Catching up-dyslexia/vision

[6wishes]

My dd had a neuropsych eval in Jan., and the dr. said there was no reading disorder (but had a low reading score, and clearly struggled), but at the time, she showed signs of dyslexia according to what I had researched. I have since also had vision checked by a COVD, and it was discovered that she needs therapy. I also had an appointment with an OT for a formal eval, and they also recommended therapy. After they talked with the COVD, it was recommended that we do the OT first for a while, and see if this helps with the vision. We have signed up to start the NeuroNet program at home, and work through this and reevaluate vision at the start of the new school year (Septemberish).

 

I am beginning to wonder that she doesn't truly have dyslexia, but rather has the vision issues which are showing themselves as some dyslexic symptoms. I have read that going through vision therapy for some kids can bring them up 2-3 reading levels as this is fixed. My question is, how, as a homeschooler, do you "catch your kid up" if they become capable of doing so? Right now, she's 2 years behind in all subjects (she was diagnosed with a math disorder by the neuropsych). I'm just wondering what I can be doing to try and bring her up at a faster rate than we're going. I'm currently using the ABeCeDarian curriculum with her for reading, and she's doing well with this. With math, we've doubled up lessons to try and move her through faster, and so far she hasn't gotten stopped by any concepts.

 

Thanks for any input!

[PeterPan]

The best thing you can do to help a dc in that situation jump is AUDIOBOOKS. That way you can get LANGUAGE into her that is way beyond what she's physically able to read. Then when her decoding and vision DO kick in she'll take off. Read comprehension is also shaped by the person's prior knowledge. Have her watch the history channel, mythbusters, etc., so she recognizes terms and concepts and has mental pictures of how things work and look. (forces, events, etc.) Even if she didn't get that technical reading disorder label, she still may *think* like a dyslexic. Get Dyslexic Advantage (Eides) and see if it gives you any ideas.

 

Seriously though, get her into challenging audiobooks and put them on while she does puzzles, legos, spool knits, whatever she likes to do. Puzzles would be incredibly good for her vision btw. Go to whatever piece count she needs to be able to do them and work up slowly. Sculpting with sculpey would also be really good for her. When my dd did VT we went back and started doing puzzles. I would buy 2 of the same count so we could race. Obviously I let her win, but she got better and got very, very fast as the VT progressed. I can't remember if we started with 35 piece puzzles or 60, but it was something like that. All the way down to kiddie puzzles, as low as it takes till she's comfortable. Do several of those every day for a week, then try the next level up. (35,48,60, etc.) At one point I HID one of the pieces from dd's puzzle, and her vision was at that point good enough that she realized it even though the puzzle had a ton of pieces (150-200, I forget). It was totally hilarious, lol.

 

She must have a lot of OT issues if they're saying to let it go that long. Our place suggested OT and VT concurrently. Vision holds back school so much, and 3 months of VT can make a HUGE difference in functionality. *I* wouldn't let the VT go until September unless it's absolutely necessary. OT for us was nice, but VT was essential and life-changing. I don't know what neuronet is. Is it for vision? If finances are tight, I'd rather have VT once a month and tons of homework so you can make the progress. OT *can* help, but it's sort of shaking the opposite end of the stick.

 

Well good for you on all the changes! That's the age my dd was when we started VT. Seriously, she was in 5th grade, newly 11, end of the school year, and we hit our wall and started doing evals. It's a journey, but really it's NOT the end of the world, NOT too late. I wouldn't screw around, but it's going to be fine. My dd read a book this past week by an anthropologist and his wife who spent a year in Iraq, and when I asked her page counts and how long it took (trying to guage for this coming year), she says yeah, it was a really slow read, small print, took extra time. Took her 5 hours on a 350 page book. And that's SLOW for her now!!! :lol: