No more patience...am I teaching challenged?

[Heathermomster]

I am lost. Why would a third grader need to see his scores on a test specifically written to measure academic knowledge and facilitate future teacher planning?

 

My DS has never seen or cared to ask about his SAT-10 scores. SAT-10 days mean no homework and pizza afterwards with friends. And for what it is worth, his low scores from 3rd grade have jumped by about 35% points. The high scores remained high and the mid scores flew en masse due to modified teaching and time. Try, try, try not to make a big deal of that test.

[Storygirl]

CLE is not colorful.  It's black and white, though it does have a few pictures here and there. But it is written directly to the student, so it is not teacher intensive, except for grading.  I grade the workbooks every day and go over every missed problem with my children, because I think that is actually where they do the most learning. I know some families allow the students to grade their own work, but we don't. If it has to be colorful, you might want to look at Horizons.  Many people think it is a great program, so it might work for you, even though it wasn't best for us.

 

You can find samples of Horizons online at christianbooks.com (the placement test does not show actual workbook pages, but the samples do) and see CLE samples and placement tests at clp.org. 

[Hottater]

Story - yeah, CLE doesn't seem like it would be good for a VSL

 

Heather - Ugh -- he overhears everything, and we can't keep some things from him. Not because we want to share, but he needs to know what we are going to do next. Plus for me to talk to the assessment people from the school system, grr... there's nothing I can actually "hide." 

[Pen]

Edited to add that our county expects us to state his grade level.

 

We are also required to state an official grade level as part of our home schooling laws. It can be the same as what they would be at a local public school without redshirting, or one year ahead or behind from that.  I think psychologically it IS easier to redshirt early, and then, if the child seems to be doing well on everything at a level that fits the higher grade level, to advance him/her at that point, rather than to have to hold a child back at a later age.  But it is probably not that big of a deal when at home one way or another since the social aspect of what class they will be in at school does not exist. 

 

It is also not that big of a deal in the home school context, because we can still use whatever materials fit the child for each subject individually--some may be on grade level as stated and others ahead or behind. In fact, it is possible that the stated grade level has no actual material used at that level, but is more or less a mid-point for various materials. Here, the child has to do std. testing at the stated grade level, or higher and submit them according to the legal requirements.

[Hottater]

Ok, meesa happy now. I have my ds's developmental optometry visit next week (he gets his glasses then :( -- I wish it was this week....) apparently $25.00 copay.    I have a school psychologist and a speech language pathologist that will be at the IEP meeting through the nearby elementary school system through Child Find. Whew! so glad I don't have to fork out $2500 or wait 6 months to find out what the issues are. Sigh of relief. 

[Hottater]

Thank you everyone... it's confirmed tracking issues. He needs Vision therapy. I saw how his tracking issues were like a 1st grader. I'm not nuts. They put on the prisms and visual tracking monitor goggle things and his eyes were jumping all over the line in the reading. Wow... I had been trying my hardest to make him track with my finger or a index card and now a line reader/view finder since k4 and I'm glad I was at least close in my trying to help him read but now it's clearer that he back tracks way too much when he's trying to read. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Thank you everyone... it's confirmed tracking issues. He needs Vision therapy. I saw how his tracking issues were like a 1st grader. I'm not nuts. They put on the prisms and visual tracking monitor goggle things and his eyes were jumping all over the line in the reading. Wow... I had been trying my hardest to make him track with my finger or a index card and now a line reader/view finder since k4 and I'm glad I was at least close in my trying to help him read but now it's clearer that he back tracks way too much when he's trying to read. 

so glad you have some answers  :hurray:

[mommymonster]

My son went through VT for tracking issues. It wasn't easy or popular with him, but it has made a difference! Congrats on getting some answers and moving forward! 

[OneStepAtATime]

Thank you everyone... it's confirmed tracking issues. He needs Vision therapy. I saw how his tracking issues were like a 1st grader. I'm not nuts. They put on the prisms and visual tracking monitor goggle things and his eyes were jumping all over the line in the reading. Wow... I had been trying my hardest to make him track with my finger or a index card and now a line reader/view finder since k4 and I'm glad I was at least close in my trying to help him read but now it's clearer that he back tracks way too much when he's trying to read. 

