Vision Therapy Testimonials

A year ago, we were completely uneducated and unaware of the severity of our daughter’s vision problem. We just thought she was near-sighted and had trouble with hand-eye coordination. Dr. Gabrielle’s detailed exam and her patient explanations helped us understand the visual challenges our daughter faced each day.

In a little over a year, she and her therapist have helped Emma make remarkable improvements in all areas of her vision and more. We are forever in your debt, and so grateful to have found you through our friend’s recommendation. We have passionately shared our rewarding experience at your clinic with many of our friends.

We first came to see Dr. Gabrielle for my son’s toe walking. She performed a very comprehensive eye exam (eye tests that I had never even heard of). We learned he had a convergence problem, deficiencies with smooth pursuit eye movements and deficiencies of saccadic eye movements.

All of these conditions improved with vision therapy. His therapist always made vision therapy a positive and fun event. My son looked forward to coming.Dr. Gabrielle and the staff at GFVC always go beyond what is required to make sure that your eyes work like they should. Thanks for all that you have done for my son and family.

My daughter complained of headaches and said that words and numbers moved around on the page. After getting her tested elsewhere (and receiving confusing misdiagnoses) we came to Dr. Gabrielle at GFVC.

Within 3 visits with her therapist, Leah said “I see so much more clearly!” After 3 months her reading had improved and her handwriting had, too! Leah loves her vision therapist and her sessions here. Her therapist really understands my daughter and knows how to make all the exercises creative and fun. It is a treat to see them work together and see Leah’s progress every week.

Kudos and praise to Dr. Gabrielle and her able staff!

When we first started vision therapy, my bright but fidgety Fifth Grader struggled to get through homework every night. There are a hundred reasons to leave the desk — from bathroom and snack breaks to checking on pets to seeing whether the handheld video game was recharged yet. The worksheets sat while my child roamed. We both knew the work was not too hard, or too much, but I had few ideas about how to motivate its timely completion.

By the time another parent mentioned vision therapy, I was willing to try almost anything to get past the nightly struggle to get the homework finished. Dr. Gabrielle was warm, empathic, and informed. She tested my child and found a significant problem with focused reading ability. There was work to be done.

More than a year later, we are almost finished with the therapy sessions. My now-sixth-grade child sits through up to two hours of homework a night, shifting papers into the backpack, one after another, as they get done! I am now the one interrupting to ask about snacks or bathroom breaks! And my child — now pulling all A’s and B’s — no longer feels overwhelmed by work that literally was too much to take in.

This is a note of congratulations, thanks and recommendation to Gabrielle Family Vision Care.

Our son Drew, for over a year now has had tremendous experience with Gabrielle Family Vision. The process and therapy we have gone through with GFVC has helped Drew significantly improve his learning capabilities in school and given him confidence he did not previously have. All of this translated into more confidence and better achievement in school as well as other areas of his life. If you are reading this and you, your family or anyone you know is considering vision therapy, my wife Jan and I would highly recommend Dr. Gabrielle and the staff at GFVC.

Solutions to a child’s (or anyone’s) learning challenges can be a complex maze to try and figure out. Whether it be an easily identified mainstream challenge, or a more sophisticated and subtle combination of different challenges, learning challenges and disabilities can be very difficult to identify solutions for. And so, for a long time, we were searching for solutions to the learning challenges our Drew is having. While we had partial and intermittent success in trying other things, vision therapy turned out to be a long term, permanent solution we could rely on in advancing through Drew’s learning challenges. We tried different vision therapy clinics until we came across Gabrielle Family Vision Care, and once we met and experienced Dr. Gabrielle and the staff there, we never went anywhere else.

It’s rare to find a Doctor and staff in any discipline with both the preferred ‘bedside manner’ as well as technical expertise that GFVC has. And all this coupled with a focus and priority on keeping the patient’s best interest in mind.

Thanks again to Dr. Gabrielle and staff for their support and personalized attention and success with helping Drew.

My son started his 1st grade year with an abundance of frustration concerning his difficulty with reading. We all knew (even Sam) that he could it, but it was requiring way more effort than it should have.

After seeing Dr. Gabrielle, we found out all of the answers we needed to help our son. She was so patient with him during the exam and her conclusions gave us all hope. Our subsequent sessions with our vision therapist have changed our world. Sam loves seeing his vision therapist every week and is excited to “make his eyes strong.”

With our vision therapist’s wonderful ability to connect with Sam and keep vision therapy both fun and interesting, we have seen huge leaps in his ability to read, focus and best of all, his self-confidence. I am so thankful to have found both Dr. Gabrielle and his vision therapist.

Dear Dr. Gabrielle, I wanted to write to say thank you, thank you!

My daughter Ashley is a new person after completing 11 months of vision therapy with you. She has gone from “below grade level” on her report cards to “at grade level” and “above grade level”.

