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[Bear23]

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[Butter]

When my now 13 year old son was 9, I finally decided something probably was wrong and the problems he was having were not normal.  So we called the school district's central office and they had the elementary he would have been going to contact us and set up testing.  We were in Maryland which is NOT friendly to homeschoolers when it comes to therapies (they won't even do speech therapy unless you are in public school).  But, they do test for free.  So he was tested over several days and it was a very positive experience.  They can't diagnose there, but they said, off the record, he was severely dysgraphic and also had dyslexia like we suspected.  They gave me a lot of hints and tips and told me to call any time if I had questions (even though officially they couldn't do anything, unofficially they were open to help me however I needed).  They actually felt I was doing more good for him keeping him home than sending him to school because there wasn't much they could offer him at school.  So I recommend contacting the schools where you live and get some testing done and see what's going on.

[kentuckymom]

I am not an expert in any way, shape, or form, but I would guess she has dyslexia and/or vision processing issues. People can have vision processing issues with 20/20 vision. It's about how the eyes work together, not how well each works individually.  The first step, a PP said, would be to contact the school district and see if they offer testing to homeschoolers, even if they don't offer services. You may also want to look for a developmental optometrist. I hope you find something that helps!

[PeterPan]

I don't know you're state, but like Butter said *hopefully* the ps would follow the law and eval.  As far as how to go privately, you're looking for a psychologist or neuropsychologist or ed psychologist.  We just got our evals done, 2nd kid, and yes we got our dyslexia label.  A neuropsych is going to run more tests and spend longer than a clinical psych, but they'll also cost more.  Everybody charges per hour, so that's the real difference, not so much that some psychs are more expensive than others.  It's how many hours they bill you for to accomplish all the testing, write the report, and do feedback.

 

With the extremely limited amount you gave, I agree we can't even steer you on how to differentiate whether you have a developmental vision problem (which it actually could be, despite the 20/20) or a problem requiring the psych eval or both.

 

The most *conservative* way of approaching that is to do her next annual visit with a developmental optometrist (which you find through COVD) and ask them to *screen* her for the developmental stuff.  That way it's no additional expense but you get the screening and info on whether there's warrant there to do the more involved eval.  

 

Dyslexia right now with a psych is going to be pretty much phonemic awareness and reading.  It's not going to be vision, writing backward, how they tie shoes, or a lot of the other weird stuff you read.  Dyslexia Reading Well, a Virtual Well of Reading Resources  This site might be helpful to you.  Don't pay for a guide, mercy.  I'm just saying read through the links on her blog there.  If you actually want to buy something, The Dyslexia Help Handbook for Parents: Your Guide to Overcoming Dyslexia Including Tools You Can Use for Learning... is only $2.99 or free with kindleunlimited.  The author is SandyKC from here on the boards, and she is clearly very well thought out in her writing.  

 

You're right to make the move, and yes it sounds like it falls to you.  But that's ok.  That happens even when the dh is around all the time.  You're more in-tune and teaching, so you see it happening.  Now is the time to get the evals and find out what's going on, even if it costs you.  Private evals will run $1-2K around here.  I just paid $2100 and that includes some follow-up visits and phone calls.  If you go through a hospital around here, it will be almost DOUBLE that.  If there's a dyslexia school in your area, see who they refer people too.  Google for dyslexia/reading tutors or ped referral lists.  

 

COVD's website will have info on vision symptoms and Sandy's book I think has info on discriminating vision and dyslexia.  You can actually have BOTH going on even.  So just jump in.  Remember you can come over to LC and chat.  We don't bite.  :)