By the way, VT caused DS terrible headaches.  He was miserable.  It was not easy at all.  Be prepared, be sympathetic, etc.  

[Hottater]

I am really sad. My DH doesn't approve. He thinks it's a developmental thing that he will grow out of. (I told him it's been two years, and he's still slow). I'd rather pay the money (he thinks it's a waste of money) than to slug through more slllooww years. 

 

When I talked to the doc, she said both his eyes are working well together, just that when he is reading his eyes have a tendency to back track across the line, and that he needs 4-6 months of VT so far and maybe 6-8 if he also has peripheral issues. IF my insurance makes me pay a co-pay then I'd be spending $750 out of pocket for all the VT visits. IF they don't cover it, then it's out of pocket. 

 

What do you think of programs like rocket reader?  Their free test helped me read from avg to good reader. http://www.rocketreader.com/index.html

 

ETA... does anyone know what a normal person's tracking looks like? I saw my ds' on the screen. But I don't know how to compare that to other reader's his age. They said he was tracking at a 1st grader's age. They gave him 1st grader's reading too. 

 

ETA...Going through with the second test on peripheral testing issues two weeks from now and the Special Ed eval at the end of the month. Glad I am getting some answers and at least he is loving AAS tiles in the mean time. 

[Tiramisu]

My dd had a moderate tracking problem. It was completely gone by the 11th week of VT, going once a week for forty-five minutes and doing fifteen minutes of homework five times a week. The convergence insufficiency took a couple of weeks longer.

[Heathermomster]

You could try to locate another VT and get a second opinion.

[Storygirl]

When had my daughter's eyes checked (she didn't have a vision problem), our pediatrician did mention that he would only recommend certain people to go to, because he didn't trust everyone.  He said that some people around here would tell everyone they screened that they had issues, whether VT was truly warranted or not. I don't know how he would judge this, but I expect word gets around in the medical community. We respect him, and the person he recommended was COVD certified, so that's who we went to.

 

I don't mean to disparage VT at all. I don't know much about it, but I totally believe some people need it, and your son may be one of them. But getting a second opinion might be helpful for several reasons.

 

1) They may confirm what the first doc said, which may help convince your husband it is necessary.

2) They may tell you that your son doesn't really need VT (in which case you will have to decide which doc to trust)

3) They may offer lower prices or a different treatment schedule that would be more affordable.

4) It may give you peace of mind before spending a lot of money.

 

I think VT is one of those things that some people don't buy into, because it is out of the norm.  Can your husband read some things about it online to help him understand it better? Can you ask around in your community to find out if this doc has a good reputation?

[Lecka]

Eye movements can be called saccades.  I bet there are videos on youtube.  I have read a verbal description from the book "Phonics A-Z" by Wiley Blevins.... he says saccades for reading are supposed to go smoothly across the line and then make a jerky movement to the next line.  Something like that.  I don't remember more specifically.  Or --saccadic movement.  Those are the eye movements for reading I think, I am not sure.  

 

My son had a problem with tracking, but his problem was crossing the midline.  The OT (I also saw a VT for eval but my insurance paid for OT but not VT.... in his case the VT told me OT was an option, it was hard to tell in advance if OT or VT would be superior or if either would work.... he said if one didn't work then the other might.... I don't know -- that is what I understood him to tell me, lol).... anyway the OT told me his eyes should make a kind of sweeping movement over a line of text.  And his eyes made a jump up and then down when he crossed the midline, so that he lost his place half-way through a line and then had to find his place again.  Also, this would make him  have fatigue when reading b/c he was having to work hard b/c of this.  

 

So I am not quite sure I understand -- but 2 OTs (one at school, one private, with no equipment, just watching his eyes when he read) and one VT (with the goggles) all told me they saw the same thing with him.  They could all see his eyes "jump" or "skip" and they all told me the same thing.  

 

I am a person who takes a little while to get used to an idea, so if your idea is this way, maybe just give him a little time.  You can also shop around a little, asking about price and how many office visits.  

 

Anyway, I don't know exactly what eye movements are supposed to look like, but maybe you can find something on youtube.  

 

 

[Lecka]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_tracking

 

Well, I looked back at this (curious, lol) and here it says eye movements are not continuous and sweeping, that there is backtracking.  