She scored above average on the WASL test for math, has been removed from all her extra pullout classes, no longer has an IEP at school and is finally making good grades on classroom assignments. Ashley enjoys reading every night and can read for a long period of time instead of being tired and shutting down after only 5 minutes of reading prior to vision therapy.

Please feel free to share my story (and Ashley’s) with any of your patients and let them know there is hope!!

It was brought to my attention in Kindergarten that something wasn’t quite “right” with Ashley and she was struggling with reading and writing and learning the basics. Her teacher felt that she could be dyslexic. I knew my daughter was extremely smart so this was very frustrating for me to see how she struggled with learning.

I had her vision checked with a pediatric eye doctor and was told all was fine. I then had a battery of psychological testing done on Ashley and the psychologist said “she has ADHD, you need to medicate her.” I wasn’t prepared to do that so we got extra help for her. She completed the Headsprout computer program in first grade, we tried Kumon Math and Reading, she did the Hooked on Phonics program, and then we hired a tutor who came to our house two times a week for three years. We were making NO progress! I was at my wits end and desperate so I told her doctor that I would try the ADHD medicine. It didn’t work at all.

One day, I was talking to a friend of mine whose son had very similar problems as Ashley and she told me that it was discovered her son had significant visual perception problems that had not been caught in a regular eye exam.

She highly recommended Dr. Neena Gabrielle so I thought I would give her a try. A very thorough exam by Dr. Gabrielle revealed all kinds of problems!! Ashley needed glasses (bifocals even) and had severe problems with tracking, focusing and letter/number reversals.

I was so excited to hear this!!! I finally had an answer to all the problems; now I needed the fix! Vision therapy was the answer. Ashley attended weekly vision therapy appointments and did her “homework” the other 6 days. All of Ashley’s hard work paid off and the six month check already showed remarkable improvement.

Now, one year later, Ashley is a “regular” student who no longer struggles with reading and keeping focused in school.

Sincerely,

Dr. Gabrielle is very thorough with her examinations and takes the time to explain things to me and to my daughter. She discovered the source of my daughter’s headaches with reading and we’ve been going for vision therapy ever since.

My daughter Lisa has noticed a huge difference and is now doing her reading assignments without trouble. We have been very well taken care of by Dr. Gabrielle and her staff and I would highly recommend this office!

I was looking for a solution to caring for my daughter’s eyes that did not immediately involve surgery and I am so happy to say that I found it at GFVC! My daughter came into the office with both of her eyes turning out. After only a few months of therapy, I have seen a significant improvement. My 5 year old daughter has improved beyond my expectations after being in the care of her therapist and Dr. Gabrielle.

The staff at GFVC have motivated my daughter so much that she asks me to remember to do her therapy every day. It is not easy for a 4 year old to work hard at the activities and understand the importance of consistency to make these changes happen. She enjoys coming into the office and interacting with her therapist.

I am very pleased and so thankful to have found the expertise of GFVC. Thank you so much GFVC for taking care of my daughter!

As always, visiting Gabrielle Family Vision Care is a pleasure. I can think of few doctor offices my boys actually look forward to visiting! Dr. Gabrielle is so very patient with my boys and is able to keep my 5 year old still during an appointment and focused on the exam!

Also, I greatly value Dr. Gabrielle’s opinion and was happy that she agreed with me about my child’s personality and his needs in regards to vision therapy. I know, that with Dr. Gabrielle and the excellent team at GFVC, Jacob’s vision will improve dramatically and he will enter kindergarten ready and able to have a successful experience. I know this from the experience we had with my older son. Jacob is so excited to start work with his therapist.

My experience at Gabrielle Family Vision Care has been wonderful so far! Both Dr. Gabrielle and my therapist are thorough and friendly. I would definitely recommend GFVC to a friend.

My experience at Gabrielle Family Vision Care has been wonderful so far! Both Dr. Gabrielle and my therapist are thorough and friendly. I would definitely recommend GFVC to a friend.

Dr. Gabrielle is extremely skilled and capable–I have utmost confidence in her abilities. Her kindness and patience really stand out. I especially appreciated her skillful explanations, which were easy to understand. It is clear that her staff choice is important to her. All my experiences were positive. The therapist worked with me with the same kindness and patience shown by Dr. Gabrielle. My vision therapy was a very good experience. Thank you!

My daughter has been having lazy eye since 1YO and she was seeing an ophthalmologist for 4 years until he recommended surgery. He had never seen my daughter’s eye actually doing unusual movement in his office as the exam was very short, and everything was based on my observations.

I found Dr. Gabrielle online and brought her in to seek a second opinion. Her exam was so much more comprehensive and involved a lot of tests.

Not only Dr. Gabrielle saw my daughter’s eye going sideways, she measured the angle of eye rotation, which was impressive.My daughter enjoys her therapy sessions as they are fun!

