Words Look Funny... Literally: Navigating Visual Therapy, Tilted Heads, and Autism’s Unexpected Twists

Words Look Funny...Jaune

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When people meet my family, particularly my kids, they usually have no trouble identifying that my two youngest are autistic. But, here’s the thing—2024 has taught us a lot, and the old stereotypes don’t really apply anymore. I rarely see the rocking back and forth, the rejection of physical contact, or the dramatic covering of ears, which are stereotypical signs of autism. However, my kids, are the runners, the vocalizers, and the strong-willed warriors who aren't too keen on trying new things.

Then there’s Jacki, my little outlier. If you had met her as a toddler, you’d have seen something was different, but not in a way that made me rush to label her as autistic. She didn’t like being touched, lined everything up, and wasn’t speaking or making eye contact much until around 2. By that time, though, she was already reading and could say basic words in three different languages! (Show-off.) She still avoided contact, rocked back and forth on her feet, vocalized more than she spoke, and kept her expressions to a minimum.

As she got older, Jacki improved dramatically—but not without my help (which deserves a mom medal). But this story isn’t just a trip down memory lane. I want to talk about the symptoms that slipped under the radar and are still affecting her now, as a preteen.

The Visual Problems Mystery

For almost a year, Jacki had been casually dropping hints like, “Oh, I missed that,” or, “I didn’t see that word,” which eventually escalated to “Sometimes text looks blurry.” Alright, game on. When she started telling me she was missing entire lines of text, I went into full-on Mom Mode. I’m talking six months, six different eye doctors, and a lot of "there’s nothing wrong with her vision" diagnoses. They gave her prescriptions, bifocals—heck, I was waiting for someone to hand her a pirate patch for good measure.

Finally, one doctor had the nerve to suggest that she was making it up. Excuse me? The facts don't add up. Not only do I have enough background on my child to know if the truth is suspicious or not, but I am reviewing the facts. Which are, she is an honor student and she is coming to me for help, why would she do that, if she was making it up? Thankfully, a family friend recommended their eye doctor. I said, “Sign me up!” and after an evaluation, this doctor dropped a bombshell: “There’s nothing wrong with her eyes. It’s her brain not connecting the dots.” Wait, what?

Apparently, her eyes see just fine, but her brain isn’t getting the memo. This blew my mind and broke my heart. How do you even fix something like that? Enter visual therapy. With the help of a visual therapist (usually reserved for people with brain trauma—autism wasn’t traditionally thought to affect the brain in this way), Jacki made huge improvements.

The Tilt and PT Balancing Act

Now, here’s the twist (literally): Jacki’s brain disconnect was causing her to tilt her head to one side just to see clearly. This subtle tilt had gone unnoticed for so long that her body began to rely heavily on her strong side—her right side—leading to uneven physical development.

Let me backtrack for a moment to highlight just how Jacki’s physical challenges flew under the radar. Since she’s thin as a twig, it wasn’t obvious that her muscle tone was weaker on one side. But when I noticed her unique ‘flair’ in swimming, combined with her uneven walk, I decided it was time for a physical therapy check. And wow—what a revelation! Turns out, her ankles were about as flexible as steel rods, her hips were uneven, and her knees were hypermobile (by the way, hypermobile joints are a big red flag).

And it didn’t stop there. The tilt in her vision wasn’t just making her sight wonky—it was messing with her whole sense of balance. It was like her left side was the forgotten Cinderella, while her right side got to live the royal life! Physical therapy uncovered just how much that tilt had taken over. Poor Jacki had been walking around with one side doing all the heavy lifting and the other barely showing up!

It’s so important to take an autism diagnosis seriously and understand all the ways it can affect both the brain and the body. One book that really opened my eyes to this was Disconnected Kids: The Groundbreaking Brain Balance Program for Children with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Neurological Disorders by Dr. Robert Melillo—but I’ll save that story for another day. For now, I’ll just say this: Never brush off what might be happening, even when doctors do. As a stay-at-home mom, I tell myself, “I have nothing else to do but make you the best you.” At this point, I’m basically your fairy godmother, but unlike her, I fully plan on collecting my dues when we make it through all this. Wink wink!