vision tracking?

[srs]

Is that what it is called when you read words across the page? My 6yo seems to have hit a roadblock with her reading. She does well with either short words and sentences or with larger words when there are only a few on a page (like the Elephant and Piggie books), but she struggles when there are more words on the page. Her favorite things to read are board books, and I think it is because they tend to only have a few words on a page. I am encouraging her to slow down, go one word at a time, don't guess, and to use a blank paper under the line she is on so she can stay focused on that line and not lose her place. I am also wondering if it is time to get her vision tested, or if this is just a normal part of the learning to read process. She has cerebral palsy, which predisposes her to possible vision problems and learning disabilities, but she has not had any problems like this yet.

[ElizabethB]

From my dyslexia page.

 

40L recommends "The Complete Handbook of Children's Reading Disorders" by Dr. Hilde L. Mossefor anyone with a dyslexic student. For each type of reading disorder, she includes explanations of the problem and also helpful tips and techniques for treatment. In her example of treatment of Linear Dyslexia with a cover card, she talks about how the use of a card below the line, while often used, is actually not the best method of treatment. Instead, she explains:

 

A folded piece of paper or, much better, an unlined card should be held above the line the child is reading, not beneath it. This is the so-called Cover Card Method of treating Linear Dyslexia. The reason for this position of the card is that it can steady the eyes, which have a tendency to wander above and not below the line being read, and it can connect the end of one line with the beginning of the next, thus indicating the return sweep and making it easier on the child's eyes. By blotting out all the text that has just been read, the cover card helps the child to concentrate on just that one line he is reading. By holding the card at a slant with the left corner slightly lower than the right, and by pushing it down while he reads, the child steadies his gaze and at the same time pushes his eyes from left to right and down via a correct return sweep from one line to the next. This is by far the simplest, cheapest, and most effective treatment for Linear Dyslexia.

[srs]

Thank you, I am realizing reading your reply that I do not really know anything about dylexia. Off to do some research.

[PeterPan]

Given she has cp, yes you should get her vision checked. COVD is where you find a developmental optometrist. Even a diagnosis of dyslexia does not exclude developmental vision problems. You can have both or one or the other.

[GoVanGogh]

It sounds very similar to my son's struggle with reading prior to his strabismus surgery. I would have her eyes tested by a pediatric ophthalmologist. (Pediatrician and optomotrist cannot properly test for this, has to be a opthalmologist - and will be very visible to you, as they test, whether or not she has it.)

 

The condition is actually common with CP, due to tone issues - same lose or tight muscles elsewhere in body affecting eye muscles. (Believe half of stabismus cases are related to CP?)

 

With my son, it caused him to have very slight double vision and he was seeing a shadow or 'ghost image' of everything he saw. Imagine a page full of words like that! Prior to surgery, we used index cards to block off other words on the page, so he was only seeing a few at a time. Within hours of waking up from surgery, he was reading fluently. It was only post-surgery that he was able to explain to us and the doctor how he saw before and how it affected him. He had the surgery at 6.5 and continues to be monitored - every six months at first, now yearly.