Race to Nowhere

I would love to see this film. As far as I can tell it is not being viewed anywhere near here, though I suppose I could push for it to be shown somewhere, myself.

Anyway, the link below is to another's comments on the film. Very interesting. I would love to sit in on a discussion of the film and the topics generated by it.

Race to Nowhere

Homeschooling has always been something I have had in the back of my mind. Heck, back when Will was getting ready for Kindergarten and we lived in our old neighborhood it was more like in the forefront of my mind! I wasn't going to send him to the neighborhood school and we seriously contemplated it. Chris would do it in a heartbeat right now. Reading what this guy had to say about the movie made me really think. Really think about the pressure we are putting on our kids.

I laughed when Ben asked me if his grades were good enough to get him into the University of North Carolina. He is in 3rd grade. That should not have even come out of his mouth. It should not even be in his head... but it is. Who put it there? I am sure it must have been us. I am sure over the years as he has talked about being a Tarheel, we have said, "Oh Ben. You have to get really good grades to go to that school. That is a really tough school to get into." I know we have said those things.

Then I think about how we celebrated the heck out of their straight A report cards. Of course, we should celebrate, but how much pressure did we just add to next quarter's report cards. B's are fine. Even C's are fine. I got a lot of B's and C's growing up. Sure I wished I could do better, but I didn't and my parents were always very accepting of my grades.

There was something in the article that really hit home with me. It talked about a boy who was at the screening the author went to who spoke after the viewing. He made a comment about how he would come home from school or sports and his mom would immediately ask him, "Do you have any homework? How did your test go today? What do you need to study?". That is ME! I do that every single day. To me, I am just checking in, planning out the evening in my mind as far as who needs to get what done. But, this kid said it just added to the pressure he was already feeling from school. Is that what I am doing to my boys when I ask that. I sure don't mean to be, but I can see how it would be seen that way.

So, as of today, I vow not to make that the first thing out of my mouth when they get home anymore. Instead I'll offer them a snack or something fun to do. Or just a hug. I am going to consciously watch what I do and say and try to catch myself from adding to the pressure. I am sure I do it in ways I don't even know.

A Fly on the Classroom Wall: Memory Strategies to Use in the Classroom

Wow, what great ideas!!!! I am definitely going to try some of these out for Will at home!

A Fly on the Classroom Wall: Memory Strategies to Use in the Classroom

Great Information on Vision and Reading

Borrowed from www.childrensvision.com

I feel this does a great job explaining how these vision issues can effect a child and his or her learning.

Throughout grade school, the demands placed on children in the classroom are great. However, no task is more challenging in those early years of school than learning to read.

Reading requires children to accurately use all of their language, decoding, phonetic, and visual skills to successfully recognize words and gather meaning from the written text. Unfortunately, about 20% of school-aged children struggle to read. Some of these children suffer from learning disabilities or dyslexia, the inability of the brain's verbal language or auditory processing centers to accurately decode print or phonetically make the connection between the word's written symbols and their appropriate sounds. However, a large portion of children struggling to read are not dyslexic at all; their phonetic awareness and language processing skills are fine. It's their vision that is interfering with their ability to read.

Vision plays a vital role in the reading process. First of all, children must have crisp, sharp eyesight in order to see the print clearly. School vision screenings routinely check children's sharpness of vision at distance--measured by the 20/20 line on the eye chart--and refer children for glasses if they have blurry far-away vision and can't see the board from the back of the room. Unfortunately, this is all school vision screenings are designed to check, and children's vision involves so much more.

For success in school, children must have other equally important visual skills besides their sharpness of sight, or visual acuity. They must also be able to coordinate their eye movements as a team. They must be able to follow a line of print without losing their place.  They must be able to maintain clear focus as they read or make quick focusing changes when looking up to the board and back to their desks. And they must be able to interpret and accurately process what they are seeing.  If children have inadequate visual skills in any of these areas, they can experience great difficulty in school, especially in reading.

Children who lack good basic visual skills often struggle in school unnecessarily. Their "hidden" vision problem is keeping them from performing at grade level, yet teachers and parents often fail to make the connection between poor reading and the child's vision.

The following information summarizes each of the major areas which can interfere with a child's school performance.   

Learning-Related Vision Problems

Eye Teaming         Tracking         Focusing        Visual Perception        Visual Motor Integration

Eye Teaming Problems

Our eyes are designed to work as a team, but each eye functions independently.  When we look at something, the right eye records the image and the left eye records the image.  Then the two separate images are transmitted up the optic nerves to the brain, which combines them into a single picture.  For the visual system to work correctly, each eye must aim at the exact same point in space so that the images being recorded are identical.  This allows the brain to combine, or "fuse", the two incoming images for clear, comfortable single vision. However, if the eyes aren't aiming together, then the images being recorded are slightly different.  If the disparity is great enough, the brain can't combine the two pictures.  The result is double vision.

Unfortunately, about ten percent of school-aged children have eye teaming problems-- technically, called convergence insufficiency or convergence excess.  At the close up distances required for reading, children with eye teaming problems are only able to aim their eyes together correctly for short periods of time.  As their ability to accurately aim their eyes breaks down, their eyes end up pointing at slightly different places on the page. The result is a great deal of visual strain and eventually blurred, scrambled, or double print. 

Example:  

Of course, reading and comprehension become increasingly difficult as the child strains to aim both eyes at the same place to keep the print from blurring, jumping, or splitting apart like this:

In addition, children with eye teaming problems can be highly distractible, finding it difficult to concentrate and remain on task when the strain on their eyes is so great. (In fact, many of these children are often  misdiagnosed with attention deficit disorder.) Other symptoms of eye teaming problems include loss of place as the print "swims" and moves, eyestrain, fatigue, headaches, and frustration. 

To keep from seeing double, many children with eye teaming problems end up suppressing an eye.  In other words, their brain "turns off" one eye by neurologically blocking its visual input.  This allows allows them to maintain single vision because they're just using one eye.  While suppression helps the child cope, but it's extremely tiring and robs the child of concentration.

Because these children have always seen this way, their vision seems normal to them. They don't recognize that they're fighting their eyes harder than anyone else just to maintain a clear, single picture. Very rarely do children realize something is wrong and report transient double vision or the eye strain and fatigue which usually accompanies suppression.

