get their eyes checked!

[Gwenny]

I just wanted to share a praise and an encouragement to anyone who has a struggling reader. My 9.5 yo has been struggling to read for so long. He also could barely write and was "allergic" to the pencil. He's a math whiz, but put a pencil in his hand and he can't think. Some days his numbers would all be written backwards-some days they were correct. It was torture trying to get through the Easy Reader Bible in the Emerging Reader set.

I had taken him to get his eyes checked and he has perfect vision. We kept struggling on-never seeming to improve. I have the Pathway Readers (have had them for 20 years!) and so I started him at the primer. We struggled through, also doing the Explode the Code. A friend told me about her optometrist who specializes in looking at more than just looking at their prescription. He checks for tracking and other issues like that. So, I took him there. His vision is perfect, but his eyes both sit looking slightly outward at rest. He said if I opened his eyelids when he is sound asleep, they would both be turned way out. You can't really see it when he is awake. So, his brain has to make his muscles work to look straight ahead to focus on anything. When he needs to focus up close, as in reading, the muscles have to work so hard they can only hold it for a tiny amount of time.

We got him some glasses. Wow!! What a difference. He's had them a couple of weeks now and he is sailing through the Pathway 2nd grade reader with hardly a mess-up. It used to be that I would have to correct him or tell him a word at least 5 times on a short page. What used to take him 15 minutes to read now takes 5. He can copy 4 lines of a poem in just a couple of minutes (one line before would take forever) and he does all of his letters correctly. He never reverses a number anymore. He's trying to read signs and things around the house--he never tried before. He does all of his writing in math now--even wants to and it is no big deal to do a bunch of pages. It is pretty amazing. It's only been a couple of weeks since he got the glasses and he is so so excited. He loves to do school now.

I took his reading book with us to read during his sister's ballet class. He stumbled through the first page-missing so many words that we barely got through. I was wondering what happened. Then it dawned on me--he didn't have his glasses!! I said "let's wait until we get home and get your glasses".. We got home and he sailed through the story. Wow. I'm really in shock and am so grateful to the Lord. I'm so happy for my son, he really thought he was so stupid.

If someone is struggling, it might not be his eyes, but it's certainly worth checking. Make sure it's someone who knows how to check for issues like this. The other doctor didn't notice anything-and it was less than a year ago.

Blessings!

[my3sons]

Wow - what a difference! What a blessing that God brought to your attention! I am so glad you dug further into this and found some answers that made a real difference. I bet your ds is beaming! Thank you for posting this as it certainly could make the same difference in other dc's lives who may be struggling with reading for similar reasons. I'm celebrating with you and your ds tonight - hooray!

In Christ,
Julie

[Samuel'sMommy]

Celebrating with you! I know from experience that it makes your days go so much smoother when your children are enjoying learning!

[mom23]

What a relief for you, and for your ds! My dh and I were just talking about this tonight concerning one of our kiddos, and this really confirms that I need to check into this and just make sure.

[psreit]

So happy for you! I can relate. It is such a relief when you know they are able to see better. My dd was born with strabismus, so we knew from the start there were eye problems. Before she got glasses, kindergarten was awful. After her glasses, she showed some improvement. She ended up having surgery to aline her eyes again last August. I am amazed at the difference! She is reading so much better. Although she still struggles because of her dyslexia, there has been much improvement just getting the eyes in alignment.

[countrymom]

Your post is written for me. Does that type of optometrist have a certain name? I have looked for vision therapy specialists in our area and there are none. Is there some other term I could use? My son is the same, reading is a nightmare, total math whiz (doing things we have not even covered yet) until you put the pencil in his hand and he has to write it down.

[Gwenny]

countrymom, I will call my doctor and ask what someone should look for or ask about when trying to find a doctor like him. I could also see if he knows someone in your area if you tell me where you live-either on here or message me with it.

psreit-so glad for your daughter

I had asked my son several times if the words looked "funny" or moved or ...based on things I had heard people saying about the trouble their child was having. He could never say that anything seemed wrong. We tried color overlays, tried an index card under each line--nothing helped. Even now he can't say what is different having the glasses on or off-just that it really helps. Oh, he does use an index card under each line and it really helps. It never helped before.

[psreit]

If you have trouble finding and optometrist who specializes in eye convergence, a pediatric ophthalmologist would be the way to go. My dd was doctoring with an optometrist for several years who did. She put my dd in prism glasses which helped. But, my educational consultant recommended the pediatric ophthalmologist. They have more training in this area. My dd's eye situation is more complex, but the ophthalmologist is the one who finally recommended the surgery. He said the glasses wouldn't take care of her problem. Since she had the surgery, she is now in regular glasses, no prisms. Your children can probably be helped by vision therapy, but if the optometrists do not treat this problem, try finding a pediatric ophthalmologist. You will get results.

[countrymom]

Thank you psreit. Gwenny, I sent you a pm.

[choochooboysmom]

My son has a similar problem and the glasses help tremendously! It takes so much strain off the eyes. You still need to watch how much up close work he does. His eyes will become tired if he does too much up close work (reading, writing, ipod, rainbow loom). I know you are proud, but I bet his heart is soaring too!

[Cherylanne]

I'm curious, did they just prescribe regular reading glasses? Our ds (dyslexic) has good vision too according to the eye doctor but I'm just wondering if it would help. We can't afford any specialist at this time.

[Gwenny]

This was a regular optometrist. The glasses are basically prisms that help direct the light. (My limited understanding). I'm waiting on a call from him to ask him some of these questions. I'll update when I hear from him.