain, but it was so profound for him. Realizing what he’d missed… and that he was not “different” or “broken” or “dumb”… Learning how to make his eyes listen to him better & all the homework changed him. He likes school now. He likes to read. He is able to play more video games now that he can read better.

I am so proud of his progress… and so very thankful we found Heartland Eye Consultants. Our lives were blessed & grew. Thank you so so much!”

6/14/2021
He got his Scleral Contact Lenses! Have you been told you can never wear contact lenses? James found out that is not always true, and he has a great story to tell you about his journey into scleral contact lenses.

“I no longer have to wear very thick glasses. I had always been told that I could not have contacts because I have astigmatism. Recently, I was told that since my astigmatism was so severe, that no one would be able to give the proper prescription for a lens for my left eye.

I was referred to Heartland Eye Consultants because they might be able to help. Dr. Holly Ternus was not only able to fit me with contact lenses that were comfortable, but I was able to see 20/20 in both eyes, even the left eye that had previously had a cornea transplant. My vision is the best it has ever been.

I would recommend this doctor and clinic to everyone with astigmatism or who has been told they cannot wear contacts.”

15/11/2021
Rowan is playing ball at the top of his game thanks to his work in vision therapy. Dr. Toelle, we thank you for your referral! His parents are now believers that vision therapy works!

“Initially, my husband and I were very skeptical and hesitant to start this “Vision Therapy” that my son’s optometrist had recommended. We continued to think that he would “grow out” of this so called condition that was causing him to cross his eyes. We finally took a leap of faith and went to his consultation appt. From the moment we first arrived, my son was treated like a VIP! The positivity and welcoming personality already set us at ease. Once we started to visit with Dr. Will, he knew how to “sell” his program by talking sports. This made Rowan motivated to do well. Our therapist, Kari, made out son feel good, keep a positive attitude and engage in it with full effort. Looking back, we are onl regretful for not having started the journey sooner. It was a significant financial commitment for us, however. With hardwork, investing our time and effort made every penny well worth it. My sons headaches, reading skills, and sports have all improved significantly and for that we/I am eternally grateful.” – Sally