Hi all,
This is a reply to Linda from another older thread - thought I’d move it up here to see if anyone had any other ideas for me. After months or reading, I think I have finally put a plan together for therapy/remediation for my son. Hope it works …
I found a vision therapy program that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg - and Linda asked about it:
I found the information at www.homevisiontherapy.com after doing a google search. I spoke with the local optometrist personally, who said the program had been effective with every patient he recommended it for - but he didn’t recommend it for all his patients, depending on their needs. We have a preliminary exam on Tuesday to see if it is the right thing for my son.
I didn’t ask about research - there are so many different theories about vision therapy, and then so many MORE theories about what appropriate research is … every professional I know has told me the IM research is terribly scanty. I just know that I have tried many, many things with my son to help improve his reading skills. I have come to the conclusion that he simply can’t see the letters in the correct order - he is using word “patterns” to read by sight, but can’t appropriately decode unfamiliar words.
Yes, we’ve been through PG - and as long as the sound pictures were on the different little squares, he could blend. Put it all together into one small black word inside a bunch of other small black words, and he can get all the right consonants, but not in the correct order. I’ve seen this mistake REPEATEDLY with words he is unfamiliar with. Just last night he read “shelves” as “sleeves.” I wrote it in large letters on a white board and had him segment it - which he can do. I had him try to read it again - and he said “shleves.” When I had him do it a third time, he was in tears, so I helped him put the sounds together in the correct order. I’m left with the assumption that he simply can’t pull the letters apart and organize them correctly, visually.
We’re looking into IM this summer, we’ve done Earobics (kids’ version through the school) - but I bought the adolescent/adult version and we’re going to do it again at home - just not sure how soon. :-)
AFTER we get through these things, we’ll revisit the reading issue. I did reading first, but we hit a brick wall with progress. And he has many other things that need therapy (rhythm, can’t do jumping jacks in time with his soccer team, has very poor balance and coordination, still mixes sounds up in his head before they register in his brain, etc., etc.). Until then, we’ll keep on going like we have - with me pre-teaching vocabulary for all his subjects on a weekly basis to get him through school, using the PG methods to work on segmenting and blending unfamiliar words (some of it HAS to stick) …
Lil
Re: Oh, and . . .
Lil,
I think you are doing the right thing. I have learned visual issues are not one problem but a whole subcategory onto themselves. I think that is why there is so much confusion and mixed results with vision therapy.
I am no expert but it really does sound like you are dealing with a visual issue.
I have to check out Holmes for my son. He loves that type of thing too!
Research
I agree with you on the reseach. My opinion is that if I had waited for ‘peer reviewed’ research on everything we have done, my dd would still be having a problem remembering the sounds of A,B,C. And the school would be telling us - well, she just has to learn to cope, don’t expect any kind of career for her etc.
I view a severe LD as a life altering/life threatening kind of conditition. If my child had any other kind of life threatening kind of disease and the current drugs were not working - I would look at alternatives and would not be opposed to untested/unvalidated options that showed some kind of promise.
There are very few programs that provide ‘peer reviewed’ research when it comes to remediating LD. I couldn’t even name one.
Sometimes you have to be a maverick to get results.
Re: Research
Have you ever seen the movie ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’? THAT is my idea of an A+ parent! Many of those types on this board…including you, Lil!
Re: Research
I agree. I actually asked about the research because on the eyeQ commercials they have the fact that it has been researched as one of the selling points. They flash a report from I think JAMA on the screen quickly. I just was wondering if that was true or not. I think it is easier to research programs such as this. Some things like vision therapy in general which is really many different things are hard to research.
I personally believe that the reason for the lack of research for LD remediation are several fold:
1. The diagnosis of various types of LD lacks objective criteria and varies from professional to professional and discipline to discipline. This in my opinion is the first thing that needs fixing. Tests should be designed with remediation efforts in mind. If you get x results you use y treatment. It also needs to be broken down into specific types of deficits. Most diagnosis involves broad categories or labels. It is like being told you have cancer. If you don’t know what type and what organ is affected that information is pretty useless.
2. I think there is a still large number of people out there that despite numerous scientific breakthroughs that have proven otherwise believe the brain is fixed and you can not really change neural pathways. In a way this is understandable when one considers how new this information is and how completely disruptive it is to former beliefs. There is a huge gap between what goes on in neuroscience and what takes place in the classroom. We as parents don’t have time for that gap to narrow.
3. I think there is actually an incentive to keep the fact that we can remediate deficits under wraps. If it is shown that we can remediate childrens’ deficits it will become an expectation of schools. Most schools don’t want to go there. Can you imagine the lawsuits? So they keep their old system, keep the kids in sped forever and keep collecting those checks from the feds. This is one reason I am actually against full funding for IDEA that does not encompass a complete reform of the current system.
I am getting off my soapbox now.
I'll add a 4th reason
It’s very expensive. Most organizations don’t have the bandwidth, resource or expense to conduct these kind of studies.
Re: Research
I totally agree. I haven’t always been right—and have figured some things out by the seat of my pants, but my son is so much better off for the things we’ve done.
I realized when he was 7 that conventional approaches didn’t hold out a whole lot of hope for him. He had too many deficits. I figured it was high risk to do nothing as well.
Beth
Re: Research
The value of good research (i.e. well-controlled, double-blind, peer-reviewed studies) is that it enables a parent to weigh the costs and benefits of choosing a particular therapy. A parent with a limited budget really needs to know whether spending a lot of money on a treatment is likely to benefit the child. Also, we all know that the earlier we help a child with LD, the better he will fare. Pursuing therapies that aren’t likely to help MOST children with a particular issue (even if they do help some) can delay a child’s progress. A well-informed parent may decide to give the treatment a try anyway but the knowledge will enable him or her to make that choice with an understanding of the potential consequences. Knowledge is power. If the parent sees that the treatment does not seem to be helping, then it can be stopped and other things tried, rather than reposing blind faith in the word of the provider of that treatment that it will work. There is some real research out there, though, as you say, not nearly enough — the new study on Fast For Word springs to mind. Interestingly, that was the first well-done research on that particular treatment, even though it has been around for years.
Andrea
And we spend 20 to 30 minutes daily “team” reading something not associated with school. I read some, he reads some. He might read more or less on any given night depending on his anxiety levels. I try to make this as non-threatening as possible, simply gently telling him the correct word for things he misses. I try to find books about boys his age who are on great adventures - he loves stuff like that. My son wants to be an inventor, so currently we are reading a great biography about Wilbur and Orville Wright - they are very interesting characters with their own set of quirks!
I read all his texts to him because his comprehension is so poor when he reads by himself.
Lil