Hi, Is anyone familiar with this? We went to a behavioral optometrist who suggested that DS7 tracking/writing issues stem from an immature nervous system due to retained reflexes. His sensory integration is actually a 'symptom' because his visual preference for intepreting information did not take over. I guess around the age of 2 we stop using tactile information as our primary method of sensory input and start using our vision more. DS7 never crawled or babbled. He went straight to walking and talking. She mentioned that these developmental stages are responsible for 'crossing the midline' activities, using different left/right body parts and coordination. I did not think this was abnormal in gifties (to go straight to walking/talking) so I am wondering if the BO 'gets' gifties. TIA

Hi,

I can't give you any help as to whether this can/does happen or whether this is a lot of bunk, but I can tell you that this is exactly what they told us about our DS11 when he was evaluated by a developmental optomotrist when he was 8. I do know that, in general, while optomotrists believe in vision therapy, opthalmologists do not.

Your DS sounds exactly like mine. He walked at 7.5 months but never crawled (well, did crawl once at 11 months, so he could physically do it) and talked in two-word sentences at 12 months but never babbled. He is, and has always been, very tactile. He was getting a lot of headaches at school and seemed to be having problems copying from the board to his paper and from a book to paper, so we had him evaluated by a developmental optomotrist. They told us the exact same thing they told you. We did do vision therapy for a year, and their tests showed marked improvement, but IRL I'm not so sure how much it helped. He does say he no longer gets double-vision or the words moving while he reads and he doesn't get those types of headaches anymore. But, he still has big problems reading outloud (not silently or comprehending) so we may have bigger issues.

A lot of my DS's vision therapy involved coordination activities crossing his midline. And, I do have to admit that my son who walked so early and kicked, threw, and caught balls at 12 months is rather uncoordinated and lacks balance and is generally not very athletic. So, I just don't know.

Sorry I don't have anything helpful, but just wanted you to know you're not alone.

P.S. I do know that crawling is not considered a developmental milestone, like sitting up and walking is. Pediatricians are not concerned when kids do not crawl, especially if they use other means to get around. Heck, I never crawled and I turned out just fine!

There has been a debate about this for many, many years.
I think of it as similar to a comparison of Freudian and cognitive behavior therapy.
With Freudian therapy, you have to go back and redo your development so you have the basis for developing right in the future. With primitive reflex basis for therapy, you have the same idea. Fix that and everything else will fall into place.

Or you could teach the child to do the skills with whatever their body brings to the table like cognitive behavior therapy.
The pendulum swings back and forth between the two camps adjusting when new science comes to light.
You'll find passionate belief in each direction.
My personal bias is toward skills treatment.

Regarding development. Some will say that you need to have this or that to develop right and if you are missing it, you need to go back and learn it. I've always had my own doubts about that. Maybe the reason my child didn't crawl was because he couldn't cross midline in the first place! I don't think he was normal first and then missed crawling and got all screwed up. I think his development was normal for his particular body. But that's just my opinion.
As a therapist, I made sure my son crossed midline, was held and handled to encourage integration of reflexes, and had "normal" development opportunities. His early life was therapeutic in the motor sense, and at the age of 9 he has vision as well as coordination problems. That's who he is. He had the vision issues before he didn't crawl as well as after he didn't crawl. I saw them (and worked on them too!). I really doubt that if he had crawled, he'd be a star swimmer now.

When you say that at two you the system moves toward vision as the primary, I'd ask for what skill are you talking about? This has been studied extensively in the area of balance development and how balance strategies change with development. Early studies of infant "Visual Cliff" address this issue too.
But if you are writing, reading, catching, kicking, etc, you use different systems. So, I'd ask the doc what skill he is saying is first accomplished with tactile and then with vision.

FWIW, we got the same story from our optometrist. I was aware of the issues from early on. I couldn't read until I had eye therapy, so I believe it works, I guess I'd question the theory behind it. I took DS to an opthalmologist at 3, and got his convergence problem diagnosed. I knew a lot about eye exercises and did them with him so that he was "cured" at 5. Then at 7, he had mild convergence issues that weren't causing a functional problem for him, but had other issues. He had therapy and his numbers shot up, but he didn't feel like there is a functional change, and neither did I. He doesn't catch balls any better, swim any better, or write any better. He was already a good reader and that hasn't changed. But, he did start getting eye strain headaches with reading and computer use. Maybe he's using them more, or maybe it's related to his muscles now trying to focus where before he didn't bother to try. Who knows?

I could ramble on all day, and volumes have done so.

Thank you so much for the insight mnmom and master of none. I will get clarification on Tues. For us it is getting him to a point where school work isn't so hard to do. He is thriving with the advanced placement of the material but struggling with the reading/writing requirements. I would love to give him even more advanced coursework but he cannot do the writing/reading parts on his own. I'm not sure how much I should help him as in taking dictations, reading the textbooks, etc. I have been teaching him keyboarding which he is loving becuz we can adjust the size and font and even the color. He loves red. Is this enough to teach him independance or am I sidestepping the issue? TIA Any input or novels are appreciated.

He does work hard at some sports, like football and baseball, can ride a bike, etc. He cannot do jumping jacks or tie his shoes but he can tie knots just fine. I do not think he is going to be the next Peyton Manning but miracles can happen. Hehehehe I just need him to want to be an independant learner.

I struggle with the same issues about how much to help. I guess it's a matter of deciding what your goal is in doing the work. For example, if your goal is to teach him all about history, then I would read it to him so that he can learn the material, and then I'd maybe have him read it again himself (either to me or silently) just to practice with the actual skill of reading with the advantage of already being familiar with the material so that it is less frustrating. We've been doing that and he definitely understands more advanced material than if he was having to read it on his own. As far as writing goes, my son seems to have trouble getting his thoughts down on paper, so we'll have a conversation first about the topic or question wherein he actually does the thinking, and then I'll remind him of exactly what he said to me while he is writing it down. My DS is working on his typing skills, so sometimes I'll have him write his answers down and then type those answers into the computer (harder for him) or sometimes I'll just let him type directly into the computer. Our discussions help with the learning of the material and the writing/typing works on his actual skills. I'm not sure how my helping him will work down the road -- like when he goes to college all by himself -- but for now we're trying to focus on learning things at his intellectual level while also trying to "remediate" his skill areas. Is this a good plan? I don't know yet!