Left undiagnosed and untreated, eye teaming problems can appear to be a learning disability or dyslexia.  They are not. Eye teaming disorders are visual problems, not language-based reading dysfunctions. The symptoms, however, are similar and only a complete eye exam by an developmental optometrist trained to diagnose and treat eye teaming problems can determine for certain if vision is the basis of the child's struggle to read.

The good news, however, is that eye teaming problems can be treated very successfully. One type of teaming problem called convergence excess is often corrected with reading glasses. Another teaming problem called convergence insufficiency is usually corrected through vision therapy. Vision therapy is  a series of special eye exercises and treatment procedures prescribed by doctors of optometry that correct problems that glasses alone can't help.  During therapy, the child learns to gain control of his or her eye muscle coordination and builds the eye teaming skills necessary for success in school.

 

Tracking

Tracking skills, or the ability to control the fine eye movements required to follow a line of print, are especially important in reading. Children with tracking problems will often lose their place, skip or transpose words, and have difficulty comprehending because of their difficulty moving their eyes accurately.  Many are forced to use their fingers to follow the line because their eyes can't.

When we read, our eyes don’t move smoothly across the line.  Instead, our eyes make a series of jumps and pauses as we read.  The small jumps between words or groups of words are called saccades.  The brief pause we make while looking at the words is called a fixation. After a fixation, we move our eyes to the next word or group of words—another saccade.

This very precise coordination of jumps and pauses is controlled by our central and peripheral visual systems.  Our central vision processes what we’re seeing in clear detail and defines what we’re looking at. Our peripheral, or side vision, simultaneously locates surrounding objects and let’s us know where to look. (These two systems are sometimes referred to as the "Where is it?" and "What is it?" systems.) In reading, our central vision processes the word, while our side vision locates the following word and tells us where to aim our eyes next.  The integration of these two systems is what allows us to efficiently move our eyes along a line of print without overshooting or undershooting, or mistakenly aiming our eyes at lines above or below. If there is not continuous, fluid, simultaneous integration between these two systems, reading will be jerky, loss of place will be common, and comprehension will be poor.

Children with tracking problems can't control their eye movements at close ranges. The following is an example of how their eyes move during reading, especially as they fatigue:

Focusing

Our focusing system, technically called accommodation, allows us to see clearly, especially up close.  Our eyes are designed for distance vision, so when we look at something up close, the natural lens in our eye has to change shape to redirect light rays on the retina for near objects.  At the close ranges required for reading, this is the visual skill needed to maintain clear sharp images for extended periods of time. It also includes the ability to quickly shift focus when looking from near to far, such as when looking from our desk to the board.  For children with accommodation problems, print will become progressively blurry as they read for longer periods of time, and their eyes will fatigue from the strain of trying to keep the print clear. Sometimes children with focusing problems will hold their books very closely or lay their heads down. Headaches are very common.  Reading glasses are often prescribed to help shore up inadequate focusing systems, but sometimes therapy is need to improve a child's focusing stamina.  

If a child is struggling with his focusing system, print on the page will often look like this:

.

Vision Perception--the ability to interpret, analyze, and give meaning to what is seen. Visual perception skills can be broken down into the following areas:

Visual Discrimination--the ability to determine exact characteristics and distinctive features among similar objects or forms. In reading, this skill helps children distinguish between similarly spelled words, such as was/saw, then/when, on/one, or run/ran.  

Visual Memory--the ability to remember for immediate recall the characteristics of a given object or form. This skill helps children remember what they read and see by adequately processing information through their short-term memory, from where it is filtered out into the long-term memory. Children with poor visual memory may struggle with comprehension. They often subvocalize, or softly whisper to themselves, as they read in order to help compensate auditorily. They may have difficulty remembering what a word looks like or fail to recognize the same word on another page. They may also take longer copying assignments because they must frequently review the text.

Visual Sequential Memory--the ability to remember forms or characters in correct order. This skill is particularly important in spelling. Letter omissions, additions, or transpositions within words are common for children who struggle with this skill. They often subvocalize (whisper or talk aloud) as they write. Recognizing and remembering patterns may also be a problem.

Visual Spatial Relations--the ability to distinguish differences among similar objects or forms. This skill helps children in understanding relationships and recognizing underlying concepts. This area is closely related to the problem solving and conceptual skills required for higher level science and math.  

Visual Spatial Orientation helps us with letter reversals. Many parents and educators considered letter reversals after age seven to be a symptom of dyslexia. While this can be true, the most common cause of reversals in older children is a lack of visual spatial development--consistently knowing left from right, either in relationship to their own bodies or in the world around them. Children with poor visual processing have not developed adequate skills in visual perception and spatial orientation, such as laterality and directionality.  Also, children who experience frequent double vision deal with such visual confusion that their brains often misinterpret their visual input.

Visual Form Constancy--the ability to mentally manipulate forms and visualize the resulting outcomes. This skill helps children distinguish differences in size, shape, and orientation. Children with poor form-constancy may frequently reverse letters and numbers.

Visual Closure--the ability to visualize a complete whole when given incomplete information or a partial picture. This skill helps children read and comprehend quickly; their eyes don't have to individually process every letter in every word for them to quickly recognize the word by sight. This skill can also help children recognize inferences and predict outcomes. Children with poor visual closure may have difficulty completing a thought. They may also confuse similar objects or words, especially words with close beginning or endings.

Visual Figure Ground--the ability to perceive and locate a form or object within a busy field without getting confused by the background or surrounding images. This skill keeps children from getting lost in details. Children with poor figure-ground become easily confused with too much print on the page, affecting their concentration and attention. They may also have difficulty scanning text to locate specific information.  

.

Visual Motor Integration

Twenty percent of the raw visual data coming off the retina does not go back to the visual cortex for imaging but breaks away and travels up to the brain's motor centers to help with balance, coordination, and movement. Visual motor integration, commonly called eye-body or eye-hand coordination, is a critical component of vision.  Think of it as a visual "follow the leader": the eyes go first and tell the muscles where to follow. 

Gross Motor Eye-Body Coordination--the efficient visual input to the body's relationship with its surrounding space, commonly referred to as eye-body coordination. Good visual motor and bilateral integration skills allow children to use their visual systems to monitor and adjust placement of their body weight against the gravitational forces on both sides of their body's midline, allowing for good balance and coordination. Children with poor eye-body skills may have difficulty in such areas as sports, learning to ride a bicycle, or general "clumsiness." 

