<p>citygirlsmom- yes, she has had several vision screens. She gets them via our family optician (this one is very comprehensive), as well as the one her pediatrician’s offfice gives as part of her “well child” check-ups. Thanks for the suggestion, though.</p>
<p>As you know jym626 pointed us in the direction of vision therapy after we had a general evaluation for ADD and many of my son’s poorer sub tests were in visual tasks. </p>
<p>I will just share with you some of the questions on the questionnaire we did at the Optometrist’s office, which is used to screen for vsision therapy-related problems:</p>
<p>Afraid to catch a ball?
Afraid of heights?
Bad handwriting?
Motion/car sickness?
Rubs eyes, blinks excessively, red eyes?
Tired during or immed after reading?
Headaches?
Won’t stay focused on homework, needs lots of help?
Can’t do “word problems” (mental math) but can do numerical sums?
Moves head while reading?
Holds book close or at an angle?
Loses place easily, re-reads same line or skips line/word unknowingly?
Uses finger or bookmark to keep place while reading?</p>
<p>Both my sons have 20/20 vision. </p>
<p>Son #1 (horrid handwriting, forgetful, poor attention, uses finger) has mildly crossed eyes (you wouldn’t notice it)… though he is able to “hold” them straight with effort. Every time he focuses from far to near or back, his eyes cross slightly, then straighten with effort. This just makes reading and focusing (visually & generally) quite tiring. Looking from teacher to desk is an effort each time and after a while can just make him disengage mentally. He has always been a decent reader but when wearing corrective glasses his speed & fluency went way up.</p>
<p>When I was filling out the questionnaire for son#1, I realized with horror that my litttle boy was a “yes” answer on many questions too, so I had him evaluated too. </p>
<p>Son#2: (has every problem above except he has good handwriting and is not afraid of heights) His problems are quite significant: his eyes do not move in a coordinated, smooth way across a page. As a result, he basically reads with one eye only-- and it is very jumpy & uncoordinated (but I guess this is easier than trying to coordinate 2 eyes that won’t behave.) Oddly, his reading skills are above grade level and he got 10/10 correct on comprehension questions. So he is compensating-- just gets exhausted and cranky when he has to do this sort of work. When I saw what his eyes were doing (they have special goggles with sensors that track where your eyes are looking as you read) it was unbelieveable he can read at all. I wanted to cry for every time he has gotten frustrated during homework and I have been sharp with him thinking he was just being obstinate. Reading with his eyes would be like trying to thread a needle while drunk.</p>
<p>Both boys will do 12 weeks of specific eye exercizes, training the muscles–just like physical therapy would work for an arm muscle that needed it. Supposedly this is sufficient for most people.</p>
<p>The poor attention aspect of both my kids <em>can</em> have an ADD component as well; the question we had was to what extent is the vision the culprit, and to what extent is there an ADD issue? Before medicating, we wanted to try the vision therapy to see how much improvement could be achieved with it alone. If there is enough improvement, we can skip the medication.</p>
<p>I was absolutely shocked that nobody mentioned this at edpsych, school, etc. I am very grateful to jym626 and CC for pointing us in this direction.</p>
<p>My daughter was going to lose the vision in her left eye if she didn’t patch her good eye when she was 4. SHe wore a patch so her “weak” eye would have to work. No surgery would have solved the problem. It worked, she now has 20-30 in that eye, where she might have been legally blind. It also helped her reading, sports etc. It took a real specaillist to catch the problem</p>
<p>I know the problem my niece had was not caught by standard vision screens, and a person who was measured with 20/20 vision could still have this problem.</p>
<p>Exactly: both my sons have 20/20 vision! </p>
<p>No vision screening at school or pediatrician would catch this. Never would be caught even at eye doctor, unless the optometrist has a subspecialty in the vision therapy field and does the correct tests to catch these sorts of functional problems.</p>
<p>Please check the eyes again…my daughter had drops done, machines that were really quite scary and it was with a specialist beyond the normal optician…to be sure it is not a vision-brain connection, you need to go to a real specialist…most doctors would have just given her glasses, but because we caught the situation so young and her eye was still developing, it was saved, but it could have caused some serious vision problems earlier…just to be sure, make sure the tests are comprehensive and go beyond what you think you need…another thing, my daughter was having problems early on because I was not sitting next to her and when I was reading to her sometimes it was across the table, so things were upside down, it was confusing</p>
<p>I understand that your daughter is in a private school but the local public school still is responsible for testing your child, if indicated, for learning disabilities. Under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) children between the ages of 3 and 21 are entitled to services. Check with your local public school district for their process on testing (by law they have 10 days to respond to you if you submit your concerns in writing) and for further information check google for links to your state site for implementation of IDEA.
