Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional 2e - school not responsive

EandCmom,

Thanks. Hopefully if he needs further vision therapy, we can do most of it at home.

Lori:

You said you were told "it would be difficult to provide an appropriate education for him at our small town school, so we got nothing from our school. When we complained to the superintendent, he told us we needed to continue homeschooling. When we contacted the state gifted coordinator's office, they told me there is no law in our state requiring an appropriate education for 2E kids, so we have no choice but to homeschool."

All I can say is how awful that they said there was nothing your state's schools could do!!! He does sound as if he has some similar problems to my DS as far as the visual issues though. It is interesting that he didn't test as having a perceptual problem.

The doctor showed me one test they did for my son where he had to read a list of numbers going up and down and he was timed doing this. He was then given the same numbers to read going across. Theoretically they should be read during the same amount of time. However, the up and down reading was much faster than the across reading. My son made a comment about how the numbers were all over the place and not in a line and how hard it was to read them that way!!! I was shocked because I saw the numbers and they were in perfectly straight lines. It made me realize how things are perceived by him and how this could definitely cause him problems with reading and with numbers. Has your son made any comments such as this to let you know what he is perceiving as he looks at the numbers or when he reads? If nothing else it has helped me to relate to what he is going through a little better.

I hope you can do any further therapy at home too. The doctor's who specialize in this kind of thing are few and far between. At least in my area they are. I hope you get some answers from the doctor's you are taking him too and I really hope you get the accommodations he needs. If he needed glasses they'd let him use those! It's so much harder with the problems that can't be "seen".

The optometrist did not recommend further vision therapy, since the therapy my son did have did all it could do, and my son did not need glasses. He said my son does have some problems related to vision but he says it is something glasses will not fix. We told him about the headaches, slight lack of coordination, low tone, vestibular and proprioceptive issues, occasionally reversing letters and numbers and that we were just looking for answers and wanted to see if his vision has anything to do with these problems. He said it did, but it wasn't something he could do anything about. He recommend some exercises where my son has to catch different sized balls that I throw to him. There is another where I have to hold a small flashlight with one hand and have him look from that to my other hand that I move up and down--I guess this is to help with tracking. My son asked if we could do this without the flashlight since he is sensitive to the light. The optometrist is supposed to send a report to the developmental pediatrician--so we have one more piece to add to the puzzle.

My son absolutely could not tolerate the "puff test" that is part of a regular eye exam. I don't know if this is a sensory issue or not. He knows in his head that it isn't anything to be afraid of. He watched his dad have it done and the lady that did the testing showed him the screen that she looked at while doing the testing, and none of it made any difference. I guess he has some kind of "puff test phobia" or something. He says he knows this fear is irrational but can't seem to overcome it.

Tomorrow I will have him practice coloring in bubble sheets to see if he can do it without accommodations for testing.

Oh Lori -
I'm sorry to hear that the Optomitrist doesn't have anything further to offer, although he did confirm that vision is involved. I hope the Developmental Ped can offer you more help.

I hate that Puff test too! I don't see how anyone can wear contact lenses.

Smiles,
Trin

Lori, was the doctor a FCOVD??? These guys are the specialists in the vision tracking/perception/etc. problems. My optometrist said he didn't know of anything to do for my DS's problems but he admitted he didn't know much about it. These specialists are very scattered about. Did he do a full screening on your DS? My child had about an hour to an hour and a half full screening before they determined his problems. You may have already gone through all of this but I am kind of surprised the doctor didn't have anything to help you.

Also, alot of doctor's don't do the "puff" test anymore. There is a new glaucoma test that doesn't use the puff. My doctor has used the new test for the last few years on me. I haven't had a puff test in probably at least 5 years. You might see if your doctor knows about the other kind of test.

Hopefully the other doctor's will have something else to offer you!! :-)

Hi EandCmom --

This has been very interesting to follow, since I'm wondering if DS8 has a "tracking" problem. What does FCOVD stand for?

bk

Hi bk1! My link I posted above doesn't go where I wanted it to go!!! Sorry! Here is one I hope works http://www.covd.org/ .A FCOVD is a Fellow of College of Optometrists in Vision Development(FCOVD). They do very specialized testing and therapy for different visual problems. You should check out this site to see if it sounds like it is something that could help your child. They have a doctor finder and you type in your zip code and it finds ones in your area. In a 100 mile area around me there are only about 10 so there aren't lots of them out there. Luckily there is one about 30 minutes from where I live so I am able to take my child for therapy once a week and he does therapy on the computer for 20 minutes every other day. It has been wonderful and I am seeing results with him already!

Hope this helps! :-)

Your reply was faster than a speeding bullet! Thanks!

The link worked. There are two within 2 miles in my very dense urban neighborhood. Now if they take my insurance....

Also, with your child's varied scores, it might be worth making a pitch to evaluate using the GAI (Gifted Ability Index, I think) which is measured using just VCI and PR. See http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/PDF_files/NewWISC.pdf

Wow, 2 within 2 miles!!! That is fantastic! Hopefully they will take your insurance. I have no vision insurance and my medical won't cover it, so I am paying for it all. But it is worth it as I can see it helping him already and he's only been doing it for 6 weeks.

Thanks for the link too - he comes up with a 129!! So close, yet so still so far...... LOL! Actually I am good with the whole situation as it stands. I'll just continue doing what I am doing as far as doing enrichment type activities and I don't think he'll miss out on too much. (I hope anyway!!) :-)