I have a 9-year old who was diagnosed at about the age of 4 with mixed expressive and receptive language disorder and ADHD. He has been in a LD-specific school for 2 years and despite still performing well below average for his age, he is progressing quite well. He’s a wonderful sweet child who I enjoy very much.
My question though – I would like to have more children and am curious what the chances are of having more than one child with a LD? It won’t change my decision to have more children, but it might help prepare me to know the “odds.”
Has anyone heard anything about this?
Re: Re: Re: Likelihood of Having More Than One Child with LD
Hi geodob,
Interestingly, there is no history of LD on either side of the family - at least none that we are aware of. And both my son’s father and I do not believe that we had/have any kind of attention or LD problems. I should have mentioned that I would be having another child with my new husband, and that there are no known LD problems in his family either.
[Modified by: StephanieC on June 29, 2007 06:23 AM]
[Modified by: StephanieC on June 29, 2007 06:23 AM]
Likelihood of Having More Than One Child with LD
Often LDs are hidden in families. It might take some digging to find out if someone had something even a couple generations ago. Think about quirky relatives, eccentrics, etc.
That being said, with the new gentic mix, anything is possible. I don’t think its really helpful to worry about it if you are planning on having a child anyway. You just take whatever you are given with the knowledge that you know how to get help if it becomes necessary.
Good luck!
Re: Likelihood of Having More Than One Child with LD
Hi Stephanie,
I work with kids who have trouble learning to read and I’ve found that a large percentage of them have undiagnosed vision problems that vision therapy can address. A lot of the kids also had other developmental issues as they matured, but by the time they hit 3rd grade or so, it is mainly the vision issue that is getting in the way.
I also routinely ask the parents of kids with vision problems if either parent had either an obvious vision problem (lazy eye, for instance) or if one of them had trouble in first/second grade (kids who struggle learning to read at first remember the early grades as being an unpleasant experience even if they caught on later.)
When I ask that question, over 90% of the parents tell me that yes, one of them also struggled, or else some of their siblings did.
I have two points to make. One, your child might well have an undiagnosed vision problem, he might need vision therapy and he should be evaluated by a developmental optometrist if there is any sign of vision problems, even if your family optometrist finds no problem.
I have a website that I’ve been building recently to share some of the curriculum I use in my reading practice and I recently added a Vision Assessment Checklist. You can find it at [url=http://ontrackreading.com/the-vision-piece/vision-assessment-checklist]Vision Assessment Checklist[/url] in the form of a PDF file that you can download. The discussion on the website page covers how I use it.
The second point is that [i]if[/i] there is a family history of vision problems (often manifested as a family history of LD) I believe the odds are 50/50 that any particular child in the family will also have vision problems that will cause trouble when learning to read. This is important to know because it takes parents a long time, sometimes never, to figure out what’s going on, and a lot of suffering can be avoided if family members realize what’s going on and don’t let kids get well into grade school before getting their vision needs addressed.
There’s a lot more discussion of all this on my website. I realize this is a controversial area but I’ve seen enough of it to be reasonably certain that its’ an issue that people need to become aware of.
Rod Everson
[url=http://ontrackreading.com]OnTrack Reading[/url]
Re: Likelihood of Having More Than One Child with LD
Thanks for the reply Rod, and I think this is definately something very interesting for parents of children with reading problems to consider.
My son’s problems extend well beyong reading, however. And, he has actually had his vision tested by both a regular optometrist and a neurologist.
I’m not debating my son’s diagnosis and have confidence in both him and his school to do the best with the hand that has been dealt.
My real question was what the likelihood of having another child with LD. But, as a previous poster put it, I suppose in the end it doesn’t matter if I intend to go forward anyway. I just wish I could know!
Re: Likelihood of Having More Than One Child with LD
Hi Stephanie,
I mentioned that this is a controversial area. One of the reasons it is controversial is that medical doctors and family practice optometrists both tend to tell parents that developmental optometry (together with vision therapy) is an unproven field of treatment.
What I’m trying to say is that, based on my experience over the past several years, developmental OD’s have the better argument and that you can not rule out a vision problem of the nature that impacts reading until your child has had sufficient testing. Neither your family OD, nor medical doctors normally conduct such testing.
That doesn’t mean that your child has such a problem, only that you might not be able to rule it out based on the exams done thus far. And, if either you or your child’s father did struggle through the early grades, then the odds increase significantly that a vision problem has gone undiagnosed. On the other hand, if there is no evidence of a family history of reading struggles, you’re probably right in being comfortable with your child’s present diagnosis, as you said.
You can google vision therapy for more information.
Wishing you the best,
Rod
If their is a history of LD’s in you or husband’s family, it can make it a bit more likely.