I work in a public school in CA and as a Speech Pathologist address this issue every day. You might also want to check the private school standards and expectations against the state standards reading ‘chapter’ books in 1st grade may be expecting too much for the level of maturity of some students. I was in observing a 1st grade class this am (this school is a math/science magnet school and has very high standards and state scores) and the students were working on writing simple 4 sentence paragraphs. Chapter books require a great deal of concentration and sustained attention. Don’t jump on the dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, auditory processing deficit, visual processing deficit bandwagon too early or you run the risk of labels becoming more important than learning. The first step is determining where your child is functioning academically vs where she is expected to be developmentally then you can make wise choices.</p>
<p>Something else to do while you are waiting for diagnosis…when my daughter was having her problems, we took her indoor rock climbing…she was small but it did wonders for her coordination, having to use both sides of the brain was so good for her…she could suceed or not, but the left right side movements helped her coordination at all levels…another thing is art…painting, drawing, anything fun…we also did games where we al used the “other hand” forcing her to think in a different way, as we all did it together, she could laugh at us, when she was patched (her good eye was covered up to 8 hours a day) she had to look at words, pictures and tv etc with her weak eye…we also looked at letters in street signs, etc as they are in different fonts and I would say “I can’t see that letter” and she would “help” me. DId wonders for self esteem, was practical practice, and it was a game as well. Find other ways to “read”. But not putting on pressure. That is really important. I wore the patch as well sometimes tp see what my child was going through</p>
<p>rock climbing is great for bilateral movement and concentration
swimming helped a great deal as well
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the school district
our daughter was found to have problems with small motor ( writing) and tracking across midline by the district OT but she was not eligible for services for those things because they didn’t meet criteria.
Since your daughter is not even 7, I would get her evaluated but I don’t think that 2 hours of homework a day for a 1st grader is anywhere near appropriate, and I also don’t think that a 6 yr old who isn’t reading chapter books necessarily needs remediation.
I think there is a danger in turning her off to reading, if too much emphasis is put on what she “isn’t” doing as opposed to what she “is”</p>
<p>al lot depends on what your state and district offer
the federal govt offers not so much , but your state may offer more
<a href=“5[/url] | Search Results | Learning Law School Guide to Helping Students Find The Best Universities”>5 | Search Results | Learning Law School Guide to Helping Students Find The Best Universities;
<p>Our D had convergence insufficiency in K/1 or so. We felt we were lucky to catch it…at least one doctor didn’t believe in any such nonsense. She did some prescribed exercises for about a year and we had a standing request, which was honored, that she be seated near the front of the class to minimize the stress of looking back and forth far/near.</p>
<p>Clarification on vision checking issue:
For reading issues, you want an evaluation by a board certified developmental optometrist. You can find a directory on this web site: <a href=“http://www.covd.org/[/url]”>http://www.covd.org/</a></p>
<p>These are the optometrists who have the background and training in the field of vision therapy. You will find a lot of good information on the above web site as well.</p>
<p>Wow, Ok…I need to have the special vision screening done. She DOES rub her eyes while doing homework…so much so that her eyes are red after. I thought it was a nervous problem…like with the movement of her legs and feet and the lack of stitting still. She rubs and rubs…and than they’re red and watery to the point that I have Visine that I bought just for her.</p>
<p>Maybe there’s something to that!</p>
<p>Momsdream- you know your child best and usually Mom’s are pretty good at knowing when there is a problem. Whether it is appropriate for 1st graders to read chapter books doesn’t really matter. You will feel better if you have explored all the options. If the tester is good it shouldn’t be stressful at all for your D. I know with my son the tester allow time for handball breaks in the middle of testing when he was in 2nd grade.</p>
<p>Thanks all! I’ll be off line for a few days as we’re off to a week of meetings where we’ll surely be handed life preserveres and instructions to “stay the course”. </p>
<p>I’ll pick up the quest for my D next week. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Just one more thought. Clue your daughter’s teacher into what you are doing with the testing, and talk to her about the “red xs” and “frowny faces” and hours of homework. She may not realize that the homework that the other students blithely whiz through in 20 minutes takes your daughter so long. And she many not be aware of the negative impact of all those X’s. Be your daughter’s advocate, and if the teacher doesn’t agree to compromise on homework (as in reduce it significantly) and stop with the red X’s - I would go and talk with the principal. Your daughter deserves a positive first grade experience.</p>
