Jump to content

Menu

Emma saw the optometrist today


Nakia
 Share

Recommended Posts

and the diagnosis is convergence insufficiency. She has no tracking issues, and her vision is about 20/25.

 

Of course, I'm overwhelmed but soooo thankful for a diagnosis!! And thank you all for the multiple threads about VT and the encouragement to see a specialist from the COVD site!

 

So now, we have the info about VT along with the costs. Whew. The office is about an hour (on a good slow traffic day) away. The cost is...a lot...

 

The optometrist discouraged LD/ADD testing through the school system, for now. She just feels like if we can do VT, then we'll see her improve leaps and bounds with math and reading comprehension. I'm torn. I don't think waiting a few months to see how VT goes will be a big deal. We can always test later. I'm not looking for a label; I just want to help her.

 

So in the meantime, what do I do? How hard to I push her? The doctor said not to push her hard because her eyes get tired very easily, and she gets headaches after reading even short passages. I'm not so worried about reading. She knows how to read, is a great reader, and I read to her. I am concerned about math. I just don't know what to do there. The doctor explained that with convergence insufficiency, the numbers are blurring/running together just like letters. Any ideas? I KNOW she'll catch up eventually, but right now she's way behind a "normal" 4th grade level in math, and I'd like to have her doing some kind of math every day. For the past few weeks, we've been doing math drills, but she's tired of it. I don't know how to teach her new material because she gets so overwhelmed.

 

I don't feel like I'm making sense, but maybe someone can make sense of it.

 

Thanks!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I have not used the lower levels and they get slammed a lot. Nevertheless, Teaching Textbooks has been the golden salve here. In your case, I think you'd only be looking up if you try it. Super short lessons, motivating, spiral that did WONDERS for my dd's computation speed, adequate (not amazing, but adequate) instruction that you can come back to later and kick up a notch with another curriculum. You might find it becomes this sort of backdrop that gets done. Then on the days when you have more energy or time you come in with something a little more wicked and kick it up a notch.

 

For us TT *gets done* and math that gets done is better than math that does not get done. When I have time, I come in and do some of the BJU math C level problems and word problems with her. Really though, the foundation of TT is fine. The people who say it's a grade behind aren't quite accurate. It's not behind, it's just not *hard* or as challenging as some of the other curricula. But it gets the basics done, and if you have those basics, you've got something to work with.

 

We got very little school work done during our VT. I think if you get TT math done and something else (to total say 40 minutes) and then do your VT homework, she'll probably be fried. Or at least that's how it was in our house. So totally agree with the doc to take it easy. If she has any issues with shying away from certain games or puzzles, you might make a time slot in your day for that (instead of school work). Start super easy and work up. That way she's getting a treat instead of more school work, but you're getting the application of the vision skills.

 

So how long is your doc thinking on the therapy? It seems torturous and eternal in the moment, but you'll survive. Then you'll come to the other side and have the rewards. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, I'm glad you got a diagnosis. If your daughter is like mine, she'll respond very well to VT, and it will be worth the cost. However, the issue may need ongoing maintenance, I'm finding.

 

Regarding math, how about trying geometry? My kids have a bunch of math storybooks (check out the Sir Cumference series, a BIG hit here) which introduce geometry concepts and give ideas for additional activities. They generally include a few computation examples.

 

Other ideas . . . how is she at counting money? One activity that would not strain her eyes would be to ask her to quickly add up a handful of physical change, or mentally calculate the change from a purchase with a $x bill. Maybe do some word problems that combine both reading and math practice without extra eye strain. One of my dds likes to try to figure out how many years a historical person lived (or whatever), by comparing dates on a timeline. Another variant would be figuring out how far two geographical locations are from each other.

 

I agree with prioritizing the VT for a while, as it will likely help your daughter to catch up quickly once she fixes her convergence issue. I also agree with keeping the math gears greased, but I don't know that it needs to be done for a full class period each day at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dd just started 24 weeks of VT. On the day she goes in we do no school. She goes in the AM and is just too tired and has headaches the rest of the day. The other days we do short sessions all through the day. One thing that seems to help is she does Math Mammoth on the iPad. She doesn't seem to have as much trouble with that vs. pencil and paper. I still break it up to a few 10 minute sessions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you do some of your math work orally? I use almost no textbook/workbook with my eldest for introducing new concepts. We work things out orally with manipulatives. We do a little drill work on paper or through iPad apps, but I break it up into little segments throughout the day. Also, the Life of Fred books might be something fun to go through. You can read them aloud together and then do the problems together orally. They just came out with some new elementary books that will take the elementary series a little bit further. Also, there are numerous good living math books out there that you could read together.

 

I'm taking my eldest in to be evaluated next week, but have already been doing some of this as his headaches have increased during the past months.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...