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Vision Therapy sounds like an appropriate remediation. There are local certified Vision Therapy experts and a web search will find the national resources.

I also have a son who is LD . I have 3 older children have very high IQ . when I had my son 15 years later I knew nothing about the LD world and what my life would be like . But in teaching shane in the begining I treated him just like my other children .learning sounds and reading and I love reading , I have my own daycare preschool and the way I teach them is I act crazy make it fun act out things say funny things while I’m reading I use props to get them excited about what ever it is that I am doing ,with spelling I make up songs or music to go with the word or blends. this paid off because it got shane to love learning and reading ,he loves history and math, reading .he is working on his own libary shane is 9 and this year he is doing so well . Thank God. I beleive it had a lot to do with the teacher and how she treated him or talks to him . Last year shane got all failures on his report card. It was the teacher, and I knew it she told me things that he couldn’t do , and I knew better I work with him he cryed all the time always had stomack pain. hated school . she told me several times he doesn’t belong here he takes up to much of my time.I but heads with her all year . This year he just got his first report card and got A’s and B’s . How could he have been a total failure last year and on top 3 months later???? I try to find books that are of his interest. he loves to laugh so I keep this in mind I buy books from a book club that helps me teach him school work. Like hairy scary ordinary what is an adjective and one like that for nouns ect also math book that makes it fun to learn I chal. him all the time making him think it is a game we are playing ,at homework time to see who gets the answer first.some times I win but mostly he wins this helps him to build confidence in himself then I praise him tell him he is thinking faster then me I rhym the times tables to help him remember ,it is fun to them. and yes I understand the anger, and it hurts we don’t know what they are going threw in a day having these problems I have taken many workshops and classes to help me with this. One school that is just for the LD ect said to take the lower level of reading books like first grade and have him read a certain amount of books in a week this will improve his confidence and enhance his reading and gradually move the books up to a higher leavel , I find that a lot of these kids have problems with not knowing the words afraid to sound them out for fear of being made fun of he can be taught all this with music or any special way you find to teach him . No one knows your child better then you . there is also a book club called Boy’s town remember the story on TV Fr FlangenI think that was his name that place really exsist and this is their specialty . look it up on live it has books for every problem you can think of for these kids and us. also the other book club www.cbomc.com I hope I helped a little feel free to write me anytime I can use some advise your a head of me in this ,your child is 12 mine is 9 take care and God bless you love JoanneMarcia wrote:
>
> I have a 12 year old son who has been diagnosed with a visual
> perception disorder by a school psychologist. He has been in
> a full time LD class since third grade. He does not like
> school, obviously, because it is hard for him. I feel when
> he buts his mind to it he does well. The problem is I can
> not seem to get him motivated enough to put in extra time
> reading or working on skills to help him catch up to a sixth
> grade reading level. I do not always know if he can not do
> it or he just does not try. I feel that I have tried
> everything to motivate him to no avail. We are both
> frustrated and I see alot of anger in him. If anybody has
> any suggestions how to motivate it would be appreciated.
> Marcia

to get a developmental vision evaluation. Vision therapy may be able to correct some or all of the visual perception problem, depending on what is causing it.

Your son probably already works much harder than the other kids, yet he experiences failure and they experience success. Frustration and anger are normal in these circumstances. You might want to go to the “LD in Depth” section of this website and read some of the information under “self esteem”. The article on stress management is especially good.

For more information about vision, check out http://www.visiontherapy.org, http://www.vision3d.com, and http://www.children-special-needs.org. To find qualified developmental optometrists in your area, go to http://www.covd.org.

Mary

I think that what MaryMN has to say about your child having to work so much harder is very important to understand. Kids really do the best they can. It’s rarely an issue of motivation but more an issue of the child really knowing he can’t do the work as it stands right now. I think that non-LD people don’t realize the levels of fatigue and frustration that crop up daily for someone who has an LD. Think of this comparison: What if you were blind and someone told you to just keep trying to read? Would any amount of motivation make you more able to read if you can’t see? Or what if you could see a little but it was so fatiguing that there’s just so much you could do daily before burning out?

The fatigue level is really huge for these kids. Sure, he can do the work sometimes but it wears him out too much to be able to maintain it at a regular pace. That’s why you see the spotty results and it makes it look like lack of motivation.

The anger really does begin to build up at his age. He’s already got a young lifetime behind him of not measuring up. He’s got hormonal changes going on as well. I’d definitely go the route of getting him psychological support so that he can understand his anger and learn to deal with it. These kids need all the support they can get in our society which places such a heavy priority on precisely the areas in which they have difficulty.

Catch up can take time and even with great effort may not happen quickly. It’s also true that some people read faster than others, and go through their lives stronger readers or stronger writers than others.

Your son’s anger would concern me and it would certainly signal that it’s time for a different approach. What also might concern me is the assumption is that the problem is a lack of motivation. Even highly motivated students don’t always “catch up” - certainly in the 6th grade. It can take more time than that.

Some young children walk at 9 months, others at 14 months but rarely if ever do we say the child who walks at 14 months wasn’t motivated to walk sooner. We accept that some children walk at 9 months and others later.

The same is sometimes true of school skills. Some children develop them later than others not matter what we do.

When children get angry, it can be a sign our good intentions have gone awry. Anger is not a productive emotion and will not enhance his skill development. The first thing I’d do is give it and him a break. He may feel unaccepted as he is. Are his learning issues the problem or it is our society’s inability to have a “cure” for his issues as we do have cures for other issues that is the problem? If his skills would never catch up, does he know that he would still be valued and cared about as he is?

The best coaches of the most talented athletes usually say there’s a time to work and a time to take some time off. Maybe it’s time to take some time off. If he won’t read, he can still be read to or listen to books on tape in the car while you’re driving around and still be getting good language enrichment. Reading out loud can be fun as well as helpful but the good news is it usually never hurts.

Good luck.

I went through the same thing a year ago. After 6 months of in-ofice Vision Therpy and 3 months of home therapy, I have often found my 9 year old son sneaking books into his bed to read after he is supposed to have gone to sleep. This is a child who a year ago refused to read when required let alone voluntarily. What a difference a year makes. Find a reputable Developmental (Behavioral) Optometrist in your area, or if your child qualifies for services, much of this can be dealt with by an Occupational Therapist at school.

He finished 1st grade not reading at all, finished 2nd grade reading at a 1st grade 8th month level, finished 3rd grade reading at a 3rd grade 6th month level, and now in his 3rd month of 4th grade is reading at a 5th grade 2nd month level.

My son was tested at school and privately. The school admitted there was a problem but he did not fall that magic “1.5 standard deviations below the mean” to qualify due to in their terms “an extraordinarily high IQ”. Therefore he was treated privately and it was worth every penny and every hour I spent in court forcing my ex to pay for half!!

Good Luck