<p>I am sure your daughter will be fine…you have noticed early that you might need to look at different ways of teaching her, checking her vision, etc. Just remember, she will do fine because you love her and are going to do your best for her. You have gotten some great advise here. We have all been throughvarious things and our kids are doing fine, and so will yours!!! Enjoy her, have fun, and find other ways to make her feel special. Good luck, you will all be well</p>
<p>As was mentioned, please have vision checked, though you might have noticed more problems if there were big troubles. For eg. a nephew had a problem with vision which ended up w/ two surguries to correct. But it was discovered long before kindergarten; because he tilted his head in order to watch TV, or placed his body on an angle from the set & then turned his head to view the screen. He also navigated steps with some difficulty. Those things were enough that he was evaluated at age 3, well before he could have described to parents what he actually “saw” or showed problems with reading.</p>
<p>I also recommend having an evaluation done by a reading specialist. My child needed one right around the same age. We were in private school, but would have gone to the school district to obtain the testing. However, my H is a teacher, in another district & he just asked a specialist from his school if we could set something up. Long story short, we ended up doing one-on-one tutoring (w/ another reading specialist)during the summer.
My kid sounds like yours in the not sitting still for reading, but able to for other things. He managed phonics a bit better (we had used Hooked on Phonics & the Phonics Game with him earlier - both are pretty useful, IMHO), but his evaluation said that he actually had a pretty good vocab. & sight word memory, but needed phonics reinforcement. As texts became more difficult, (say in 5th grade), they felt he would run into trouble if he hadn’t really mastered phonics & de-coding multi-syllabic words.
He’s much better w/ reading now, but he doesn’t enjoy it. Much prefers to be read to…I think cause it allows him time to move around & play…however he retains more detail, being read to & seemingly not concentrating, than I know I ever could in the same situation!
Good luck with finding the right solution for your daughter - there is one out there!!</p>
<p>Momsdream: I hope you have room for just a little more advice. I have worked for many years in educational publishing, specifically in publishing early readers for reading programs and in teacher materials. I have attended a lot of professional training programs in this area as well as national conferences in the reading field. I have also written many early readers and phonics-based readers for children myself, and I currently review children’s books for a professional publication.</p>
<p>I agree with having your D tested by an educational psychologist and by an optometrist. You will be able to use the results of these tests as you are advocating for your D. </p>
<p>There is an important term in education: “developmentally appropriate.” This means that you do not ask a three-year-old to write his name, because that is not appropriate for that stage of child development. You do not expect a first grader to read chapter books (though many do; many do not) or do two hours of homework per night. Absolutely not developmentally appropriate for most children that age. It is also not developmentally appropriate to have individual children reading out loud as a requirement in front of the whole class.</p>
<p>In New Zealand, a leader in reading teaching and in national literacy (something like 98%), they realize that children learn to read at different rates, from age 5 to age 9. Some kids “get it” later rather than sooner (though I do think your D has some learning disability or learning difference issues). They nourish the children through this stage and make almost everyone successful at reading.</p>
<p>The majority of a first grade class reading chapter books is NOT anything normal. This sounds like a private school phenomenon of high achieving kids with parents teaching them to read at home prior to first grade. Most first grade classrooms across the U.S. have a spectrum of abilities, from kids who are just working on sounding out words and putting together simple sentences to those who are reading and writing fluently. </p>
<p>There are several things going on in your D’s class that are not in line with current “best practices” in teaching, specifically red marks and sad faces on homework papers and having a single student read out loud in front of the class. The current standard for reading instruction uses a process called “guided reading,” with small groups all reading the same short reading book out loud together, so no one is singled out and all can feel successful together. That practice of single children reading out loud in front of the group has not been recommended for quite a few years, maybe 15-20. Ditto for red ink on homework papers. </p>
<p>Your D’s self-esteem as a student and reader is at stake here, and I wouldn’t wait for the results of the testing to take action. If this were my D, I would do this:
- Request a private meeting with the teacher. Ask for no more sad faces on homework papers, and perhaps some positive comments on the papers–a whole new approach. Ask that your D is not called on to read out loud by herself as it is not appropriate for her educational needs. Explain that you are having her tested and will be sure to involve the teacher in future plans for D. Try to get teacher on your side to work as a team member to turn this around and help your D become a successful reader.
