Hello,
I have two children who are extremely bright and energetic and keep mommy on her toes. My DS7 is identified gifted, but might have other issues we are working on. My DS6, however, is the child that I am confused about. I can't find the things that baffle me about him in the description of any LD or disability that I know of. I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction. Here are his symptoms:

1 When he reads, he skips down lines, misses words, etc, even though he has an extremely high vocabulary. Glasses from a developmental optometrist do produce some good results, so I'm not sure if this is something separate from other symptoms.

2. He forgets things. If something happened at the beginning of the day, he might not remember it well. Even if he gets sent to the Principal's office, he will remember he went there, but not necessarily why.

3. He tends to "daydream". He gets lost in his own thoughts, and misses what's going on around him. He sometimes gets lost going from one class to another.

4. He has a poor sense of time in general. I talk to him on Saturday about something happening on Wednesday, and I'll get a "tomorrow?" unless I ask him to name the days until then...then he understands. He has gotten better, but only mildly.

Does anyone have any idea?

I've been looking at lots of this kind of information for my dd(7). Right now, her issues seem well matched with a visual issue. (See the thread regarding Behavioral Optometry.)

I found lots of information on www.thelearningcenter.net regarding various LD symptoms and what might be the cause. Perhgaps that website would be helpful to you as well.

Good Luck!

OOOhhh I do have to comment here. The first one you mentioned definitely sounds like my DS10 with the visual issues. Did you take him to a behavioral optometrist who tested him for perception and tracking type issues? Look at www.covd.org to find a qualified optometrist if you haven't already. Not all doctors know how to deal with these kinds of things. Vision therapy has really helped my DS.

I'm not sure about the other things you mentioned. Try the website listed by mamabear and see if that helps any. Good luck!

http://www.thelearningcenter.net/learning_disabilites_and_your_child

this will save you from having to find the link from the home page.

Thank you for the feedback. I was looking through the learning disabilities link and it does sound like my child might have an LD. I had already decided to try to pursue this further with the school.

I am in the midst of the process with my dd(7). Be sure to do your homework!! Research, Research, Research!! Remember that you know your child best and that the school is not the final authority on your child. Be sure to question what you don't understand or anything that they observe that seems strange.

I have a huge binder full of dd's school performance, testing, history (birth, medical, etc, etc.) and all of the research I have done. It is a huge help in meetings when they are asking you dates, places, outcomes. I don't know about you, but I get so nervous that I can't remember birth dates!!

We have been round and round with variious diagnoses over the last 3 years. Finally, I think we are on track with Behavioral Optometry.

This Forum is also a treasure trove of great information!!!

Good Luck!!!

I will begin putting the binder together. My DS6 is going to have new behavior sheets as of this week and I asked the teacher to document when he "forgets" things like getting to class. I want to see if there are any food correlations or anything like that.

We also did food correlations with dd. All we found was that peppermint sent her into orbit. So, this time of year we send BIG reminder notes!! Candy Canes are a no-no! Good luck with that!

A Binder is a great way to document. That is why I like to e-mail teachers. That way I can print a hard copy to put in the binder. It saves a lot of miscommunication!

I hope that you find your solution quickly!!!

I seem to have a daydreamer. ds5 seems to get stuck in the bathroom. If I let him be and don't make a game out of getting him out of there, he will be in there for AN HOUR! He doesn't take an hour actually using the toilet - it's more that he then daydreams instead of washing his hands or flushing the toilet. I made a numbered list of the steps he needs to complete so that is our newest attempt - he does look at the list when I ask him what he needs to do next. My dh isn't sympathetic to the situation at all. He sets the timer and if ds doesn't finish in time, he has a time-out or at bedtime, he reduces the number of books that are read to him. This seemed to work in the beginning but because ds hates to lose books but now he still loses the books because he can't/won't "snap out of it." I can't stand to see him not be read to at night. It seems that whatever we try works in the beginning because of the novelty but then that wears off. I also use a trigger word "volkswagon" as a little game - he knows it means "snap out of it" but it's a nice way of saying it. I keep thinking that he is so smart so he should be able to focus on this long enough to complete it but we can't seem to get past it. He is such a slowpoke that we rarely attempt to go anywhere before preschool which starts at 12:30. Any suggestions? I keep telling my dh that there is some reason he is doing this beyond just bad behavior but I have no idea what to do about it.

Oh! This is DS7 to a TEE!

This is one of the reasons that I say he's deep but not fast.

If you find a good way to solve the problem, let me know. I'm mostly just working on planning ahead/starting him early and being more patient. Nothing else seems to help.