Fine Motor Eye-Hand Coordination--the efficient visual input into the body's fine motor system. Children with poor eye-hand coordination may have poor handwriting and take longer to complete written assignments. They usually become frustrated over time and lose concentration, resulting in less time on task.  

.

            Help for Children who Struggle 

There is help for children who struggle to read and learn because of poor vision skills. A developmental optometrist who specializes in children's vision can run a complete diagnostic workup to determine to what extent a child's visual skills are hindering school performance and prescribe vision therapy to correct the problems.  Vision therapy is the science of remediating inadequate visual systems by improving function and performance.  Vision therapy is highly successful, supported by decades of research and the testimony of countless parents and children whose lives have been changed when dysfunctional vision systems are restored to normal. Remove a child's stumbling block to learning, and you allow him the opportunity to succeed.  

 If you suspect your child may be struggling because of an undiagnosed vision problem, you may want to review the checklist of common symptoms.  The first step in helping your child is getting good information. To locate a qualified behavioral optometrist who provides vision therapy contact the national certifying board of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development at 1-888-268-3770 or visit their web site at http://www.covd.org.   Also, your family optometrist can be a good resource.  Ask if he or she provides vision therapy or if they can make a referral to a colleague who does.

You may be interested in reading the resolution passed by the national PTA. Because so many school-aged children are struggling with vision-based learning problems, the Parents and Teachers Association is calling for better school screening methods to identify at-risk students. 

 

The Children's Vision Information Network was created to raise public awareness about potential vision problems in children.  This site is not intended as a substitute for a complete eye exam and professional advice from your family optometrist.   Parents, teachers, occupational therapists, psychologists, and related professionals have permission to make paper copies of information contained in the site for educational, non-profit purposes only, with the condition that credit is given to this site and the URL is included.  We invite other websites with related missions to link to our site; however, please extend us the professional courtesy of not copying our content directly to your site without written permission.  Direct specific inquiries to Mary Barton, Director of Vision Therapy, at VTdirector@childrensvision.com.

Update on report

I spoke to Dr. L on the phone the other day to get some more information on the report she had sent to me. It was a good conversation and I feel like I have a better understanding now.

She made a good point to me about not getting caught up in the test scores. They are merely a snapshot in time and he could take the same tests on a different day and get a different score. With that said, she did address my questions about the one test in particular that he had such vastly different scores on. She said that it is promising to her to see such discrepancies because it shows that he is capable of scoring high. He is capable of the work. But, for the two areas where he struggled so much. That says he really has issue in those areas, but they are fixable and with some work he can bring those scores up. She said that if he had scored poorly across the board then we would have a bigger problem.

She is excited he is working with Dr. T. and more excited to test him again at the end of the 12 weeks we spend with her. She wants to see how the therapy effects the conditions she found in him. She believes, as do I, that what Dr. T is doing is wonderful and helpful in so many different ways. Not only tackling the vision issues but also the cross brain training and sensory training. It is all very helpful. Dr. L did say that Dr. T does not have a whole lot of activities addressing the Convergence Insufficiency, which is Will's major problem. She told me that she was going to send me a Brock String, and one to Dr. T, for Will to work with. I received it just yesterday. Takes some figuring it out, but I am definitely going to work with Will on it. She suggested continuing with the push-ups as well, to help work on the convergence issues.

She gave me some other ideas of things Will can be doing at home to help with the areas he struggled on the tests. Hidden picture puzzles, the game Simon (sequencing), puzzles, etc... So we found a great website for online hidden picture puzzles. He has already played on it a couple of times and liked it.

I feel so lucky to have these resources for Will. They are pricey, but well worth it.

Vision Evaluation Report

At long last we received a fax of Will's evaluation with Dr. L, the Developmental Optometrist. Maybe it makes me a geek, but I love to get these reports with all the test results. And then I love to go and google what everything means and try to make sense out of it all. It truly fascinates me! But, enough about me!

There were many different tests and sub-tests that she did that day with him. I'm not sure if I want to just list them out or give a general summary. I guess I'll start with the summary and see where that leads.

His general eye health is perfect. No signs of disease, 20/20 vision. But that is where the word "perfect" ceases to apply to Will's vision! There seem to be many issues in play here. From mild farsightedness to difficulties with oculomotor control. The Developmental Eye Movement Test showed an age equivalent of 8 rs to 8 yrs 11 mo. This has to do with tracking. He showed difficulty with rapidly shifting focus from distance to near. Performance with his right eye was poorer than the left.

He has eye teaming issues, which is the Convergence Insufficiency. This causes Will to use excess effort to take in and process visual information and will reduce hi ability to sustain visual attention.

Then we move on to reversals. On the Gardner Reversals Frequency Test he scored either an age equivalent of 7 or 8 years on each of the three subtests. Does this mean dyslexia? I don't know, nobody has used that word.

The Visual Form Perception testing was fascinating. The abilities tested here are essential for quick and accurate identification and discrimination of objects, for comparing similarities and differences, recognizing and generalizing forms and coming to valid conclusions based on the accurate analysis of available visual information. (That's a mouthful!) Anyway, the results on the sub-tests ranged from the 99.6th percentile to the 2nd percentile. Crazy, crazy variations! He scored highest in Visual Spatial Relations and lowest in Visual Form Constancy and Visual Figure-Ground. On the others he scored relatively high, too. The report states that deficiencies in visual form discrimination may result in difficulty recognizing similar forms, shapes or words, making valid visual judgments and identifying relevant information.

The last test is the Beery Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. He scored an age equivalent of 7 yrs. 8 mo. which is a 16th percentile rank... A deficiency in visual-motor integration may result in increased difficulty with handwriting, copying fron one place to another, and reduced ability to express ideas in written form.

The following  conditions were found to be present:
Convergence insufficiency, divergence excess, exophoria, binocular dysfunction, and accommodative insufficiency. She recommends vision therapy, possibly lenses and possibly education tutoring.

Not sure what all this means completely. But, I am thrilled we are already involved in the therapy with Dr. T. Chris has noticed a difference in Will's attitude and his teachers say they have seen a difference over the last month in his attention (and they had no idea he was attending vision therapy). So, we are headed in the right direction. I'm looking forward to a conversation with Dr. L to get a few questions answered about the testing. Just to clear a few things up.

Will will go back for re-evaluation in another couple of months. It will be great to see if his scores improve any.