- Find an experienced reading specialist to tutor your D. The educational psychologist or your local elementary school may be able to recommend someone. Interview several people if possible and get someone positive and cheerful to help bolster your D’s confidence. (I did this with my own D for math in junior high and it is still paying benefits today in her college math courses.) If finances are an issue, perhaps schedule a limited number of sessions with the tutor’s recommendations of what you can continue with at home. If finances allow get the tutor in place now so that tutoring can continue throughout the summer. Tutoring in the summer following first grade is critical for kids having difficulties so that progress is not lost before second grade.
- Your D likes the Hooked on Phonics books because they are leveled (all the books at the exact same level of reading difficulty) and funny and she is successful at reading them. Keep on with that as it will build her confidence as a reader. I would not ask her to read your bedtime reading books to you as that has too many issues with words that she will not be able to handle.<br>
- Start thinking about school for next year. Do you want your D to continue at this school? If not now is the time to be looking for another school. I really question if this is the right environment for your D. She needs additional support and help and next year all those chapter-reading kids will be doing things your D is not ready for yet. </p>
<p>There is nothing more important to school success than successful reading. Your D deserves much more than she is receiving in this classroom, especially when you are paying private school tuition.</p>
<p>Bookiemom is 100% correct! Developmentally appropriate is the key. This morning I assessed a preschooler whose Mom is very concerned that at 3.5 years her D isn’t saying her /r/ sounds correctly and the preschool told her that her D needs speech therapy–the /r/ is a later developing sound and isn’t mastered until about age 7-- (I am a speech/language pathologist).
The key is to keeping your daughter interested in learning, excited about learning and motivated to learn to read. She is only 7 and needs to master the basics before jumping to chapter books. At this point I’d recommend becoming a fixture at the library and have the librarian help her select books at her reading level. the more she enjoys reading the more she will read! If you are seeing progress with sight words, and if she is beginning to sound words out she is on the right track. </p>
<p>HOWEVER–you really may want to consider looking at a school that focuses on developmentally appropriate reading instead of chapter books for 1st grade. Look up your state standards for education and you’ll see what is expected in 1st grade. If you are looking at private schools just keep in mind that most states don’t require private school teachers to hold credentials so you may also be dealing with teachers who don’t have the training to modify teaching instruction based on the individual needs of a child’s learning style.</p>
<p>I hope this makes sense and adds a little fuel for thought.</p>
<p>Momsdream,
Sorry I have not taken the time to read every post. So, apologize for any redundancy. I will share some personal experience with you, and then professional expertise.</p>
<p>Personal experience- son #1 read fluently at age 3 1/2 but wasn’t much of a talker! Son #2 comes along, great conversationalist, not reading in first grade- trouble in particular with short vowel sounds- minimal b/d confusion- absolutely couldn’t spell- everything was inventive…by the end of 1st grade (after some help with phonological processing) he was squeaking to grade level in reading. 2nd grade gradual gains in reading, nothing coming along in spelling. 3rd grade reading definitely coming- spelling horrible and now he did not want to write because of this. I had him tested by the school psychologist who confirmed- very bright, exceptional verbal skills, weak decoding and encoding, poor ability to syllabicate and blend mostly impacting spelling. Diagnosis- mild dyslexia. He is now in 12th grade and reads prolifically but cannot spell in any language.</p>
<p>Now the professional input. The single best book on Dyslexia is “Overcoming Dyslexia” by Sally Shaywitz. Her study at Yale several years ago demonstrated convincingly that reading acquisition, like every other skill, takes place on a continuum. Dyslexia is not some “malfunction”, it is a rather extreme presentation of acquisition of a developmental skill that is easy for some, mildly problematic for others and downright difficult without appropriate instruction for the dyslexic.</p>