 

I have no idea, I guess.  I don't know.

 

I never felt like it really made sense to me when the OT explained it to me, either, but he did start being able to read chapter books and not have fatigue (I had done OG reading with him, pretty intensely, and he was reading, but it was not transferring to reading chapter books).  

[Hottater]

http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/post/2010/07/19/Optimal-Silent-and-Oral-Reading-Rates.aspx

 

I timed him twice using this. and he was reading at first-graders timing level still using this test. It matches the COVD analysis. As far as slowness. In timing.

[Tiramisu]

You can sometimes pick up the tracking by just watching their eyes as they read. I've know it was picked up on a friend's child by a teacher. An OT noticed it on my dd. 

 

You might also have them track your finger as you slowly sweep it in front of them. ?? 

 

An OT showed us how dd's eyes jump if you hold a finger about a foot in front of her and slowly bring it in toward her eyes. She said that might [possibly indicate convergence insufficiency. Since she showed me that I've tested it on random people. And, yes, I notice a jumpiness in her eyes as I get close to her face that I haven't noticed in other people.

[Hottater]

Just got the report today its accommodative insufficiency. Still trying to wrap my head around what this translates to as I teach and read further. It's not convergence insufficiency. I know how she used the infrared goggles to track eye movements, and I could see the back tracking. Am interested in how they plan on correcting spasms. I didn't know you can correct eye spasms.

 

 

[Hottater]

Apparently the accommodation insufficiency is a depth perception issue that the person get headaches.

[ElizabethB]

My remedial students with underlying vision issues have had minimal progress with any program until they completed vision therapy. Also, the therapy is tiring, you should do simply oral spelling and perhaps large print phonogram practice while therapy is in progress. Some of my remedial students with underlying vision issues have been fine with single words in large green uppercase letters in a white board, but not all of them can tolerate that.

 

A girl who completed therapy could went through my phonics lessons quickly after completing her therapy and made tremendous gains, nothing she did before vision therapy helped much. My lessons also did not work before the vision therapy.

[Tiramisu]

Apparently the accommodation insufficiency is a depth perception issue that the person get headaches.

 

I don't think this is completely correct. My understanding from having read up on this before when my dd's issues were discovered is that it's a focusing problem regarding the time it takes for someone to to bring things into focus and the ability to maintain focus.

[Hottater]

Doh! Tirimisu- you are correct! My wording was wrong Accommodative insufficiency is a focus issue, can be coupled with depth perception issues issues because of the time it takes to focus.

 

Elizabeth b thank you for helping me know how to proceed. I had in mind the aas phonograms, and so glad I purchased them my d's loves them for spelling. Besides line readers I'm not sure about how to proceed with spelling and writing and math.

[PeterPan]

Hottater, a couple suggestions.  I didn't keep up on all the progress on your thread so I'm late, sorry!  It seems to me your roadblock is the incorrect assumptions your dh is working from, so I suggest you see if you can politely CORRECT those.  Bargain with him (with a dinner and a back rub?) to see if he would be willing to go to the VT doc and let the doc explain what's going on.  No it will not magically go away.  

 

I wouldn't spend any more on curriculum when you have a vision problem.  Draw a line in the sand and be a firm Mama!  See here's the deal.  When the developmental vision is off (convergence, focusing, tracking, etc.), then not only are the eyes not working right but the VISUAL PERCEPTION that should be developing is not there either.  Did that VT doc test visual perception?  When my dd started VT, she had the visual memory of a *2 yo*.  The COULD SORTA EXPLAIN why spelling was so hard!  No one should have to teach through that, and your dc shouldn't have to suffer through that.  So the $150 that you would have used to buy new curriculum should go in a little envelope toward VT.  And the next $150 curriculum you would have gotten should be skipped so the money can be put in the envelope for VT.  And then in a couple months, start the VT.  

 

You CANNOT BUILD ON A NON-EXISTENT FOUNDATION.

 

Other options?  Well we talked about educating the dh.  Option 2, call around for price points from other VT docs.  Option three, get the VT doc to do once monthly sessions with a lot more homework where you promise to be exceedingly diligent and practice 20-30 minutes a day.  (you'll probably need to decrease formal academics during that)  Option four, and utterly the least desirable, is to get the book on amazon and do it yourself.  It WON'T be as effective and you'll have inefficiencies, insecurities, etc., but it can be done.  It's the what do I do when there's no money or no access to care and I need to do SOMETHING option.  It's a fine book written by a former head of COVD.  

