[quangle~wangle~q...]

Hi everyone,

last week for the first time DS brought home a reader from school that had a fairly dense page of text in comparison to what he has been reading. Between about 9-12 lines of text, probably about 14 point size.
He had real difficulty keeping his place on the page, often skipping lines or just simply being lost about what word he was up to.

In brief, DS is 8, year 2 in NSW, PDD-NOS, and recent IQ test putting him in the borderline for everthing but verbal comprehension. He has regular vision tests and had some tracking difficulties earlier on which have resolved.

He is not a fantastic reader (level 20 NSW) but not a really struggling one either. He has not thoroughly learned all the letter sounds, and still reverses things like b,d in both writing and reading.

Is this difficulty followng the text something I should flag for concern? And if so, for what?

I will ask his teacher when I see her next, but just wondered what the general concensus might be. I have a bit of a history of doubting the validity of my own concerns and taking the wait and see approach, which hasn't really paid off, so I want to be a bit more proactive in terms of knowing when to push for answers.

Thanks

[i-love-my-son]

edited

This post has been edited by i-love-my-son: 20/08/2012, 08:37 PM

[Silvers]

My DS who is also in grade 2 had this issue and we saw a behavioural optometrist who identified vision processing issues.

He has just completed 16 weeks of vision therapy and can now read novels without losing his place and his reading has become a lot more fluent in general.

The usual optometrist (eg OPSM) is unlikely to pick up these issues so you should specifically see a childrens behavioural optometrist if you haven't already done so.

[Myprincesses]

It may be worth getting his visual perceptual skills assessed thoroughly espceially since he has had tracking issues in the past. Letter reversals for both reading and writing should have resolved by 7 so that is also a concern. It is also common for with ASD, ADHD and PDD-NOS to have issues in the area.

This can either be assessed by an OT (just makes sure they can assess this properly otherwise it would be a waste of money) or a behavioral optometrist. Both assess the same areas but will treat slightly differently. It may also be worth having a speech review considering he is still struggling with the sounds of letters.

I have worked in the area as an OT. The impact that visual perceptual issues can have on all areas of learning is huge. With a bit of therapy in the area I have seen huge gains in academic performance for some kids.

[howdo]

I too would start with behavioural optometrist

[saudade]

We were given a 'mask' - a rectangle of cardboard about the width of the page with a rectangle cut out of the centre so about three lines of text could be read at a time. The reader moves the mask down the text as they read. This solved the skipping lines problem in about two weeks. Ask your teacher about it.

[ani1]

Dyslexia maybe? My DD 7 has it. I will post a link for you

http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/disabi...ml?mobile=false

[quangle~wangle~q...]

Hi again,
thanks for all the replies.
I have a bit more information if any of you are still reading.

The optometrist we see is listed on the ACBO's website. I am not sure if this actually ensures that he is a behavioural optometrist, but he is definitely more than just an OPSM style one. He has done a lot of testing on our various visits.

DS was tested by an OT about 12 months ago using the Motor Free Visual Perception Test and was in the 30th percentile which was apparently within range, though it put him at the level of a child 5yrs 10 months when he was 7yrs 3 months.

I will see his teacher tonight and will ask her then, and also about the mask. If the above testing seems to have covered the most likely problems, is it worth worrying about it further at this stage, or just give him some time and see if it resolves?

I am finding this is the problem I have with all our testing. I get individual reports from all manner of professionals and they all make notes about his previous tests, but what I really want is someone to look at ALL the reports and collaborate the information and advise me on what to do next. It seems to me that these things (the speech, the IQ, the OT issues, the ASD) must all impact on each other and it is perfectly possible that there is ONE thing that impacts across the board, that if identified and worked on, might facilitate improvements across all areas.

What I don't know is what sort of person I need to do this?

Confused, as usual.

[Myprincesses]

Just Pm'd you.