<p>The problem with dyslexia is a problem of reading/writing/spelling- everything that has to do with letters and their sounds. the core issue is that of a disruption in the sound/symbol system. for most dyslexics the issue is in the sound end(rapid processing of sounds)…this is the classic dyslexic pattern. Some kids have an “orthographic” dyslexia in which the visual elements are more problematic- this is rarer. Decoding, encoding and rapid naming all are issues. </p>
<p>All the other “symptoms” that people talk about when they describe the pattern of dyslexia are irrelevant. They are interesting associated findings, but they are not dyslexia…including problems with attention. The only thing you need to look at is the efficacy with which the child applies the sound/symbol system in reading and writing. You can’t really diagnose dyslexia until a child has had ample exposure in formal program-- end of first grade is about the earliest you can make a formal diagnosis.</p>
<p>The most effective approaches for teaching kids who are dyslexic to read have at their core a systematic, sequential, multisensory approach. Hooked on PHonics is not a multisensory program such as dyslexic kids need. There are approaches now that are effective at the auditory level as well (fast forword) in the “restructuring” of the processing of sound- but many kids these programs are used for are “pre-readers” for developmental reasons other than dyslexia.</p>
<p>The field of dyslexia (and not everyone in the field even uses the label) like all other fields related to child development and education is FILLED with cures and fixes that have no scientific, empirically based proof. Vision therapy, for example, does not have proof in the peer literature…nor do Irlen lenses, OT, or a variety of other interventions. This does not mean they do not help a few kids, this just means that no rigorous studies have been done to show them to be broadly and consistently effective. Well meaning, concerned parents such as yourself need to educate themselves and become critical consumers of the myriad of approaches that are out there. Multisensory phonics approaches applied for a sustained period of time (2 years or so) are effective in most cases. Some kids, no matter how well they read, are always lousy spellers.</p>
<p>A range of professionals are trained to assess for dyslexia as well as other learning variations in children. In addition to neuropsychologists, developmental pediatricians, educational psychologists, etc also work in assessment. </p>
<p>For more information about the scientific information about dyslexia find writings by Reid Lyon, Sally Shaywitz or Louisa Moats…among others. These are highly thought of specialists representing a range of professional approaches.</p>
<p>I have no idea if your daughter is dyslexic or not. It sounds possible. A comprehensive assessment would be useful (but it might be a bit early, truth be told…I might get on a waiting list now for a May-June evaluation…)…In the meantime, if you can find someone with Reading REcovery training, this is the 1:1 preventative approach developed in NZ which is helpful in assising NON-dyslexics develop as readers. It is intensive and short term-- and in a sense diagnostic. If a child doesn’t improve with RR, then more testing is usually indicated. While they are engaged in the RR process, kids are maintining a positive attitude about reading and themselves as readers.</p>
<p>AS for the teacher…she should be asked to be sensitive to your daughter, to draw attention to her strengths, not her weaknesses, and to above all-- do no harm. </p>
<p>If the teacher can’t abide by this, if your daughter is stressed to the point of somatic symptoms or wanting to skip school-- then I would consider a class change, school change or whatever. Does the school have any remedial services? Do they have an inclusive attitude which supports teachers who differentiate? If not, whether your daughter has dylexia or not, she may be a kid with developmental unevenness who may find a different school more supportive. I wouldn’t go in the Waldorf direction, yet…but maybe something in between??</p>
<p>By the way, when my son finished 3rd grade he was still a bit discouraged, even though we had emphasized to him that spelling was really not that important…etc… AT the end of the year the best speller in the class was retained, and my son came home and said, “I guess you were right all along!!”</p>