 

I will say the price you'd be paying sounds AWESOME.  We paid that much for one month.  You're getting a bargain, and if your doc is good you're crazy not to do it.  Be more forceful and don't give up.  I didn't get VT for my dd till she was in, oy, 6th grade?  Talk about waiting too long!  Talk about years of unnecessary suffering!!!  Only a person who is out of the loop and knows nothing about it could just pretend this all goes away.  The skills aren't going to magically appear because they should have developed when he was 2 and 3 for pete's sake.  Seriously, my *5* yo can do the VT exercises.  I could not even BELIEVE it.  He's low tone, just like me, just like dd, but my 5 yo can blow through things my dd shed tears over at 11.  So your dh is dead wrong and you should stand on this and inform him.  I'm not meaning to get in the middle of your marriage and ruin things or cause you to not submit or something.  I'm just saying husbands need to act on INFORMATION, and right now he's not acting on information.  My goal with my dh is to get him information so we can come to where we need to be.  We had to wait on VT a while with dd, because the money wasn't there.  Waiting wasn't fun, but we did it.    So just work through it and inform him.  I'd let the doc do it though, because you don't really have the answers to his questions.  The eye doc will.

[Hottater]

Oh Elizabeth, thanks, problem is that the vt that I talked to said she accepted our insurance then I called my ins. carrier and they said she isn't in network. So they wouldn't pay. This is after I had called twice just to make sure. My Insurance does list an ophthalmologist that has worked with a friend of mine's ds who had muscle problem in his eye that caused focus issues, I don't know how similar his issue is compared to my son's situatuin . But I'd hate to discontinue just before the perceptual test with the current doc, because they don't have their credentialing for in network services corrected.

Along the lines of delay- my ds just got his glasses my hubby wanted to wait until d's' eyes adjusted to his new glasses. We kinda agreed to a one week trial before a second opinion test. Hopefully it's all covered. I really want to not delay and work hard on it through the summer. So we're not going into the school year with the major 4 month added push back.

What is low tone?

[ElizabethB]

Oral math facts can also be done. Skip counting, math facts. Maybe memorizing some common spelling rules and math formulas and definitions. Oral work on parts of speech and their definitions...

[sbgrace]

OP, if there are visual issues, I wouldn't spend another dime on curriculum. However you manage it with hubby, that needs to be corrected first in my opinion. My son could do nothing else in that time when were doing VT. We did our homework every day. It's really hard work--the hardest work I've done with him in many ways--and exhausted both of us.

 

You might see if the VT could meet periodically and assign homework. We did that with my son, primarily because he was so severe that any extended time spent with in office work was pointless. But it did save on costs.

[Hottater]

Oral math facts can also be done. Skip counting, math facts. Maybe memorizing some common spelling rules and math formulas and definitions. Oral work on parts of speech and their definitions...

I'm laughing inside. -- It just reminded me when one of my friends said when we first started homeschooling... " You don't need to be singing your way all through education for all your facts" Hmmm... seems like we might... LOL This past year He memorized all 50 states and capitals using wacko's 50 states song, a long psalm, He knows all the FLL grammar definitions, when prompted with a little help. He still has some practical application issues with the parts of speech. For a VSL kinesthetic kid to be taught using very slight vsl methods... Is kinda tough...The odd part: on his testing for the Stanford 10, he performed below average, but, his reading comprehension was normal  for the VT. Guess I should just use the MUS skip counting song cd that I bought eons ago. I thought, bah, let's memorize it visually... Welp, he confuses the stories on www.multiplication.com sometimes too much. Now he's confusing songs between the 3's multiplication and the 4's multiplication songs... sigh... time to review! 