Drum Roll Please...

I officially have a straight A student! Actually, two. Both of my boys received straight A's on their first quarter report cards. I could not be prouder! This was the first quarter Ben received letter grades, so it was so nice to see him so excited about them! And all A's at that.

As for Will. This was a first. He has been receiving letter grades for two years. But, had yet to receive a report card full of nothing but A's. He did it this time! He was so very excited about it and rightfully so. He worked darn hard to earn those grades. He really, really did.

We have been seeing Dr. T for his vision therapy. He has been three times now and he enjoys it a lot. I can't notice a difference in anything yet, however, with what she does I cannot see how it is not helping him. Lots of sensory integration activities as well as vision therapy. I have noticed fewer headaches. Who know if that is an effect of the therapy or what. But, it is an improvement.

We conference with Will's teachers in two weeks. I am looking forward to touching base with them about how Will is doing. I know he got straight A's, but I also know a lot of effort went into making that happen. The speech pathologist from school, that called me a couple of weeks ago, mentioned that his teachers said he has some attending issues. I want to hear more about that and how they think that is effecting him and what they suggest.

But, for now, we are just thrilled with his effort! He was so into keeping his grades up. He really showed pride in his work and accomplishments and desire to do well. It was great to see!

Rounding Third and Headed for Home...

More on what this is all about here.

So the end of the 1st quarter of 5th grade is right around the corner. Currently, Will is holding on to straight A's. Barely.

He is so excited and so motivated to do this. It is exciting to see. Science and Reading are the two subjects where he is teetering on the edge of a B. So, we are working extra hard for his Science vocab test coming up next week and on his Science Weekly worksheets.

Vision therapy has more or less been a no go. We do it when we think about it, but it is just hard. I have been in touch now with a Dr. T, who lives not far from here, who does vision therapy on her own in her home. She works with several children right now and Will can probably join her group. He and I are going to go observe next Thursday. Dr. L, from New Bremen, is actually going to be coming down the week after that to meet with Dr. T about Will, which is just wonderful. I have very high hopes for fixing his problems by fixing his vision issues...

I had an interesting conversation with a mom from church while we were at camp last weekend. Her daughter has been diagnosed ADHD and with auditory processing disorder. Her type of ADHD is the same type as Will's. She and her husband were as anti-medication as Chris and I are. They absolutely did not want to go that route. At some point, though, they decided to give it a try and they were absolutely shocked by how well it worked. In fact, their daughter thanks them for it. School became a breeze for her. Wow! Wouldn't that be wonderful? If school could just become a breeze for Will? Is that even possible? It is so hard to imagine. School has always been a struggle. Could a pill really free up his mind and make it work the way it is meant to? It sounds too good to be true, except it's not. Too good, I mean. I hate, hate, hate the thought of making him take a medication. I told Chris about it. He was intrigued, but we are still a long way from going that route.

So, two more weeks left in this 1st quarter. Can he do it? Can he hold on to his A's? He is determined to, though I have pointed out to him that B's are great, too. That a B is nothing to be disappointed in... But, he wants those A's! It's nice to see the motivation!

Sweet Words

Will at the top of the Solo Challenge in the pouring rain at Spring hill!!

My sweet, sweet boy said the sweetest thing to me tonight. I decided I just had to capture it somewhere so that I never forget and I decided this blog was as good a place as any.

He had had an overwhelming amount of homework so far this school year! Some weeks are worse than others, with this being one of those weeks! Of course we were gone all weekend at Springhill Camp (see photo) doing all kinds of fun stuff. We were specifically instructed to leave all homework and school stress at home, so we did! Anyway, that left us/ Will with a lot of homework to get to tonight.

He has a math test tomorrow, a social studies test on Wednesday along with a Vocabulary test on Wednesday. That is bad enough. But, he also has his Weekly Reader due on Thursday, his Science Weekly due on Wednesday, his skill review due Thursday and his mixed review due Thursday. His social studies study guide was due today and his Wordly Wise vocab sections D and E are due on Wednesday. So. Much. Work.

So, I had him complete section D of Wordly Wise on his own. Then I went over it with him. He missed 8 out of 10. Ugh! I was frustrated. We went over it and he figured out most of the answers on his own with very little prompting from me. As we go toward the end and I was pointing out to him how many he missed, he said to me, "I am so happy I have parents who go over this stuff with me". Then he said, "If you hadn't gone over this with me I would have gotten and F." Then he said, "Thank you, mom". And he gave me a hug. Yes, he really did. I thanked him profusely for being so appreciative and he hugged me again. He told me that some kids don't have parents that go over their homework with them and that he is lucky. He told me that one day last year, Mrs. C asked the kids to raise their hands if their parents worked with them on stuff at home. He said that he, "of course", raised his hand but that some kids didn't. He said he felt sorry for those kids.

Ahhhhhhh.... what a feeling! I can't even describe it. To have your 10.5 yr old boy be appreciative and thankful is just amazing! The rest of the evening went smashingly well!!! He was so willing to keep on working and it was great. Just great!

I love my boys!

How do vision skills affect schoolwork?

 Here is some great info I came across on vision skills and why they are so important to be successful at school. I think this particular Q&A covers much of what troubles Will in the classroom.

Q.   What are the vision skills necessary for classroom achievement which can be provided through vision therapy?

A.   It has been estimated that 75 to 90 percent of all learning in the classroom comes to the student either wholly or partially via the visual pathways, the child cannot develop to his fullest potential.

There are numerous learned skills that the child must develop in order to achieve in the classroom.

The most obvious skill is that the child must already have learned to coordinate his two eyes together. If he has difficulty in this area, he might be perceiving overlapping images or -- if he is not perceiving in this manner -- he is using an abnormal amount of effort to overcome the coordination problem, thus reducing performance.

In addition, he must have learned accurate, smooth versional eye movements and quick, accurate saccadic movements so that he can point his eyes where he will with a minimum of effort.

Focusing ability must be adequately developed so that it can be maintained over extended periods of time. Also, accommodative flexibility must be present so that attention can be shifted quickly, smoothly and effortlessly from book to chalkboard and back to book.

Form perception must be developed so that he can make the many fine discriminations necessary to distinguish one letter from another and one word from another.

Span of perception must be wide enough so that he can read in terms of ideas rather than letter-by-letter or word-by-word.

