choirfarm Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Well, we went to the conference to see about my 1st grade daughter's test results that was having so much trouble reading. (I hate it...crying.. I felt like such a failure. My boys were in ps for 1st grade and were reading anything you handed to them by the end. ) First of all, her IQ is as high as my oldest boy's who is a Duke scholar. They kept telling me how bright she was. On many areas of the test she was WAY above grade level. However, on several areas she was WAY below grade level. I can't remember it all, but her left to right processing was awful. He eyes don't function together quite right. She can see well in the middle which explains why in Saxon phonics she can read an individual work or do the sight word flash cards, but when you give her a sentence, her tracking and such make it so hard to decode that it doesn't go into memory and so she doesn't remember what she read or realize the word is the same. (Which is why she flunks those reading comprehension sections on the assesments and aces everything else.) Everything he said made perfect sense. So we will be starting at least 22 weeks of vision therapy. She will do some at the office once a week and we will have 20 to 30 minutes to do at home 5 times a week. I know it is silly, but I feel so much better. I really thought that homeschooling was ruining her. But he said that she performed so well because I was working with her, and that most kids with the problems she has would not be reading at all. Most kids he sees in 3rd grade because they failed the TAKS test, and so it will be easier to fix because I picked it up so much earlier. He said to keep going on the phonics as well. So.. if you feel like something just isn't right. Follow your instinct. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I'm glad you found out what was going on. You are doing a great job!!:grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z2_mom Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 just realize that she may be to tired to do all of her school work while she is going through vision therapy. I did vision therapy with my dd at about that age. She was experiencing some of the same issues. I remember her getting headaches after vision therapy because she was working her eye muscles --making them work together and the right way. You could compare to to leg aches after running. I did cut all extra or busy work at that time and all subjects that were not mandatory at that age like science, history etc. We mostly just did reading/phonics, math and vision therapy. She was in second grade when we did it. But I will say that she was a compltely different student when we were done! It was well worth the sacrafice. Any subjects that were not covered at that time were easily caught up. lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mktyler Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Christine, I am so glad you found the source of your daughter's reading program. Interestingly, I found an article the other day for another forum, which discusses this very issue: http://cbcl.mit.edu/cbcl/people/geiger/memo_complete.pdf In the article, the MIT researchers worked to remediate the visual deficiencies (exactly those you described for your daughter) using a notched card. The card was used to only display one word at a time and then moved along from left to right. The experimental group made huge gains over the course of the study and corrected the visual deficiencies. This might be a good alternative if money is an issue for the vision therapy. Another article on a similar subject, suggests that this problem is learned, rather than in born as the visual deficiencies are not present in pre-reading young children. So a couple of things to think about as you continue instruction. 1) don't teach sight words. Teaching kids to look at a word as a whole may lead to the visual deficiencies your daughter is experiencing because it emphasizes a broad area of focus rather than a narrow field of focus which moves from left to right. If you want your daughter to read words you haven't taught yet, just break the word down. For example, the common sight word 'people' can be taught as p for the sound /p/, eo for the sound /ee/, p for the sound /p/, le for the sound /l/. 2) start with small units such as 2 and 3 sound words. If you have to you can use the notched card spelling by spelling, uncovering one unit at a time. For the word 'people', first uncover the p then peo, then peop, then people. This will help focus her eye attention and discourage whole word guessing. 3) teach far into the code. The English alphabetic code contains over 300 unique sound-spelling correspondences (letters or groups of letters which represent a sound, such as 'ch' for the sound /ch/ as in 'chin', ch for the sound /sh/ as in chef, 'ch' for the sound /k/ as in Christmas--3 sound-spelling correspondences). By teaching many of these correspondences, you will discourage whole word guessing because the parts of most words will be known. Melissa Minnesota Reading Program Junkie dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria/ME Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I wanted to say first of all: You are an awesome mom...you've figured this out, and you are pursuing an answer that will help your daughter. I was always so frustrated that my dd couldn't read and she was so,so, smart and yet I knew she was missing out. I struggled so long to try to figure it out. And when I figured out that she could benefit from VT/OT I sat and cried. VT will help her. My daughter's progress is doing so well. Not perfect, but so much better! Hang in there! It may help,e ven though you think you'll remember forever, to write down her strengths and weaknesses right now. Do it again in 6 weeks, then 12! It will be amazing to see how far you've come! Just a thought with the left/right processing and you may want to research this more, or ask more questions...but my dd10 benefited greatly from OT,also. They worked PHYSICALLY with her left/right stuff. That has augmented VT (or maybe VT is augmenting OT!) a great deal and I've noticed a difference in her slight gravitational insecurity. Please keep us posted, I really love hearing about success stories like these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Good job! I am so glad she is getting what she needs now and not later. It was very brave of you to get her tested. I would feel relieved too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 Just a thought with the left/right processing and you may want to research this more, or ask more questions...but my dd10 benefited greatly from OT,also. They worked PHYSICALLY with her left/right stuff. That has augmented VT (or maybe VT is augmenting OT!) a great deal and I've noticed a difference in her slight gravitational insecurity. Please keep us posted, I really love hearing about success stories like these! Yep, there is a physical component at well. Something about walking a beam and/or working with a ball or something. He also told us to make sure we limit computer game time ( doesn't do anyway) and tv ( we do). The kids were all saving up their money and almost have enough to buy a Wii, which we were not sure about and he said, YES..let them do it because some of those games would HELP her, especially the Wii Fit. He said he would tell us which games to get and which ones not to. He said that balance equipment would help her. He also said that those dance ones would help her.. I don't suppose their are any Christian ones that go with Wii??? Hannah Montana and High School Musical are OK, but I would rather have music that has a Christian message going into her brain. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Glad to hear you have finally got to the bottom of it. Well done for getting her to where she is!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Isnt it great when you get some help that supports you? I had my son tested and he was dx dyslexic a year ago and I had been feeling such a failure with him. But the woman who tested him said I was doing a brilliant job considering he was more than just mildly dyslexic and possibly quite severely- and there was no program she could devise for him that would be better than whatever it was I was already doing ( I told her- copywork, dictation, narration). I felt so validated in my decision to homeschool him. I agree, trust your instincts, and good on you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.