[PeterPan]

I'm laughing inside. -- It just reminded me when one of my friends said when we first started homeschooling... " You don't need to be singing your way all through education for all your facts" Hmmm... seems like we might... LOL This past year He memorized all 50 states and capitals using wacko's 50 states song, a long psalm, He knows all the FLL grammar definitions, when prompted with a little help. He still has some practical application issues with the parts of speech. For a VSL kinesthetic kid to be taught using very slight vsl methods... Is kinda tough...The odd part: on his testing for the Stanford 10, he performed below average, but, his reading comprehension was normal  for the VT. Guess I should just use the MUS skip counting song cd that I bought eons ago. I thought, bah, let's memorize it visually... Welp, he confuses the stories on www.multiplication.com sometimes too much. Now he's confusing songs between the 3's multiplication and the 4's multiplication songs... sigh... time to review! 

Well if he's visual, you need to BUILD the patterns, not just use words.  I've got my ds doing basic skip counting using beads from a mancala set, lines on the clock, etc.  He needs to BUILD them then TOUCH them as he sees that it really is two more and counts.

 

Btw, RonitBird has this super awesome technique where they "find" quantities inside other quantities.  So we make the dot pattern for 5 or whatever with beads and then we actually sit there and manipulate the beads and see how many 1s we can find, 2s, 3s, etc.  It made something click in his mind, so now he can work with me to find 2s inside of larger numbers.  And then when you ask how many 2s you found, well there were 4 twos in 8...  Let's count them!  Two, four, six, eight...  Hmm, nifty, eh?  Much better than just throwing bunches of abstract numbers at them.  RightStart tended to use a lot of words, despite the idea that it was supposed to be so visual and visualizable.  RB is turning out to be awesome on that front.

 

On the grammar, play lots of games.  You can make collages.  I have a little game where you spin for the part of speech and then select the picture/word card and build sentences.  Writing Tales has terrific grammar games that you can do kinesthetically.  Diagramming is good with VSL.  Shurley with diagramming added was good for my dd.  I got FLL1/2 (for the 2nd time! I sold my copy 10 years ago) to use with ds this fall.  I think we'll do some of the lessons (not all) and build collages.  We just have fun with it.  People take grammar WAY too seriously and try to make it too abstract.

 

Remind me.  You've had him psych eval'd and looked for CAPD?  That's kind of weird that he's confusing those songs...

[Hottater]

Oh no -- partial neuro psych won't happen until the end of the month I thought capd was a typo for covd! I gotta look this stuff up.

[PeterPan]

We aim to keep you happy, with lots of alphabet soup.  :D

 

Well congrats on getting the psych eval process started!  That will be good!  :)

[Tiramisu]

Oh no -- partial neuro psych won't happen until the end of the month I thought capd was a typo for covd! I gotta look this stuff up.

 

Your health insurance may cover a capd evaluation; ours did even thought they don't cover vision therapy. That should make your dh feel less pressure about it. 

 

Central Auditory Processing Disorder. You'll want a pediatric audiologist who is well versed in all its presentations. 

[Hottater]

I am sure he doesn't have a CAPD. If he did, he wouldn't have memorized the 50 states and capitals song. I think it's just easy confusion. I have to review it several times too, cause I don't know the song well, and we'd been relying on the multiplication.com associative visual memorization method for awhile. And when you have to sing descending notes in a math song, it could feel like just a bunch of numbers randomly grouped together in a song to memorize or too similar a song.  For example, Jesus loves me this I know tune for 3,6,9,12, 15, 18 ( I don't know if  Is close to MUSee's Zacheus 4's song in that they both have descending melodies for the beginning. Multiplication of the 3's is easy to confuse with the 4's, I guess.  Until I isolate it enough it's easy to get confused - I only played it on two days. Not enough repetition on my part and the space between the repetition was far apart, like 3, 4 days apart. I tried to get him to use the 9 trick with your hands more often, but he forgets to use it.

 

Edited to add...So multiplication.com is a visual math associative property multiplication method, MUS Song CD is skip counting audio math multiplication method, and 9 trick using hands is kinesthetic method. We'll see if he gets it in 2 weeks.  LOL

 

ETA.. I talked to the special ed team on the phone today as I was about to confirm with them for the meeting on Monday. And they had some better testing questions to add about how I worked with my son. I'm thinking I am really going to feel inadequate. Like with math, I think that a lot to do with any slowdown, is because my dh isn't thorough enough with his follow through. It's all too easy to just let him watch the video and expect him to get it. I have been marking an x by the ones he has wrong and telling him to redo them with me there, but somehow I don't know how "good enough" that is.  

