Saturday, May 11, 2013

I thought I had a resistant reader. Turns out the words on the page are not cooperating!

For those of that may have a "resistant reader" ....

I have had the hardest time getting my youngest to read. He can sound out almost any word and he is a good speller, but ask him to read a simple book or even a sentence - forget it! Finally one day he told me that the words "bounced" on the page. After he was tucked into bed I did a google search and came up with this -http://www.childrensvision.com/reading.htm

Low and behold there were pictures of words that showed various vision problems. The next day I asked him if any of these pictures were what he saw and 2 of them were (the ones that depicted eye tracking and eye teaming problems).

So I found on the HSLDA website a link with ways to do preliminary testing at home for problems. I did the tracking test and sure enough, his little eyes bounced and did not seem to track properly. (My little guy was not just being lazy or defiant about not reading!)

Well, while waiting to get him formally tested, I stumbled upon some online exercises to try with him. Here is the link:

http://www.eyecanlearn.com/index.htm#Letter Saccades

I hope this helps someone and I am interested to hear any other suggestions or experiences regarding reading and vision that you may want to share.

Blessings! - Lisa