We (my 8 yr old son) is in the process of evaluation for LD. Today the school psychologist called for a quick update. Mostly, he wanted to let us know that testing was difficult today and to be ready for him when he gets home.
Anyway, he mentioned that he is finally seeing some problems which need to be addressed in regard to visual memory as well as the motor coordination. He intends to do more testing in a couple of days. In the context of the conversation, we asked the psych. if this could be dyslexia (several family members have been dxed with this). He said it could be and would be calling after he finished the testing.
Oh yeah, we were also told he is a very intelligent child and it wasn’t until this last session that the tester was seeing the visual problems. (Duh, this is everything I told them at the initial meeting. What is it that takes the schools so long to believe mom!!!)
I am interested in learning what your ideas would be for what the school should being doing to help as well as at home. I realize at this time, it can only be real general since we don’t have the specifics of what the full scope of what the disabilities are. For instance, psych said his reading ability and comprehension is strong, yet I am seeing lots of wrong guesses at words when he reads that make no sense in the context of the paragraph/sentence. I want to go into the IEP armed with ideas!! After all, the more I have, the more informed I will be with what is possible.
I would take him to a developmental optometrist
My daughter had seen an opthalmologist yearly for lenses to correct her astigmatism, but it wasn’t until I took her to a developmental optometrist at age 8 that severe developmental vision delays were diagnosed and treated with vision therapy. Because she had gone so long with such severe delays, we also followed up with cognitive therapy to develop visual processing skills (we did PACE, http://www.learninginfo.com, but Audiblox is another program with a good vision component, http://www.audiblox2000.com).
We did “Reading Reflex” and a Phono-Graphix intensive for decoding skills (http://www.readamerica.net). That was great for developing phonological skills for reading. However, my daughter also needed vision therapy and cognitive training in order to be able to read fluently. (She is now 11 and reading on a beginning 7th grade level.)
A good website with information about vision is http://www.childrensvision.com. You can find developmental optometrists in your area at http://www.covd.org
Mary
California is the only state I know of
that provides the kind of vision therapy described in my other post through the school system (although you often have to fight to get it). In other states, it’s all up to the parents. Medical insurance usually covers part of a developmental vision evaluation, but usually does not cover vision therapy. It is possible, however, to find developmental optometrists who are willing to design and supervise a primarily home-based program in order to keep costs down.
Developmental vision evaluations test about 20 functional vision skills not covered in a regular eye exam.
Schools, basically, know nothing about these kinds of problems. Academic remediation rarely helps unless the underlying problems are addressed, and these currently fall more under a medical umbrella than an educational one. Often the schools will provide services, but they often are not very helpful.
Mary
Re: California is the only state I know of
We don’t provide vision therapy in the schools where I teach. I have never heard of this being done in CA, although I wouldn’t debate that in a state this large it is done somewhere, not widespread though.
I was given to understand it is buried somewhere in the law,
but it may be that only some school districts interpret it that way. I remember one poster was surprised all schools didn’t offer it, and I was very surprised that any school offered it!
Didn’t Dr. Douglas Stephey on the ReadNOW list recently mention getting referrals from the school district (and that they had a very low cap on the amount of money available for vision therapy, no matter what the severity fo the child’s issues)? I probably assumed he is in California.
Mary
I am in the same boat. My son is 6 years old. I have known that he had a problem since he was 4. He had problems in Kindergarten and now 1st grade. I could not get the school to help me. So, I finally took him to a private psychologist. She said that he had problems similar to dyslexia but was “reluctant” to diagnosis him with is because of his high IQ and his age. Now the school is wanting to put him in special ed and hold him back this year. My son has major self-esteem issues. The dyslexia program does not start until the 3rd grade. I finally got the school to test to see if he would qualify for the Alpha phonics program. However, my son did not qualify. Now the counselor has totally ruled out the idea of dyslexia. I told him that just because my son doesn’t have all of the problems associated with dyslexia doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have any of the problems. They are finally going to test him. I am considering taking him to a neurologist or vision therapist. Does anyone have any experience with either one of these?