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[mommy25]

My dd now wears bifocal contacts to give her extra boost with her close-up work.  That's enough for her to bust through the remaining weakness OneStep is talking about.  My dd has low muscle tone overall, and your eyes use muscles.  So you make the pathways with the VT to get the function *and* get them stronger.  However the stronger is going to fade on some kids, even though the pathways in the brain remain.  So that's where the glasses or contacts can help, yes.  

 

Yes, my daughter is wearing contacts with the bifocal in them. I really have to work the therapy thing out. 

[mommy25]

I am sorry the VT person can't/won't offer things that could make it within reach. That is so frustrating!

 

By the school, I wondered if the district (I think you said township) would be willing to run the additional test. It's not an intervention, and sometimes they just need to be pressured or asked using the magic, secret code word. It's okay if you don't pursue this! No pressure from me. Some districts will do the bare minimum, but if you ask for specifics, then they will do more. It's just the nature of bureaucracy to be weird and idiosyncratic. Otherwise, I would not have mentioned it. Don't let my suggestion make you feel bad!!!

 

I am sorry things are so difficult. :-( 

 

So its ok to ask for this even if she has never been enrolled in a public school?

 

Thank you  :)

[OneStepAtATime]

You are so very sweet! Thank you for taking the time to write and encourage me. It means the world to me! 

 

I love your suggestions, too. I like the idea of working in 20 min increments. 

 

It never crossed my mind that I should go back to a phonics program for an 8th grader who's 5'10, 140lb and a basketball player?! I just figured if she can read the words she didn't need it. She just can't stay focused on it without her mind wandering. Do you really think it would help? What about the Apples and Pears spelling books? hmmmm.....

 

I am gonna look at Elizabeth's phonic page, too. :)

 

Thank you!   :thumbup1:

Well, if your daughter does not have dyslexia then a phonics based program may not be necessary at all.  If your daughter does have dyslexia (along with the vision issues) then it doesn't matter how old she is, it matters that she may not have the building blocks needed for efficient decoding and fluency in her reading.  That usually means using a phonics based program to help her get those building blocks.  

 

FWIW, Wilson and Barton and other OG based programs are used by all ages above 4 years old.  Barton in particular is actually not for little bitty kids.  It was created to be used with people from 5 to 105+ since there are a lot of teens and adults out there that are undiagnosed dyslexics or dyslexics that were never given the instruction they actually needed to learn an efficient way to read for how their brains work.  They usually need a solid, dyslexia friendly phonics based program and have often only been taught with whole language/sight word instruction (like my DD).  They are missing key pieces of the process and those key pieces need to be explicitly taught.  They don't come automatically from just exposure.

[kbutton]

So its ok to ask for this even if she has never been enrolled in a public school?

 

Thank you  :)

 

Generally, public schools will do evaluation for homeschoolers. It's their responsibility to identify all students with learning issues. Sometimes the fact that a child is in a private school setting makes it more circuitous, but yes, they have to test. What tests they run gets murkier.

 

For circuitous, in our state, if a student is in a private school, the school district the private school is in AND the school district the student resides in have to both be involved.

 

As for what test to run, you sign a permission to evaluate form, and before you sign that form, you (and the school) should be investigating what kinds of tests need to be run. If dyslexia is likely, then a CTOPP should be run to rule that in or out. Some schools do not like the dyslexia word, but IDEA (federal disability regulations for schools) has given guidelines saying that it's appropriate to use the word dyslexia when it applies. It will still be categorized as SLD reading or language or something like that.

 

People with more dyslexia experience can chime in, but if the CTOPP is normal, dyslexia is a lot less likely to be the real problem, and then you are back to vision being probably the only issue. Still doesn't solve the vision issue, but it gets you to one overriding issue instead of two potentially big issues.

[Code Lyoko]

So its ok to ask for this even if she has never been enrolled in a public school?

 

Thank you  :)

Actually, yes you can ask a public school to do testing but you need to do it in writing.  Be as friendly as possible but be prepared to be firm and follow up.  

[kbutton]

P.S., it's okay to take a bit of time and gather evidence that she needs evaluations. They might try to argue if the school didn't send her to evaluations, However, if you can document that she had issues in school and continues to have them at home, that's a pretty strong argument for testing. 

 

In order to start the process, you have to state, in writing, that you want them to evaluate her for special education (IEP). Without written notice, they can hem and haw a bunch. With written notice, they have a legal obligation to get things moving.

 

It could be that the township testing, as you phrased it, was this kind of testing. If so, you should have paperwork you signed. It might also still be possible to ask them if they would run a CTOPP because they didn't the first time around. If THEY are saying dyslexia without confirming it, then they should be following up on that. 

[kbutton]

Yes, she gave me a very detailed report. 

 

I don't remember anything about lining things up....

 

She did mention that she needs larger type. I was thinking of putting up a large white board for instructing her and also for her to work out problems. 

 

I believe you are allowed to copy any book you own for the purpose of enlarging it. 

 

Font size and extra white spice was a REALLY BIG HELP to my son. The white board would help.

 

If the VT didn't mention issues with lining things up, perhaps she was not thinking about math problems. Or, it could be that your DD does not have tracking issues. Kids with tracking issues have more trouble reading across a line and that sort of thing. Or, they stay on the line, but then they miss letters and small words (which looks like dyslexia!!!). My son would manage to stay on the right line at the expense of getting all the words correct and not missing little words. The testing did show that he had some troubles with tracking though. 

 

If you have a list of issues, some of us that did VT might be able to comment on what kinds of homework or therapy tasks our kids did for those issues or how those problems played out in their work. Just having a clearer picture of that might help you troubleshoot or at least accommodate things.

