Visual Motor /Visual-perceptual / Visual Organization issue

My son has visual motor and just plain motor planning problems. Not anything auditory in nature, despite the fact that he doesn’t seem to hear me talking to him!

Anyway, we had limited success with IM and are currently doing vision therapy. It certainly addresses visual processing/visual motor problems. THe initial evaluation should tell you if your daughter is a good candidate or not.

Try video games; they’re cheaper than IM, socially desirable in that every 5th grader I know(I had a 5th and 7th grader) plays video games/gameboy games and they target visual-motor responses.

[quote=”SAR”]Try video games; they’re cheaper than IM, socially desirable in that every 5th grader I know(I had a 5th and 7th grader) plays video games/gameboy games and they target visual-motor responses.[/quote]

Also, a recent IM study showed that playing a non-violent video game could also boost attentional skills, at least in boys who were already taking stimulant medication for ADHD.

Andrea

My son’s problems are a severe visual motor deficit, attentional issues and sequencing. I really thought IM helped a great deal with the attention and the sequencing. He also did a program that addressed visual perception at the same time as IM. After doing IM with that program he breezed through the program and for the first time could draw and read charts. It was like night and day. The program was from Jerome Rosner’s book, “Helping Children Overcome Learning Difficulties.” He moved through that visual perceptual program at a snails pace before IM.

That program did not address all his issues. He still did not like to read and had some difficulty getting math facts down. We started vision therapy in February and it has really helped.

After doing IM for a second time early this summer my son blew away his vision therapist at visit post IM. She couldn’t believe the progress in his balance and visual memory. She was truely stunned.

Regarding video games. My son couldn’t and wouldn’t play them before IM. He is now a video game master. We couldn’t use them to help because he didn’t even have the manual dexterity/motor timing to compete with his 4 year old brother.

There isn’t one program that can solve all problems and very few of these kids have just one problem.

Audiblox is also great for visual perception issues. We are also doing that this summer.

We don’t do anything academic. There is no time.

I wanted to respond to everyone who was kind enough to comment on my daughters issue:

Karen: I am wondering at what point you realized the IM was not very helpful for your son. My daughter took VT in 8/01 for 8 months and I never got a report from the Dr. Her eye muscle tone and convergence issue improved (which helped her to not loose her place when she rested for a few seconds, while reading), but did not do much for the visual processing issue. In fact when it came to the computer exercises she was lost. Every attempt to get her to try to improve the previous score was met with anger and intense frustration.
SAR: I wish she would play video games. We bought her pack-man and she is not able to play the game and she looses interest quickly. Doesn’t have the manual dexterity/motor timing that Linda mentioned.
Anrea: The IM provider agreeds with you on the attention issues.
Linda F. : I got a hold of Jerome Rosners Book and I am going to test her on the Visual Perception part. Are you saying that IM really helped your sons balance? The IM provider didn’t mention that issue. Also, I have read allot about Audioblox, is it not too late for her. She is 10 and reading at a 5th grade level, although her speed is at a 4.4grd level. We are scheduled for 10 weeks of LMB to improve this.
What I am hearing is that I shoud do the Jerome Rosners Book and at least have her tested with the IM person. I am also thinking maybe we should do VT again after the IM. She is seeing an OT person who is working with Balance, but its slow going.

I’m not sorry we did IM, its just that we didn’t see the significant observable improvements we’ve seen with other interventions. He did the full program , which for him was 28 sessions by the time we were done. I noticed at first an increase in his impulsive behavior. By the end I noticed small improvements in his ability to sit and focus on his school work, and an almost obsessive desire to improve his handstand, which he could now do. But I do believe that IM makes sense , and it probably cleared the way for the other improvements we saw later in the year. The biggest bang for the buck, by far, was the 4 weeks he did Lindamood Bell. I’m hoping VT will also yield noticeable benefits. He doesn’t get carsick anymore, and that is not a small thing! : )

Our optometrist addressed my son’s tracking, balance and focusing issues first and is now addressing visual perceptual issues. Visual perception includes, visual memory, visual spatial ability, figure ground, left right reversal issues, etc.
I think Rosner’s exercises address some of these visual perception issues and they did made a big difference with my son. He could finally read charts and maps. We did them at the same time as interactive metronome and the interactive metronome therapy helped him to breeze through those exercises. Your daughter sounds like my son in a few ways. I thought IM was the best thing we have done.
We needed way more than the normal number of sessions. We still will do even more at the end of the summer. He has done 34 sessions so far. Interactive metronome has opened up a whole new world for him and helped me to get him out of sped.

There are also some books with visual perception exercises at this site that seem good. www.criticalthinking.com

I also don’t think that it is too late for audiblox. It takes some fortitude to do those exercises every day but I see great value in them. They are harder to get my son to do than vision therapy.

If you are asking I would recommend Interactive metronome first doing Rosner’s exercises at the same time and then follow that up with some audiblox or the critical thinking books.