January 31, 2009

New Specs4Us


They arrived on Thursday but it took me until tonight to snap a picture. Forgive the cookie crumb face, please. Yes, Nutter Butters. No, they were not tainted.

(How about those dimples!)

She is gradually adjusting to the bifocals. She noticed right away that she could read better, but she doesn't always use the upper lens as much as she should. She also was sneaky and switched back to her old glasses twice today. I think we need to go back and get the ears adjusted, they may be too tight.

You can see that the bridge of the frame is much lower than on a regular frame. The temples have also been lowered. This keeps the lens up higher on the face, rather than dropping down. Individuals with Down syndrome have low set ears. Regular frames have the temples at the top of the lens. With low ears, regular glasses automatically are lower than they should be for optimal viewing. Add in the typically flatter bridge of the nose and you can get an idea of how difficult it is to get glasses to fit. They just droop.

If glasses droop down, then the first thing a kid with low muscle tone does is tilt their head back so they can see through their glasses. Well, I think the first thing anyone does would be to tilt back their head. But if you had low tone, when you tilt your head back, your jaw will jut out and drop open. If your jaw is open, your tongue is relaxed (try it and feel what your tongue does). A tongue that is relaxed cannot produce clear speech. Articulation is virtually impossible. Try talking with a relaxed tongue and a weak jaw. It doesn't work.

I can see that I'm getting off on a tangent--one of my pet peeves is the notion that everyone with Down syndrome has an enlarged tongue. I'll have to save it for a post of its own! Let me just say that individuals with Down syndrome are not born with a large floppy tongue. It's not caused by glasses frames either...but ill fitting frames can contribute.

And now you know more about glasses and tongues than you did before. Aren't you much happier and enlightened with your new knowledge? (I wish there was a font that was called "Sarcasm". Then everyone could automatically tell that I'm joking around. At least those of you who don't personally know me, who can't read the inflection of my typing.)

8 comments:

grammy em lee said...

The glasses look great. Yes I love the dimples too.

Em Lee, Laurie's Lackman's grandmother

Wendy said...

Sarcasm NOT YOU...... I just knew I could blame glasses for Macey's relaxed jaw... Now I just need to get her some!!

I think Hannah's glasses look great. We had Carley's glasses too tight at first too. I felt bad when she took them off and I saw nose impression. I am such a neglectful mother, which is probably why I haven't gotten her nose piece fixed or had them adjusted since Macey took them!

My name is Sarah said...

Oh the glasses are very cute.

Beverly said...

I love the new glasses. Noah just had his eye exam last week and will be needing a new pair of glasses. He will not keep his on!

exnyers said...

Hannah looks beautiful in her new specs! :)

Lori said...

Bless her heart, I am having trouble adjusting to my bifocals, so I know thats not easy. They look just great on her though!

Natalie said...

The new glasses look terrific!

Miss Dashwood--you have 30 minutes to tune in to Sense & Sensability on PBS's Masterpiece Theater tonight!!!!!

Unknown said...

I adjusted to bifocals very easily. Mine, however, are the no line bifocals. Would that make a difference for her? It seems easier because it's where you would naturally look and the line is not distracting.

By the way, I love the pictures. You children are all gorgeous. You must be proud.