[mommy25]

I believe you are allowed to copy any book you own for the purpose of enlarging it. 

 

Font size and extra white spice was a REALLY BIG HELP to my son. The white board would help.

 

If the VT didn't mention issues with lining things up, perhaps she was not thinking about math problems. Or, it could be that your DD does not have tracking issues. Kids with tracking issues have more trouble reading across a line and that sort of thing. Or, they stay on the line, but then they miss letters and small words (which looks like dyslexia!!!). My son would manage to stay on the right line at the expense of getting all the words correct and not missing little words. The testing did show that he had some troubles with tracking though. 

 

If you have a list of issues, some of us that did VT might be able to comment on what kinds of homework or therapy tasks our kids did for those issues or how those problems played out in their work. Just having a clearer picture of that might help you troubleshoot or at least accommodate things.

 

They diagnosed her with Binocular Vision Disorder, Accommodative Spasm, and Suppression. They wanted her to have 24+ weekly one hour therapy sessions. 

 

The accomodative score was NRA +1.75 with the goal being at least +2.25

The PRA -3.00 with the goal -2.25

 

The Binocular part (eye teaming) - her eyes working together close up was bad -- score was 12/22/2 with the goal 17/21/11

 

There was something called Stereoacuity and she had 50" arc and the goal is 20" arc

[kbutton]

They diagnosed her with Binocular Vision Disorder, Accommodative Spasm, and Suppression. They wanted her to have 24+ weekly one hour therapy sessions. 

 

The accomodative score was NRA +1.75 with the goal being at least +2.25

The PRA -3.00 with the goal -2.25

 

The Binocular part (eye teaming) - her eyes working together close up was bad -- score was 12/22/2 with the goal 17/21/11

 

There was something called Stereoacuity and she had 50" arc and the goal is 20" arc

 

I get the impression, by the way, that most ocular motor issues interact with and play off each other, and that is why most people end up with therapy that works on all aspects of vision, and then the therapists customize it for how much of each issue a particular child struggles with. Some tasks work on single issues, and some tasks you add things to in order to bring in more than one area where the child struggles.

 

Both of my kids had at least some exercises for integrating primitive reflexes, and I think that made a really big difference. Exercises like duck and pigeon walking, the lizard activities, bear walking, etc. were done in a specific progression. Those exercises won't hurt a thing. You might need to watch some videos to know how to tell when it's time to move from one to another. Doing them scattershot might not help. If you can find videos, I can find paperwork that tells what order we did them in. I think it's basically prep for the brain to accept the training of vision therapy. 

 

One activity that can be used many different ways is the Brock String. You might google it to see what you find. It works on binocular vision and suppression, and can be used for accommodation. I don't know if you can do it without guidance, but if you find videos where a COVD is demonstrating the issues it works on, it could help you understand what works and doesn't work about your daughter's vision in order to accommodate. Our COVD used the Brock String to show us right in the office what was happening. Our COVD actually gave Brock Strings and exercises to both of my kids in hopes that would help enough that they didn't require a full course of VT. I am probably lucky we have a VT that is like that though! In the end, they both needed short courses of VT.

 

I am sure if the issues are severe enough, the string activities might be too hard. I had one child that started out with just one or two activities on the string, and then did more during VT. He used it a lot. The other child could do the activities but not sustain them, so other activities ended up being more appropriate for him. He perceived the string as too hard (though he liked it at first, because he could do it, just not when fatigued). They changed basically to make it more motivating for him.

 

For accommodation, they use magnifying flippers and near/far activities. For one of my kids, this was the biggest issue. Copying from the board or looking from one location to the other is a really hard thing with accommodative issues. I am not sure what the contacts do. OhE might be able to explain. I am guessing that the brain will pick one eye to use for near vision and one for far away stuff with those contacts, but I don't know for sure. My son basically could not do anything that required him to change the distance at which his eyes were focusing without time to compensate, and even then, it was awful. Larger print and more white space did help this for close up work. At least at home, she wouldn't have to be looking up at the board and down at her work all the time. You could have her doing one or the other. I would think that giving her a break where she could look out the window and spend time focusing on things far away, closer, in the middle, etc. would be a much less difficult version of the same thing and not hurt. But board to paper work is going to be awful. Computer work might be an issue as well. My mom has ocular motor issues (probably where my kids get it), and she finds that scrolling tasks on the computer drive her brain batty. Typing and things like that are okay if she can find a comfortable font size and monitor placement. 

 

From what I understand, the suppression comes about because the binocular vision is problematic, and it's the brain's way of coping. The brain turns off one eye to cope. I guess there are many ways the brain can do this--variations on a theme. It could totally knock out vision in one eye for up close work, or it could alternate which eye it shuts off (even in the middle of a task), or it can cause an eye to stray while doing the task. There may be more possibilities too. If I could not afford VT right now, I would want to know if one eye is turning off totally, and if so, if it is all the time, or just for close up work. Then, I would want to know if there is something you can do to not make it worse (or permanent). My older son had one eye that turned out/straight instead of in toward the object when things got up close, but I think before it started doing that, he had alternating suppression when objects came close. In his case, if someone threw a ball to him, his eyes would take turns looking at it when it came close to his face, and he couldn't quite tell where it was because of that. I think eventually, his brain started turning the eye out instead, and that is when we found out he had issues. He had not been able to describe those issues until our COVD explained a bit about his vision, and then he realized what was going on. It didn't bother his reading until he got to crowded pages with lots of text and no white space, so again, I would be magnifying things, and letting her write on a white board.

 

I don't know if that will help, but maybe it will help it all make more sense and help you figure out things that will make the day-to-day work easier for her.