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My son is 8. He will be 9 in Sept. We are on the last week of Beyond and will be starting Preparing right after. We school year round. I feel silly having to ask this question because I was a reading specialist in my former life. However, I CERTAINLY don't know it all, as you will see.

He has some mild learning issues.

He is a good reader. He is finishing up the emerging readers set. However, he has to have a ruler under his line of text in order not to get lost. Without the ruler, he can't seem to keep his place. Even with the ruler, he sometimes says what he "thinks" is on the page instead of what is actually there. What he says is often in context, but sometimes it isn't. What concerns me is that when what he says is NOT in context, he does not self correct.

As we move into Preparing, I think I am going to have to make it LESS independent for him than is intended at first anyway.

Any thoughts?

I am making another post about my daughter...Thanks!!

It sounds like it could be a visual tracking issue. Especially when you say he has some mild learning issues. I have read up on vision therapy because I thought it might help my son. You might want to look in to it and see what you think. My understanding is that a regular eye doctor will not detect the issues. You have to take them to a vision specialist. I have decided with my ds after taking him to the neuropsychologist for a full evaluation that his isn't something vision therapy can help. What he uses that helps a ton is a product called a Read-n-See. In fact my husband is now using it when he reads reports at work. He loves using it.

Lynn,

Thank you for mentioning about the See -N- Read. I went and looked it up as soon as I read your post and have ordered 5 of them. I have 2 sons who have eye issues (strabismus, convergence problems), and I also have a convergence problem. I too have considered vision therapy for both of them, but it is soooo expensive and our insurance does not cover it at all. So, I am trying to do what I can do on my own to help them learn to cope with their eye struggles. I have used an index card or other things to help them follow along with what they are reading, but it can get cumbersome. I am excited to get these and use them.

Thanks,
RuthAnn
(returning to HOD after a year and a half absence =0)

You said you are finishing Beyond and starting Preparing. Are you skipping Bigger or did you just type the wrong guide? Just curious. It does sound like convergence and eye tracking, because your ds sounds like my dd, and we know that the vision is the biggest part of her problem, although I believe she also has a mild learning disability. For reading, instead of a ruler, I bought some plastic pointer sticks with a hand that points a finger at the end. She is in the ERs and usually I am the one pointing the hand as we go along. Next year, I want to have her hold the stick more often, to help her become more independent in her reading. If she looks away, she will lose her place. She will also say words that are not there. She may say what she thinks is there because of pictures or because she looked at the first letter of the word. i just stop her and tell her to look at all the letters and correct herself. We are just going into Bigger in the fall, but I feel dd will not be independent for quite a while. My dd has had surgery on her one eye because of problems at birth. She wears prism glasses, and probably will eventually do some other vision therapy. I would recommend that you have his vision checked to start. if that is the problem, some kind of vision therapy would probably help.

It is BIGGER we just finished....I typed the wrong guide : )