World is Upside Down

Thank you momraine. Just hearing that made my day. I have been concerned how this would affect her education. We already virtual school her, which the SpecEd teacher said was probably for the best because I can give her the one-on-one that the schools seem to be unable to provide. I do fear that she will get too overwhelmed with school because they expect so much though. They are wanting her to write words and she is struggling horribly. She writes them upside and backwards and then gets frustrated when I try to go over it and explain it to her. It is very heartbreaking to see her crying over writing a simple "c".

At the risk of her being mad at me for 'outing' her, the member I was thinking of is peregrinerose. (Took me a while to remember her user name!) She is usually very willing to provide guidence on vision related issues and is very knowledgable so you might try PMing her.

Thank you DPline, I will send her a message and see if she has any insight.

I was so encouraged to hear that you can overcome dyslexia! My 10 year old son is struggling horribly, and I feel at a loss. It feels like we've tried everything. Please share your expertise.

I work in the field of blind rehabilitation, and recently took quite a few courses for vision therapy for patients with traumatic brain injury. I would look at getting her an appointment with an optometrist who specializes in vision therapy (COVD). It might take awhile, but the results could be dramatic.

I got DD into the eye doctor yesterday. He was unable to get her to cooperate enough to find out if she is seeing things different though. I brought in some of her school work so he could see for himself how everything is upside down and backwards. He was able to get her to sit still long enough to look into her eyes and see that her eyes are changing really fast and she is going to be extremely near sighted, extremely fast with the added disadvantage of astigmatism. She will be getting glasses. She will be seen in another six months and hopefully she will be a little more helpful with that visit.

My oldest son with dysgraphia now types most of his assignments. My son with dyslexia was in some special program at school that made a huge difference. Neither is in special classes now, though my oldest took his standardized tests in a separate room with a transcriber fo the essay questions. He did have to hand write his essay for the SAT and managed to do OK. He has taught himself to print legibly with hard work, but it's very hard. So he mostly types. I know that the dyslexia program my son's school use came from Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. They have programs that train teachers in thier methods and they have proven very helpful. I know when he started my son had paper that he would use to cover Lines, words and even letters he was not trying to read at the moment to help focus on what he was trying to read. He still occasionally turns things around, but manages to have good grades in spite of it. He still doesn't enjoy reading much, though he loves books on CD.

My son is 10, in the 5th grade & has dyslexia too. I don't think it's that big of a deal personally. (not to say it isn't frustrating or challenging at times - just mean it's not devastating imo)The teachers & specialists just have to find what works for them and teach them the way their brain processes the information. Once it clicks...it really takes off. My son's reading didn't click for him until late summer/early fall just after he turned 10. The writing is still an issue but as Momraine said, typing seems to be the best method for them & his school has him on a program for that. We also have a typing program on the computer here at home that he plays games with to increase his typing speed & accuracy. Playing video games helped with that!;)

I don't understand. What's so bad about dyslexia? I'm dyslexic and have visio-perception problems (I fall in the severe LD range). Why is it worst case scenario? Sometimes my education was affected--I got a perfect Verbal SAT score....and the lowest possible math (not one answer right). However, I love to read----and have studied multiple languages. Hiragana and Katakana area real challenge for me, but I don't have too much of problem with type set Greek script or written paleo Hebrew (which is kind of strange). Still, didn't affect my doctoral level work. There are some things other people kind quirky--I'm really glad we don't have rotary phones any more cause I couldn't use them. And, this is the one kids find funny, I can't tell time on an analog clock.

I remember being worried and upset about how J2's nystagmus would affect his learning and education. The reality has been, that with the right accommodations he's been perfectly fine.

I apologize if I'm hijacking someone's thread, but zxczcasdasd (that really is hard to write:)), how did nystagmus affect J2? Our now 5 yo has nystagmus and were getting ready for kindergarten in the fall. Just wondering what type of accomodations you had, what worked, didn't, etc.

Sorry Ladyjubilee, I think you misunderstood. I was told that worst case scenario was dysgraphia. They said that best case scenario was dyslexia. They are saying now that they don't think she has dyslexia, but that she has dysgraphia.

Menlo, For J2, we have requested the following and it's been fine so far: 1. Seat in the front of the classroom 2. His own materials (no expecting him to share common materials with another student because he needs to be able to hold them in a way that he can focus) 3. Clear understanding of the head tilt so that he is not chided for looking at someone else's work, when in reality he is just having to turn his head to see his own work 4. 10% time extension on timed tests (not usually an issue in kg), maybe more or less depending on the nature of the test (how much reading, size of print, amount of visual focus required) 5. Clear understanding that making direct eye contact can be difficult (the "beating" really increases when people want him to look in their eyes) so looking away when speaking to him should not be construed as disrespect. 6. If he can't see a posted reference material (all those helpful posters...) and is expected to reference it, then he should get a smaller copy he can keep at his desk. The pediatric ophthamologist only wrote down on his letter for the time extension, but I requested the rest in writing and they were very willing to make the accommodations, as they're all pretty easily done. He's in 3rd grade now. That's it for now, and it's been perfectly fine for him. It is important that the school document that you are asking for the accommodations and why- because if he needs an accommodation for standardized tests down the road, they require that it be something that has been documented and accommodated already in their education. Random aside- he hates picture day because they are always insisting that he look DIRECTLY into the camera which makes his eyes beat. When I've been there, I can say something and they stop badgering him about it, but when I haven't been there he comes home frustrated.

No problem! Happens to lots of people! You really need to go look at the list of famous ppl with dyslexia![url=http://www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm]Famous People with the Gift of Dyslexia[/url]Includes Albert Einstein, Jay Leno, Gavin Newsome (mayor of San Francisco!), Whoppi Goldberg, Charles Schwab, Agatha Christie, Scott Adams (Dilbert), Pablo Picasso (well no kidding looking at his paintings - kidding!), Cher, John Lennon....The list is HUGE!

[url=http://www.horizon-academy.org/SiteResources/Data/Templates/t2.asp?docid=678&gclid=CJuNkbf2r6cCFUQI3wodLHEIDg&DocName=Dysgraphia%20-%20What%20Is%20It?]Dysgraphia - What Is It? | Horizon Academy KS | Private School For Children With Learning Disabilities[/url] If it was just this cut and dry, it would be so much easier for them to diagnose, but it isn't. She also writes upside down and backwards. But it is not just writing. If you ask her to draw a picture, it is also upside down. People standing on their heads, etc...If you draw the grass and tell her...this is the ground...she will flip the page upside down. We are hoping that glasses will help.