The left-to-right directionality pattern must be firmly established so that eye movements are carried out in the conventional direction for the English language.

Visualization is one of the most important visual skills, and it is vital for reading, spelling, and particularly, abstract thinking.

In brief, these are some of the visual skills needed for success in school. But I would like to emphasize that since all of these skills are learned, it is possible to train them to a more highly skilled degree.

So, now that we have the diagnosis we need to get diligient about the the vision therapy. Setting the time aside for it has proven harder than I would have hoped. We got some done before school this morning, which was a good thing. I created a sticker chart, I just need to find a good reward for him that will motivate him to want to do it. You would think just making school like easier would be enough motivation! ;) Maybe not for a 10 yr old! 

Visual problems and sports performance

Borrowed from Vision Learning Center blog. We are realizing how much Will's vision issues effect every aspect of his life. It has become painfully obvious watching him play in his soccer games. His timing is off, he misses the ball, he jumps when he shouldn't. We are realizing it could be in big part to his vision. Articles like the one below help explain why it effects sports performance.

Efficient Visual Skills & Contact Sports - Gaining The Upperhand On Your Opponents

Friday 14 May 2010 | Posted by Dr. Mary McMains

Good Coaching and Talented Athletes are NOT Enough
Even with excellent coaching, practice and knowledge of the game, sports performance can be below potential with an inefficient visual system.  Many athletes live with visual systems that give inaccurate and/or incomplete information.  They deal with this by either over or under compensating during their game. Once properly coached and physically trained, inconsistent or inaccurate athletic performance is usually not due to an incorrect physical movement.  Poor performance can be caused by the movement being performed at the wrong time or place. 
You want an athlete to trust their eyes and react quickly to what they see.  You do not want an athlete to second guess or take the time to compensate around inaccurate visual input. 
Many professional coaches and teams consult with behavioral sports optometrists to help with picks, analyze the team and train individual athletes in areas such as volleyball, baseball, hockey, football, shooting and golf to provide them with a competitive edge and to ensure their athletes are performing at their very best.
Efficient Visual Skills are Vital to Consistent Sports Performance
Seeing clearly and good eye-hand coordination is NOT enough to support superior sports (or academic) performance. Elite athletes require a highly precise and aligned visual system to be accurate EVERY time.  Superior strength, ability or speed cannot make up for inefficient visual processing of the “where” and “when” of the ball and body.  Vision directs the intelligent movement of the body (the eyes lead the body).  The more accurately the visual system takes in and processes visual information, the more accurately it can direct precise motor movement. 
What is Vision?
Vision is a dynamic, always changing process of organizing, interpreting and understanding what is seen.  It is a process that integrates sensory and motor information generated by the eyes, brain and body to derive meaning and direct movement. 
It involves 70% of ALL pathways of your brain and integrates with all the other senses including vestibular (balance) and proprioception (knowing where the body is at all times).
Using your eyes to gain reliable and accurate information is important when you do the following:

• Interpret the distance of the ball, the net and other players in relation to yourself
• Estimate or follow the trajectory of the ball
• Motor plan to correctly calculate the effort needed to impact the ball
• Coordinate the eyes and hands to impact the ball in the way intended
• Maintain the right amount of visual attention and awareness of the ball, net and players at all times

Visualization is a vital visual skill and an important area to train for ANY athlete.  It is a fact that true professionals visualize more clearly and obtain more reliable information than average players.  Proper visualization primes muscle memory and can guide efficient action even before it is executed.
Binocular vision is necessary for three dimensional viewing.  It gives you figure ground relationships, visual balance, depth perception, and distance judgment.
How a Sports Vision Screening Can Benefit You
Sports vision screenings obviously do not provide you with ALL the information you need on your players.  It is a piece of valuable information that can give you a considerable competitive edge. 
Visual skill analysis can help you with the following:

• Aid in picking your team by providing more information on potential players
• Understand your players’ visual strengths and weaknesses
• Provide additional information to help position your players
• Remediate visual inefficiencies to improve your player’s performance

Just like any skill, visual skills CAN BE TRAINED.
Visual Skills Screened

• VISUAL ACUITY - This is a measure of eyesight, or how clearly you see. This ability affects visual discrimination and reaction time.
• REFRACTIVE STATUS - The amount of nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and/or astigmatism as well as the equality of power between eyes (anisometropia).  Refractive status is related to clarity of sight and the effort with which clarity is maintained during a match.
• EYE MOVEMENT CONTROL – The ability move both eyes from one point to another (saccades) and smoothly track an object (pursuits) with speed and precision.  These abilities relate to accurately keeping the eyes on the ball.
• FOCUS FLEXIBILITY - The ability to modify and maintain clarity of focus with varying changes in target distances.  Focusing is involved with all aspects of play, particularly at a high level of performance.  This ability relates to the effort to maintain clarity of the ball, players, net and sidelines at all times and is a significant factor in visual fatigue.  Testing conditions are performed with both a distant and near target.
• EYE TEAMING FLEXIBILITY - The ability to keep both eyes simultaneously aligned on a target with changes in target distances, and maintain this alignment in various positions of gaze and during dynamic balance to keep the target fused into one image.  Eye Teaming is involved with all aspects of play, particularly at a high level of performance.  This ability relates to the maintenance of depth perception, spatial localization and can adversely affect effort and fatigue.  Testing conditions are performed with a near target, distance target, under stress and in motion.
• DEPTH PERCEPTION - A product of good eye teaming, fine depth discrimination is the ability to accurately judge and react to distances between objects in three dimensional space quickly and with precision. This ability relates to the prediction of the position of the players, ball and net, as well as the SPEED at which these judgments can be made.
• SPEED & SPAN OF RECOGNITION – The ability to take in an amount of visual information over a unit of time.  This ability relates to the speed at which an individual can recognize that a change in visual input has occurred.  It is key in making a quick response.      
• CENTRAL-PERIPHERAL INTEGRATION – The ability to recognize and respond to information in different areas of the visual field while still maintaining focus, fusion and visual attention on the target.  This relates to all game situations and is key in motor planning, maintaining court position, awareness of other players and reaction time.  Testing conditions are performed with no additional distractions and under stress (with a balance board).
• EYE-HAND COORDINATION – The ability to visually know where an object is and make the appropriate visual motor response by controlling, guiding, and directing the hands with coordinated visual input.  This ability relates to making the correct visual-motor responses when hitting or digging the ball. Testing conditions are performed with no additional distractions and under stress (with a balance board).
• VISUALIZATION – The ability to picture something in the “mind’s eye.”  This ability relates to remembering plays, court position, learning from past experiences and planning future action.