 

My dd keeps on forgetting the number 15 in all her work... 

 

Thank GOD for VBS' the vacation is for MEEEEE!!! 

[merry gardens]

You might check out Ann Arbor publications workbooks. These are used by some vision therapist to work on tracking. I did them at home with my son before we went to a covd. We eventually did get VT but it went far quicker than initially predicted and I think the work we did at home helped it go faster.

I am really sad. My DH doesn't approve. He thinks it's a developmental thing that he will grow out of. (I told him it's been two years, and he's still slow). I'd rather pay the money (he thinks it's a waste of money) than to slug through more slllooww years.

 

When I talked to the doc, she said both his eyes are working well together, just that when he is reading his eyes have a tendency to back track across the line, and that he needs 4-6 months of VT so far and maybe 6-8 if he also has peripheral issues. IF my insurance makes me pay a co-pay then I'd be spending $750 out of pocket for all the VT visits. IF they don't cover it, then it's out of pocket.

 

What do you think of programs like rocket reader? Their free test helped me read from avg to good reader. http://www.rocketreader.com/index.html

 

ETA... does anyone know what a normal person's tracking looks like? I saw my ds' on the screen. But I don't know how to compare that to other reader's his age. They said he was tracking at a 1st grader's age. They gave him 1st grader's reading too.

 

ETA...Going through with the second test on peripheral testing issues two weeks from now and the Special Ed eval at the end of the month. Glad I am getting some answers and at least he is loving AAS tiles in the mean time.

[Hottater]

OOOHHH my gosh! I JUST talked to my ds and asked him, does his letters look like double vision for him? I proceeded to print out dog and then ddoogg and he said it looks more like the ddoogg, but the second looks like there are more letters in it. Then he proceeded to show me how his tt's next together look. And he drew tttt  My poor son!!! We never knew! I showed my DH my son's problems with my ds' glasses on and made him answer my questions in front of my DH and it proved he has the eye issues. 2 ft away everything was doubled. At 1 1/2 ft it was like one item. Why doesn't insurance pay for this? Poor kids and parents that have to go through this! LORD have MERCY!!! A regular eye exam doesn't cover this. My student's mom just told me her kid's teacher had their kids in the classroom tested and 3 out of 30 had eye issues. That's 10% of the classroom! How many kids were probably misdiagnosed? Krikey! I am shocked at the numbers. No wonder there was slow saccades! He doesn't know which letter to focus on when reading, he didn't know how to spell because there are two of everything. THANK YOU EVERYONE ON THIS BOARD that gave advice and  told me to straighten up- there is something wrong get my but in gear, and that my DS is TRYING! Holy moly! I think my dh is more on board now-- that I showed him straight to his face what my ds can and can't do. I am crying with joy and relief and grief inside my soul because of all that time that was wasted but finding a reason. I may have also just seen a student with similar issues. He was an older adult spanish speaking man. And his signature was illegible, he squinted as he wrote and he just wanted to learn how to play the piano. 

[PeterPan]

What a roller coaster!  So you've found your ds has vision problems and your next step is...  you're going to call a COVD doc?  Get feedback on them and don't just go into the first guy you find with a shingle.  This is treatable, so you're going to be FINE!  And by starting now, you're going to have a new kid by fall.   :)  It won't eliminate other learning issues that are going on, but at least you'll solve one thing that is seriously holding him back.

 

Btw, my dd finally disclosed something similar when we got her vision checked by the dev. optom.  On the way over I ask her, just on a whim, if there's anything strange about her vision that she'd like to tell me.  She says well I don't know if it's normal or not, but do you want to know that I have to pick what to bring into focus?   :lol:    Like everything is blurry till I pick the thing I want to see and bring it into focus.  Oh yeah.   :glare:

 

Well glad you're finding things!  COVD is where you find a developmental optometrist.  Keep us posted and good luck!   :)

 

​I'm trying to reread what you wrote before.  So he's getting double vision with his new glasses?  That's convergence.  But he's had the glasses long enough.  Means VT.  Work your butts off for the summer, and in the fall he should be a lot better.  :)

[Hottater]

Oh E- I was told accommodative insufficiency and stereopsis issues. Not convergence or problems with binocular vision by the COVD optometrist. I'm like huh??? 

