<p>One organization that deals with learning and reading disabilities with excellent results is called Lindamood Bell. They are supposed to be the best as teaching individuals with reading/learning disabilities. They are quite expensive, but then again, the best usually is.</p>
<p>Lindamood Bell is an excellent phonologically based program- can be taught individually or in small groups. In a city like Philadelphia there are certainly Lindamood trained dyslexia therapists- as well as therapists skilled in other methodologies. The best therapists usually are eclectic- they have more than one approach that they use- no two kids are alike, whether or not they are dyslexic…</p>
<p>I haven’t read all the posts on this–limited time–but I have two questions: has eyesight been completely checked? We discovered my daughter had a wandering eye that made certain kinds of reading difficult–easy to fix with vision therapy. Why were we looking? Well, she’d had a whole battery of educational tests and everything was way out there except for one area where she was “only average.” No one was worried because average is fine–but I was curious about why and her eye dr. added extra tests–and there it was. (This was in 4th grade, BTW.)</p>
<p>The other question also relates to my D’s experience (and my sister’s). Halfway through first grade–right about Feb–they wanted to hold her back because she couldn’t read at all. Zero. A month later she read at 3rd grade level. Why the difference? Turned out she is a sight-reader, reads the whole word at a gulp, and only sounded out a word if she couldn’t read it by sight-reading. It took until March of first grade for her to have a good enough sight reading vocabulary to actually read. (My sister read the same way, and her daughter, too.)</p>
<p>Don’t panic yet. Do lots and lots of reading with your daughter. Makes sure she thinks reading is really really important. Set the example by not watching TV. Try watching kids’ foreign movies, which have subtitles (Asterix is fun) and cartoons. Give her the collected books of Peanuts cartoons–fun to read and easy too. (Worked for my sister and both her D and mine.)</p>
<p>We had our first session last night and it was so interesting to me to watch my younger S (who has the more severe problem) trying to do the exercizes, such as watch an object swung in gentle slow arcs past his face, without moving his head. His eye movements were totally jerky and erratic, the eyes did not move in concert, and sometimes it was clear that he was just sort of playing along, not really focusing on anything at all. </p>
<p>I will report back in a few weeks as to whether or not the daily eye exercizes are paying off.</p>
<p>My older S had the best week he’s ever had in school this week. (Emails from teachers, etc.) It was his first week in glasses. (Mild reading glasses make it less difficult for him to focus his slightly crossed eyes for up close work.) For him, eyes crossing and difficulties in “pulling focus” from far to near were the biggest issues; his 2 eyes do work reasonably well together.</p>
<p>I don’t know about any sea changes-- but so far it seems pretty convincing that there needed to be these interventions. When the eyes are working normally, it will be easier to pinpoint the extent/treatment of the attentional component. The optometrist says 12 weeks of 5x/week exercizes for 30-60 minutes each time will usually solve the problem.</p>
<p>Momsdream: I forgot to mention this in my previous post to you about your D. You mentioned her eyes are sensitive and get red and that you bought Visine for her. I also need to use eyedrops in the winter because my eyes get very dry when the heat is on. I learned from my pharmacist that you need to be very careful using Visine or any clear-the-red-out-of-your-eyes type of eye drops. It uses some kind of medication that does the job but your body very quickly grows dependent on it. (Instant shrinkage of swollen membranes, I think.) It is the same situation with the nasal spray Afrin. You are not supposed to use either of these meds for more than three days.</p>
<p>You can buy plain saline eyedrops that will hydrate the eyes and that are not adding to the problem. These eyedrops will say on the bottle that they can be used as much as needed. The brand that I have is Bausch and Lomb Moisture Eyes Protect.</p>
<p>Just an update because everyone was so helpful:My D’s school had me sign off on getting an independent team to come in and evaluate her/ The first evaluation was done a couple of weeks ago - it’s called DVI (Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration) on which she scored similar to that of a 9 year old (she’s 6) - 87th percentile when compared to children her own age. The report says she has yet to develop consistent directionality. </p>
<p>Following these tests, she will now receive a WIAT (wexler), and IRI (INformal Reading) and one other test which is a 5 minute evaluation. </p>
<p>The team assigned includes a psychologist, a corrective education teacher, a counselor and speech and language therapist. </p>
<p>Once these evaluations are done, she may be referred to a pediatric neuropsychologist - with these tests being the foundation for the referral, if needed. </p>
<p>Will continue to keep everyone informed. Thanks again!</p>