A little more info...

Convergence Insufficiency (CI), an eye teaming problem that occurs when the eyes point beyond a near target, such as a book.  When the eyes are pointed too far off the target, symptoms such as double vision, words moving off the page, headaches, visual fatigue and visual inattention can occur. 

I have been doing lots of reading online about Convergence Insufficiency and vision therapy and whatnot. Very interesting and I have found some bloggers that focus on it, too. For example: this one is a good one. Although it looks like he is no longer writing. 

I've also been reading some interesting info on Retained Primitive Reflexes which this gal also covers in her blog. I had never heard about such a thing until this morning. I read about it on a message board and something struck a chord. Could this also be something Will is dealing with? It seems as though it can lead to CI. I'll have to do more reading.

*** edited to add this link to Dr. McMain's newer blog and website. Apparently she dropped the original one I posted here back in Nov. 08 and moved on to another and even still on to her businesses website now. Vision Learning Center

So, the exercises so far have been hard to fit in. Between homework and soccer and some downtime it is really hard to make the time to do them. That sucks and I know it is just an excuse. And, I will figure this out. We made a sticker chart even. Now just to follow through. Not my strong suit! Plus it does not help that everything I read talks about how at home exercises are not nearly as effective as in-office vision therapy. I hate the thought of spending 12 weeks doing these exercises only to find out they did not help and we need to spend 12 weeks in office therapy!

I emailed Dr. L this morning asking her advice on the matter. We will see what she says. Plus I want to get the report. I am curious what it says.

Insufficient

That is the word of the day...

Or rather insufficiency I should say.

Yesterday was Will's appointment at the developmental/behavioral optometrist. We were referred to a doctor that is located in New Bremen, Ohio. Where is New Bremen? Well, it is approximately 2 hours and 3 minutes from my house. That is a long way to travel for a doctor appointment. But, this doctor, Dr. L, came highly recommended.

So, I picked him up from school at 12:30 and we traveled north. We arrived in New Bremen early and hit the local DQ. I had a Blizzard, he had a cheeseburger and a malt. We then traveled across the street to New Bremen Eye Care.

They took him back quickly and performed a quick, standard eye exam. I forgot all about the puff of air. Ouch. He did fine with it, but he had no warning. He came out telling me he got shot by a puff of air in the eye! Anyway, we then went back and waited for Dr. L.

Long story short, she spent 2 1/2 hours with us. She took a brief history of Will, we spoke a little about the report Dr. M did, and she asked some questions about his vision and school and whatnot. She then sent me to the waiting room and she took him into another room to do some one on one stuff. I waited about 45 minutes, until Will came to get me.

We then went back in the first room and she did lots of eye tests and exams. It was interesting to watch. Both what she was doing and Will's inability to hold still. He did great, but man was he fidgety.

So, she still has to score the tests she did with him, but she was able to to tell me that he has both convergence insufficiency and accomodative insufficiency. The testing may reveal more. She did a great job of explaining both disorders and I have done some more research on them myself. (see links) It is amazing how accurate the symptoms are at describing what we see in Will! Also, I read that some studies are finding a link between convergence insufficiency and ADD...

Dr. L. gave us a number of exercises to work on at home. Daily. I am going to make a chart. Both to incentivize Will and to keep myself in check. Daily exercise is something I am not good at following through on! Pencil push-ups, cross overs, wiffle ball following, and snow angels. Examples of his exercises.

So much of this explains his headaches and could help explain his inattentiveness. Dr. L. said that this won't be a cure all, but we could definitely see a huge improvement across the board with successful vision therapy! Music to my ears!!!

School Meeting

I am a bit behind on posting. Chris and I met with everyone at the school last Thursday. I really think it was a good meeting.

Mr.H, the principal, seems to be awesome. He really cares about the kids and it is easy to see. His attitude is that, while we want to provide assistance to make all children successful, we do not want to provide too much in the way of assistance, so that we make a child dependent on it. I don't know if I worded that exactly right, but I think you can get the gist.

I completely agree with that. Some of the recommendations in the psychologist's report were a little much, I feel. Plus, she was coming from a place where she does not know our school's math curriculum and what she saw as Will not being capable of 5th grade math, was really just an example of Will not having been taught how to do it, yet. Yes, he has major math issues, but the kid could not add mixed fractions because he has never been taught that!

Miss P was there and again, it is so easy to tell how much she cares about the kids. She was very excited to show us that Will had earned an A on his math test that week. He missed one problem and when she showed us why, it was just a typical "Will" mistake. It was a word problem and he pretty much just copied the second number wrong. He got that he needed to subtract, which was good. He just wrote $25.00- $12.00 instead of $25.00- $12.50. He did the math correctly, he just wrote it down wrong, and I guess did not doublecheck it. According to Dr. M, she suggests he be given credit for it because he got the concept correct and did the math correct, he just did not copy it down correctly. I don't really agree with that.

How else is he going to learn? Or is she saying he won't learn. That is just a part of who he is and he is going to miss things like that. So, if he gets the gist of it and performs the functions correctly then he should be given credit. I have mixed feelings, I guess. They certainly are not going to do that for him in high school, maybe not even in middle school. I feel like if we don't make him see where those mistakes are happening and we don't get him in the habit of double checking his work, then those mistakes will continue. Right? But, if the bottom line is that we want him to understand the concept of the problem he is working on, then he demonstrated that he did, maybe he should be given credit. That is a tough one...

So, Mrs. S, the counselor, wanted to know what we will be doing about the ADD and the anxiety. I don't know why, but I felt like she was asking what drugs we will be giving him. Of course, that is not what she said, but I took it that way. I told her that we were going to try other things first, that Will is not a behavior problem, which Miss P. had started the meeting out by saying as well. So, Mrs. S. then asked what tips the psychologist had given us to deal with ADD and the anxiety. I told her I would talk to her about that. Maybe she wasn't fishing for med info, but it felt like it.

Mr. P, the school psychologist, was there, too and he spoke a little about the speech/language pathologist of the school and that any testing they would do would indeed only be in regards to how any impairment might affect Will's school work. But, Mr. H. and Mr. P. agreed to ask her to observe Will in the classroom and share any observations she might have. We are going to stick with that for now and see where that goes.