 

 

 

[Heathermomster]

Holy cow! When do you think he will start VT? Please keep us posted.

[PeterPan]

Oh E- I was told accommodative insufficiency and stereopsis issues. Not convergence or problems with binocular vision by the COVD optometrist. I'm like huh??? 

I guess just roll with it.  Fortunately they are things for which you can do the homework and make it better.  :)

[Hottater]

Holy cow! When do you think he will start VT? Please keep us posted.

His perception test is next. Then she would devise therapy, but we still have insurance coverage issues to deal with at the moment. 

 

 

 

The perceptual testing battery includes the following:

 

Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS-III)

Jordan Left-Right Reversal Test

Piaget Left-Right Awareness Test

The Dyslexia Screener (TDS)

Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI)

 

The purpose of perceptual testing is to assess visual processing skills, awareness of laterality and directionality, screen for both visual and auditory forms of dyslexia (to determine if formal dyslexia testing is necessary), and to evaluate visual-motor integration.

[Heathermomster]

You mentioned up thread meeting with a special ed team. Since your DS has been seeing double, I seriously doubt ANY math program would have been effective, unless you made him close his eyes and taught him to use an abacus. With the COVD testing that you already have, I think any public school official will understand why your DS has had difficulties.

[Hottater]

My ds is amazing - to have gone through ALL the curriculum in my signature. Including K-3  he played at least 5-7 piano pieces memorized. All with these visual difficulties. He is my genius. Wow... I am so entirely proud of him. He persevered through all my tiger momish-ness since he was a little itty bitty thing and endured all of this stuff despite his visual difficulties. I am truly humbled. Even though his mountains were higher than mine ever were, he climbed them anyway. My eyes are brimming with pools and his are brimming with duplicates.  :crying: :crying: :hurray:  :hurray:

 

Heather - I wonder how they will do the write up since we know what it is now...

[Heathermomster]

 

His perception test is next. Then she would devise therapy, but we still have insurance coverage issues to deal with at the moment. 

 

 

 

The perceptual testing battery includes the following:

 

Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS-III)

Jordan Left-Right Reversal Test

Piaget Left-Right Awareness Test

The Dyslexia Screener (TDS)

Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI)

 

The purpose of perceptual testing is to assess visual processing skills, awareness of laterality and directionality, screen for both visual and auditory forms of dyslexia (to determine if formal dyslexia testing is necessary), and to evaluate visual-motor integration.

 

 

 

 

 

Heather - I wonder how they will do the write up since we know what it is now...

 

What is the purpose of the write up?

 

I have no clue what the write up will say, and your DS hasn't completed the above testing that you mentioned.  He scored at or slightly below average on the SAT-10, which is no big deal for a host of reasons, plus you have info from the COVD that proves his vision issues.  Whatever these people write, I cannot see it reflecting poorly on you or your family.  

 

Your DS has achieved quite a bit for what he has struggled with.  Now is the time to look your child in the eye, hold him, hug him, and apologize to him for any hurt.  Explain that the VT is going to be difficult, but you are a team and will get through it.  Between the two of you, come up with a signal that he can use to tell you when he is feeling overwhelmed with school.  He needs to trust that you will back off and not be upset.  Children respond differently to stress.  Some become angry, lash out, or refuse to work.  Some children go inward.  My child turns inward, and the NP believes he goes inward because he is my eldest and wants to please.  You need to be a place of safety.  Yes, you are his mother but in terms of academics, think for yourself as a facilitator to learning.  OhE used that phrase recently.

 

And future academics... you must be thinking of catch up work, and how to do that.  Don't panic.  Stick with the 3Rs and follow the advice of the VT moms. Good luck!  

[Hottater]

Heather - sorry for the arbitrary question, of course you wouldn't know what it would say... I am just cheezily posting all these questions in my mind and "typing out loud" lol.