I met Dr. Gabrielle at Gabrielle Family Vision Care through a referral from Chris Morrow at Pacific Balance, my physical therapist. I was in a car accident and suffered vestibular damage causing severe balance and visual problems.

I walked into the Gabrielle Family Vision office thinking I didn’t belong because of all the toys and story books. I was so wrong! First of all I didn’t really have to wait for anything…everyone was eager to help me. The staff put my daughter and granddaughter at ease and handled me and my “double-vision” issues professionally. They are experts in solving visual problems inflicted on the young and the old (like me!).

I have great admiration for Dr. Gabrielle. I have seen so many doctors since my accident in February 2010, and she ranks number one in my opinion. She helps you see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I am ready to begin my vision therapy sessions at Gabrielle Family Vision Care and even though the drive is a long one (Des Moines to Kirkland every week) I can’t imagine going to another clinic.

Our child has been coming to therapy sessions with the same therapist every time. This is an indication of the kindness and professionalism shown by his therapist.

His sessions are carefully designed to make the most of the time here and his therapist guides him through his work in a sensitive manner. It is a delight to witness her at work.

Our son has noticed improvements in his sight and we were excited to hear from Dr. Gabrielle just how much he has progressed when he did his first evaluation.

Thank you so much to all those at Gabrielle Vision Therapy – the front desk, the therapists and the Doctor – for all you have done for him.

I appreciated that I can fix my eyes up and also make them way stronger after doing all the exercises like my homework you guys gave me.

I have had so much fun during my 2 years of doing vision therapy. You guys have really made a difference with helping my eyes and my family. I used to have glasses but did not know about my lazy eye. Then I came here and I wear contacts which are a bit easier than glasses to break that is.

My favorite part about coming to vision therapy is your staff’s wonderful greetings, welcoming and also “goodbye see you next week” sayings.

Sometimes I would have a rough morning but then I would come here and never want to leave. My favorite activity would be the lifesaver card because I was angry and I did not like the activity but then you made me try my best and now well…I am an expert at it.

Thank you so much!

On many occasions you did more than vision therapy, although that in itself was amazing. You’ve sowed patience, effort, joy and fun into Hope and myself.

We are truly grateful. Hope has come so far with your time and therapy.

Thank you!

We are always greeted warmly upon entering your clinic and this appointment was no different. Having worked with Dr. Gabrielle for 8 years, she has seen us through many developmental stages. She is always adept at making each child feel comfortable and meeting him/her at his/her level. Dr. Gabrielle will be our family optometrist for years to come.

I have been using vision therapy for about 6 months and it has helped a lot. I used it for tracking problems, convergence insufficiency, and visual processing disorder. It’s been really helpful. I see Dr. Neena Gabrielle at Gabrielle Family Vision Care in Kirkland. My vision therapist is AMAZING…so helpful.

Our son adores his therapist and she has made vision therapy fun and engaging for him. As a result we have seen great progress!

Dr. Gabrielle is just so very wonderful. She has an amazing rapport with kids and is able to make a complex evaluation flow so effortlessly. My daughters are both seen by her and the changes she has made in both of their vision has greatly impacted their development and self esteem.

Dr. Gabrielle looks at the whole child, not just a vision issue and takes into account other factors that may be impacting the child and their vision. We are so grateful for Dr. Gabrielle and her amazing staff. I drive to this office an hour away from my house for the best services and she is definitely the best!!

Jonathan’s and my experience at the vision clinic has been wonderful. Jonathan has made huge improvements with his eyes, and Dr. Gabrielle and staff explain clearly and have guided and worked with us each step of the way. Thank you to you all.

Going to GFVC is always a positive experience. My daughter is treated with respect and the therapists are focused on getting quality time working with my daughter while still making it a positive and fun experience. I’m amazed at how her homework can be different every week and we’ve been coming for two years!

I have already told many friends that my experience has been great. Everyone is very professional while being caring at the same time. Questions are always answered promptly. The therapy is effective and also pleasant. I am also on a campaign to inform people about the value of vision therapy in general.

Never had tests like this before – 1st visit has a perception factor of interest enhanced by therapist’s enthusiasm looking forward – hope it helps.

My entire experience has been great. I would and have recommended vision therapy, and GFVC in particular, to others.

Dr. Gabrielle is very thorough with the vision exam and takes the time to explain what is going on with your vision needs. Dr. Gabrielle and her staff are kind and courteous as you work with them doing vision therapy. I’m very thankful for the improvement in my vision.

I was impressed with my son’s vision improvement over the six month treatment program. Not only was Dr. Gabrielle able to show my son’s improvements through her final evaluation, my son no longer complains of headaches, eye stress and not being able to see the whiteboard during class at school.

I am thrilled with my evaluation results and so very grateful to Dr. Gabrielle and my therapist. The improvement in my vision is truly amazing. Everyone at the clinic is so welcoming and supportive. Thank you so much.