There are a lot of great options for math help at LIS. There is a group called the Fact Finders Club that meets every morning before school on the 5th grade floor. IT is led by two intervention specialists and they drill the kids on their math facts. They track what they are working on and where they need more assistance and they work them through it. It does not cut into class time or anything. Will started that this morning. I'll be anxious to hear how it goes!

They also offer 'morning intervention' three times a week. I can drop Will off at 7:15 and he goes to the art room. There are 5th grade teachers in there, always a math teacher, plus reading, science and social studies. He can work on homework or just get some extra practice or whatever the teacher sees fit. Miss P. does it every other Tuesday, so we are going to start that tomorrow. My goal is to have him go every Tues and Thurs morning.

Will seems committed to these ideas, which I was really unsure about. I hope it goes well for him, so that it does not turn into a fight. I think it will really help him fill in some of his gaps and prepare him better to learn the new 5th grade curriculum as it is introduced. There is also a 'Math Lab' offered after school, beginning in another week or so. That is another option. I guess we will see how this other stuff goes first and then decide if we need additional help. A tutor is always an option, too.

So, the bottom-line from our meeting. I feel like we are off to a very good start. I am thrilled we did the testing and have shared it with his teachers. I think it will greatly help them help Will throughout this year. Everyone knows now, somewhat, what we are dealing with and can give him the assistance he needs and the encouragement he needs. We are no longer in the dark.

Next step: Visual Processing Evaluation tomorrow.

Guilt

Preparing for war... airsoft war

I am not typically a mom that spends a lot of time feeling guilty. At least, I don't think that I do. But, I have been feeling pretty guilty since our results meeting last week.

Guilty that it took two years for me to get this testing done.

Guilty that I didn't realize how BIG of a problem we were dealing with.

Guilty that I didn't push harder when I was made to feel like just a worry-wart mom.

Guilty that I accepted the answers of "I wish these kids came with an instruction manual" and "There is something there, but I just can't put my finger on it."

Guilty that I never followed through on tutoring last summer.

Guilty that my child apparently has an incorrect pencil grasp.

Guilty that I never looked more into his headaches.

I know, in my logical mind, that none of this is my fault. I know that I did what I could do. I know that nobody thinks I am a bad mom. But, I kind of feel like one. I feel like I have failed him over the last two years.

I pray this can all be turned around. With the help we are going to now be getting. I just know that he has some negative attitudes towards school and homework and that those are, in some ways, going to be harder to "fix" than the actual issues!

I think guilt is just going to be part of this. It has to be. He is my baby and there are problems. Of course, I am going to feel guilty. I'll just need to learn to get through it!

Now What?

I think that is my biggest question. Now what? Where do we go from here?

Thank God Will's teachers are on board with helping us out with this! The school seems to be as well. We have a meeting scheduled for Thursday morning with the principal, the school psychologist, the school counselor, both teachers and Chris and I. I have forwarded the report on to them, so we should all be on the same page.

I am not 100% sure what to expect at this meeting, but I am hoping we can all agree on putting some accomodations into place for Will to help him be successful. There were some suggestions in the report and I imagine the school will have some suggestions also.

We have scheduled the Visual Processing Evaluation for next Tuesday. The doctor that we were referred to is in New Bremen, Ohio. That is two hours away. Ugh! So, I will be picking Will up from school after lunch on that day and he and I will be traveling north. The eval is supposed to take up to two hours and then we will be driving back. A looooong day, to say the least! I pray we get some answers there. I feel very hopeful about that.

We will speak to the school about potential speech/language evals, though the report highly recommends we seek private testing, that will not be as educationally based. It would be nice to take advantage of the school's S/L pathologist, but we shall see. I want to do what's best for Will.

We need to either find a private math tutor for him or figure out if the school can handle the remedial work Will needs. There is a Math Lab after school two days a week, so that is a possibility. I just need to find out if it will be "enough" for him. And how many students are in it? If 50 students come, then I don't see how that will be helpful to Will.

Lots to figure out. Thank God it is the beginning of the school year and we are able to know all of this now and put into place what we can to help make 5th grade a good experience for Will.

More to come...

The Results are In

(Sorry, it's taken me all weekend to get this posted)
So, Chris and I met with Dr. M on Wednesday to go over the results of the testing Will had. WOW! We are overwhelmed to say the least! We have a very long road ahead of us, I am afraid.

I think this post is just going to be the nuts and bolts of the results. I don't have the actual report in hand yet, but I can put down what we were told. I am still processing it all, so I am not going to (I don't think) go on and on about how I feel and what I think about it all, yet. I will save that for subsequent posts.

So, bottom line. Will has/is ADD. He has some major working memory issues. She suspects he has a Visual Processing/Percetual Disorder, but she cannot diagnose that. We need to go see a developmental optometrist for that diagnosis. She also highly suspects some receptive and expressive language issues. See, I told you, WOW!

First week of 5th grade is done!

One week down... lots to go! Will had a great first week of school. He really likes 5th grade and being at the Intermediate school. The adjustment has been easy and as far as I can tell there is no anxiety going on at all.

He loves his two main teachers and also likes his Specials teachers. They are all "nice" and "funny", which are the two most important qualities to a 10 year old!

Will has us getting up at 5:50, which is dang early. His bus does not come until 6:55, but he wants enough time to pack his own lunch, pack up his book bag, eat breakfast and do some exercises. Yes, he and I are doing sit ups and push ups and a few minutes on the elliptical. He wants to do it and I figure it is a good habit to get in to. Though, 5:50 is still dang early!

His first day on the bus was marked by a threatening 8th grade who warned Will and his buddy that from Row 5 on back only 7th and 8th graders are welcome. The warning came with a fist in the hand. Will thought it was funny, though he said he moved at the next bus stop. Why he went to the back of the busy I have no idea. I told him to sit towards the front. He just followed his friend, he said. Now he sits in one of the first 5 rows!

Chris and I meet with the psychologist on Wed. to find out what was discovered during Will's testing. I can't wait to hear what she has to say. I emailed Miss P and Mrs. K last week letting them know he went through testing and that we would be getting the results this week. They emailed me back (the same day) and told me that they would definitely like to sit down and meet with us after we get the results. How refreshing!!!

