visual processing problem?

Sounds like visual motor to me. My son has this. OT at school made a big difference for him.

My son is also undergoing vision therapy as OT did not solve the entire problem. If you had to choose I would suggest a vision therapist that addressed motor issues as well. Our developmental optometrist does this but not all do.

Graph paper helps with the lining up of the math problems.

My son reads very well but he has trouble sustaining the effort and does not really like to read. He too is in third grade.

I tend to agree with Linda. This is not strictly visual or else it would impact reading too. Handwriting is impacted by many different processing issues. We did Neuronet therapy and saw these issues disappear—he still though had endurance issues. This therapy isn’t widely available but OT would be close—my son’s issues were related to his vestibular system. He had qualified as having a learning disability in K on the basis of his poor visual-motor skills. After therapy, he scored 99 standard score. We still had issues with copying from board ect which OT at school has helped with. We also got improvements in endurance through Interactive Metronome.

We also did vision therapy but it did not address visual-motor. It did help him read worksheets ect.

Beth

My 6th grade ld son still can only print(can’t do cursive), and finally can do it neatly, but it does look like a younger child’s writing; however he can type and uses graph paper in math and he’s an A student in reg. ed. in middle school. We resisted OT, school based handwriting help, etc. and concentrated on reading and academics and I’m glad we did. There are tests some OTs do with stroke pts. that look at handwriting, etc. but be warned that you could spend thousands and it may not impact academic performance at all.

My son also was trouble with writing and it was suggested that he had a processing problem. In his 504 I requested his use of a computer for all written assignments. We still practice wiritng at home, but the problem no longer impacts his academic performance. Good Luck

I know a lady here in Australia with the same situation. Both her children have dyslexia (trouble with words) and she works with them orally. I have read a few books on this one is “The Gift of Dyslexia” and the author is a dyslexic himself. He says it is a different view of things (a “minds eye”) and people can still read by working out clues based on that. Her children can read too. How do you feel about asking if the school can cater for some oral work? I read of older Dyslexic children using dictaphones and learning to type with a good program that helps.
Since discovering this about people I think it’s a shame that oral work (if that is what works for that person) isn’t a valid alternative, many historical figures were unsuccessful at school but went on to do great things because of their special talent. My son and daughter work well this way too if they are not rushed.
Perhaps you could do some work with her at home orally if that was OK with the teacher/school. All the best with it.

Thank you everyone for your input.

The OT observed him yesterday and will interview him today. So far she is not suggesting anything we have not tried.

One thing she suggested that surprised me, was to work on building upper body strength. I know this is an issue, as he is protien defficient, we have been trying to restore protein levels and build muscle mass for over a year. But what would that have to do with writing?

I will look into a vision therapist and/or developmental optomatirst, hopefully insurance will cover this. - ?? - From what I have read so far, does not sound like there is alot of hope for improvement, and if there is, it will be minimal at best. But would like to know for sure what the exact problem is so at least we can do what we can and see that proper provisions are made for him.

If there is anything else you would like to add, it would be greatly appreciated. As this is an area that is totally new to us and I am startging from scratch.

Thanks,

Acorn

Handwriting IS hard to remediate and some experts advise that it is pretty much a waste of time to even try after age 10. If your child has not had any help with handwriting, you might take a look at Handwriting Without Tears. It didn’t really help my son all that much, but it is a good basic program. At the same time, I think it might help to get your child typing. My son had lots of OT and even worked with the author of HWOT, but he still has difficulty adequately conveying his thoughts via handwriting. He can do it if he HAS to, and his writing is at least legible if not good, but the effort it takes is exhausting both mentally and physically. He carries a laptop with him at school (he is in 6th grade) and uses it for note-taking and for tests. All homework that requires more than fill in the blank or very short answers is done on his laptop. Using the laptop frees his mind up for the substance of his work. He doesn’t have to think about how to write within the lines, how to make letters and have them face the right direction, etc. Typing is automatic for him now and has made his life infinitely easier. These days we focus on improving what he says when he writes rather than how it looks.

Andrea

My child’s writing improved dramatically after glasses. He has focusing problems that are corrected by the glasses. I can tell when he didn’t wear his glasses by just looking at the paper.

The school’s OT told me my child had low tone in his upper body because of his posture. I believe his poor posture was caused from lack of desire for testing and putting his head down to see better. My child is a very good athlete and extremely strong. Now that he can see better with his glasses, he doesn’t slouch when writing and reading.