 

IEP's are individualized education plans. So they would basically lay out the next order of things to teach him so that I can guide him into the next concepts to follow based on what I have and what his special needs are. Of course, I am just thinking to myself  how I would  teach everything, by song-- That just seems weird.  I could except for division, there aren't division songs that I know of heheh.  Too bad he has to use the other modalities of learning to compensate for the visual stuff being off for 4 months while therapy works. He would probably get tired doing therapy 20 minutes a day.  I bought veritas press history time line - I guess we could just start those in song. Then I'd have MUS - times tables by song and veritas history by song, while the rest of the therapy goes on. I would leave grammar alone, science is still apologia, and that leaves me spelling with rod and staff with the kinesthetic phonogram cards of AAS, and reading and writing. Art - is already part of science so far, although, we borrowed cd's about famous painters from the library these last two weeks. Not much hands on - which I should get some done before the portfolio review in two weeks. Just want to be organized. I will present his partial  diagnosis letter and such. 

 

Oh wow I took 4 transparent sheet dividers green blue red and orange, on all he saw double or somewhat double except for the green one. I am no COVD, but isn't that Irlen syndrome?

 

 

 

[Heathermomster]

I thought you might be talking IEP.  

 

You could teach your DS to use Soroban abacus while he's in VT. There are student abacus books available that spell everything out nice and neat.  You could teach both your children at once.  You could also work on logic type activities from Mind Benders.

 

Science and history could consist of documentaries and read alouds.  For literature, again use read alouds, scribe for him, and ask Socratic type questions to make story charts. My laptop is dying..Gotta run.  

 

 

[PeterPan]

The point of many manipulatives is to get a dc to VISUALIZE the concept.  The point of the VT is to fix the physical barrier so the dc's ability to visualize can finally kick in.  When you've got a dc who's been doing a TON of processing with auditory, they may be shying away from using their visual processing because it has been weak.  So part of rebuilding is to get that visualization working and start using it.  

[Hottater]

http://www.visiontherapycalgary.com/whats-new/New-News-Item,544683  I just found this. Irlen vs VT and studies differentiating it. I am shocked, when I put that green transparent sheet folder divider over his eyes from far away the doubling stopped. At one point without the green transparent divider he told me a zebra was upside down on the page down, and all my fingers were everywhere. I had NO idea this was happening. 

 

Oh also GREAT ARTICLE http://heartofthematteronline.com/vision-therapy-from-skeptic-to-cheerleader/ 

[Tiramisu]

The point of many manipulatives is to get a dc to VISUALIZE the concept.  The point of the VT is to fix the physical barrier so the dc's ability to visualize can finally kick in.  When you've got a dc who's been doing a TON of processing with auditory, they may be shying away from using their visual processing because it has been weak.  So part of rebuilding is to get that visualization working and start using it.  

 

This is very true. My dd who just had VT has always been an auditory learner who does not seem to visualize much. 

 

It's very interesting that she just took a placement test for high school and what she complained about after the 2.5 hours of testing were her eyes, how they became so tired after looking at the white pages for so long and how she thinks that affected her performance. It's not that she was tired but her eyes were. So we did see improvement with VT but there's still some kind of weakness that I want to ask about our covd fellow about. I'm also looking forward to seeing the results of the different math tests and gauging if there was any real impact. One math test was a one hour test given by itself on one day. The other math test was part four of a five part test given altogether on another day. 

[emilycarter]

I suggest you to do a full neuropsych evaluation. A NP can test for ADD/ADHD and any other learning issues.
 

[Hottater]

Just a couple more links my COVD optometrist sent that might help all of us will VT issues with our kids. Using this as my resource thread.

www.covd.org

www.oepf.org

www.pavevision.org (parents active for vision education)

http://www.childrensvision.com

www.visiontherapy.org

[ElizabethB]

http://www.visiontherapycalgary.com/whats-new/New-News-Item,544683 I just found this. Irlen vs VT and studies differentiating it. I am shocked, when I put that green transparent sheet folder divider over his eyes from far away the doubling stopped. At one point without the green transparent divider he told me a zebra was upside down on the page down, and all my fingers were everywhere. I had NO idea this was happening.

 

Oh also GREAT ARTICLE http://heartofthematteronline.com/vision-therapy-from-skeptic-to-cheerleader/

I use green pens and all uppercase on the white board with my remedial students and green font on my online lessons because that color seems best for the majority of students. That being said, if I think any if my students has an underlying visial problem, I encourage them to get it fixed.