Testing over

So last week Will went in for two days of testing. 1 1/2 hours each day. He seemed to enjoy it, which is a plus. I am so anxious to see how it went. After the first day, Chris told me that she had another questionnaire for me to fill out. She said she would just have me do it the next day while I waited for Will. I was very curious what it was going to be about as I had already filled out gobs of paperwork and questionnaires already.

As it turns out it was an ADD Scale. Interesting... I got to work filling it out after Will went upstairs with Chris. It was eye-opening, really. I had to mark a 1, 2, 3 or 4 depending on how often, during the last 6 months, I had seen the behavior in Will. WOW! The majority were a 3 or a 4. Meaning, I see it several times a week. If we don't get a dx of ADD I will be shocked. So many of them fit him to a T!

We go back on Sept. 1st to meet with Chris and hear what she found out. Will will not be with us at that meeting. We will take him for a short meeting with her where he will hear the same things we do, but in kid terms. I can't wait for Sept. 1st!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and he is anxious about it. Very nervous, but we have been to the school twice and he has met his teachers. He will be fine, he just needs to get through the first day or two!

Ben's first day is tomorrow also. We met his teacher, well not really met them, Will had them for 3rd grade. In fact, they are the teachers where all this fun stuff with Will showed it's pretty face. Ms. R. and Mrs. K. Ben is a completely different child and I hope they allow him to shine and don't expect him to have the same difficulties Will did.

Pictures to come tomorrow!!!

One down, two to go

So, we had our meeting last week with Chris. The whole family, minus Ben, met with her for an hour and a half. Will really liked her. More importantly, so did Dad! I think she is going to be great for Will. She did an incredible job of explaining to him exactly what her job is. This is what she said, in my words:

"We all have toolboxes. Your mom has a toolbox. Your dad has a toolbox. I have a toolbox. You have a toolbox. The tools that are in our toolbox are the things we use to learn. Everyone has different tools, too. It takes a lot of time to figure out what tools you have and what tools you need. For many people, they don't figure that out until they get through high school or even college.  My job is to help you figure out what tools you need. I am going to be your shortcut so that you don't have to wait until you get through high school."

Wonderful! Just what we all wanted to hear. I have more to share, but that is it for now. He meets with her twice this week for the testing. He doesn't know it is testing, but we do! Can't wait!

We picked up Will's teacher assignment today. He has Miss P and Mrs. K. We got to meet them both today, too. He looooved them!  Which is great. He is very nervous about starting school, but I think seeing his teachers today helped a lot!

Oh boy! Here we go...

So, April 20th I sounded so full of excitement and hope and promise for figuring all this stuff out with Will. It was not to be.

He was given the CELF-4 (can't recall at the moment what that stands for!). He scored a 22 on it and the criterion for a child his age is 18. Great. He did great. Well, to be truthful, he did not do great, but he beat the criterion and therefore did not qualify for anything else from the Speech and Language department at his school.

BACK TO SQUARE ONE, AGAIN!

What makes matters worse is Mrs. C, his teacher, never even followed up with us about it. Nope. And she had ample opportunity to. The last day of school she gave me a hug and told me that if I wanted her to speak to his teachers in 5th grade she would be more than happy to. Great.

So, school ended. Will received a Personal Achievement Award for getting all A's and B's all school year. Great.

I was thrilled and proud of him for receiving that award. But, it just covers up all of his struggles. Once again I feel that he is just falling through the cracks.

So, summer came and now summer is soon going. It is August. I finally, FINALLY, contacted The Affinity Center, which does psychoeducational testing and therapy and treatment. We meet with a psychologist on Monday. Chris, Will and I. I spoke to her on the phone for almost an hour last week and I am excited to meet her and have her meet Will and get this ball rolling.

However, I think our first obstacle to deal with is going to be his anxiety. He is very worried about going to 5th grade. A new school. New teachers, new schedule. New everything. His mantra lately is that he hates school and is very stressed about it. His words. Great.

So, it may be that Will goes in for a session or two with Chris (Dr. Mayhall) before school starts and before we do any testing. We need some strategies to help him deal with the anxiety of the new school.

Then, we will hopefully move into testing. I have been doing lots of reading this summer. Some great books, that I will reference a little bit later. I have also just in the last couple of days been research Executive Function Deficits and believe I have hit the jackpot. Much of what I read describes Will and his issues.

So, I hope to bring that up at our meeting on Monday. I want her to look into that as a possiblity.

Any hoo. Just wanted to update and I plan to do a lot more updating as we get into the nitty gritty of figuring all of this out, once and for all!

FINALLY!!!!!

Wow, finally, we are getting somewhere.

I have not posted in months. Not sure why. I guess Will was kind of getting by. Still very inconsistent, though. I've had talks with his teachers and whatnot, but he was getting by. Sort of the story of his last two years of school, really.

Well, this week is changing everything and I couldn't be more excited! Will had a science test last week, on weather. We studied and studied for it. He knew his information. He enjoyed learning this stuff. Cumulus clouds. Cumulonimbus clouds. Barometers. Cold fronts. He took the test on Wednesday and brought it home on Friday.

He got an F.

Not possible I said. I looked through the questions he missed. No way should he have missed them. NO WAY!!!!! He knew all those answers. I made him go over it with me, completely against his will. He did not want to look at it, he didn't care that he got an F, he told me grades don't matter anyway, etc... But, I made him. He knew the right answers. He knew them. We read the questions together. In almost every single case he missed a part of the question and therefore gave the wrong answer. I was sooooo frustrated!

So, I sent an email to Mrs. C, his teacher. I expressed my frustration with this test and his test taking in general. It always seems that he can do the assignments and homework and projects just fine, but when it comes to be tested, on any subject, he fails miserably. Whether it is math, science, reading, social studies. He has trouble taking the tests.

Mrs. C emailed me back and I just wasn't satisfied with it. So I responded to her email and she ended up calling me. We had a great conversation about Will and all of this. We have actually had two phone conversations now and FINALLY... they are going to do some testing. I at last feel a little validated. Momma's instinct! Now, the testing could still show nothing is going on, but I just have a feeling it will.

No more falling through the cracks for Will. No more just getting by. Maybe we will get some answers. Even if the answers are that there is not a problem and he just needs some good study skills developed or whatever. At least we will have ruled some things out!

Hallelujah!!! I am so, so happy!