Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Retained reflexes and vision therapy

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!

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!

Well here we are 6 months later. We have made 0 progress with home exercises and dyslexia coursework. He is now 2 years behind in writing (independent reading is average/below in fluency) but 2+ years 'average' across the board in the other subjects' knowledge. So we are going to spend tons of $ on vision therapy because we don't see any other option at this point. I would love to hear some success stories to give me some hope.

Thank you Master of None for the positive encouragement. DS is definitely thinking he just can't do it and doesn't want to put in effort. I am definitely going to work on teaching typing skills but how do you work on spelling (I have All about spelling and use all the tactile methods already and nothing is sinking in)? Rely on spell check for the time being? That's good to hear about your DS responding well to keyboarding. It is hard to switch that "I can't do" to a focus on the "can dos". These guys can get really hung up on their short comings.

For now, maybe, DO rely on spell-checking. Sometimes kids see having to fix spelling errors as nit-picking and it causes them to lose what little desire they have to write, either by hand or by typing. Your DS is young yet, and accurate spelling could possibly wait a bit. Another option would be for your DS to edit other people's writing for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors. That way, finding the errors wouldn't be a criticism of him so much. You could maybe just type up a few sentences that have a few errors each and have him mark the sentences for the errors, and maybe rewrite the sentence correctly. If he knew a word was mispelled but didn't know the proper spelling, you could look it up (together?) in the dictionary. Also, with this, he would just have to write a few sentences. To make it easier visually you could always print the sentences in a large font with plenty of space between them so it's less visually distracting. Also, I remember from my grad school days that printing things on light-purple paper somehow works better from some kids with visual and/or dyslexic issues (not saying your DS has these!).

Just brainstorming here!

Thanks MnMom. I used to do that exercise with errors. I need to do that again. He really enjoyed that. Speaking of which during the exam yday, he was supposed to be identifying which letters were reversed and he stopped and pointed at something on the page and asked the tester what it was. The tester said a typo and thanks for pointing it out. So he can find typos but can't figure out which letters are reversed????? I-YI-YI. The doctor and I were both laughing about that one. Anyways here is what this doctor said, DS has directionality/laterality issues. Somewhere along the way when he started to learn letters/numbers/words he got confused on direction/laterality. He doesn't know r/l, up/down, etc. He can't reverse things in space because he doesn't have a firm grasp on their direction to begin with. He says his motor tone is fine and they will work with motor tone while they work with VT. He is trying to bring an OT on board, I guess, so they can integrate the 2. He said that DS is actually physically reacting to the signals his body is receiving from the eyes. IOW the eye message doesn't jive with what his brain knows so his hands are getting sweaty when you even suggest writing/reading and his body stiffens and heart starts racing when you put paper in front of him. YIKES! I just found out about the sweaty hands the night before. So fingers crossed that this is truly what's interfering with DSs learning. We're going to try VT and hopefully it will be 'the thing'. DS is super excited because he wants to learn to surf (we couldn't live farther from an ocean) and in VT they work with balance boards. So with him on board, I have hope.

Curious about a progress update? Just received dx of convergence insufficiency, coupled with retained reflexes for my guy. Contemplating the VT route. Leaning toward it.

Also interested in knowing how it's going. We're looking into the possibility of vision therapy for our 7 year old.

I didn't know that these types of visual problems were supposed to be related to retained reflexes. I have one of Sally Goddard's books around here somewhere, but haven't read it in years. IIRC, it describes a bunch of tests where you touch someone unexpectedly in a specific way and see if they respond by writhing, slumping, etc. Fun for the whole family.