marytheres, you're doing a wonderful job of advocating for your ds and you're making good progress both with getting remediation for his vision challenges and most importantly - you're making progress in an area you probably can't see for yourself at this time because you're so caught up in it all - but the key here is you're making progress in understanding what challenges your ds is facing. Even though you don't fully understand what this latest set of test data means or which direction it will lead you in, it's more data that you didn't have before the test. Parenting a 2e child can be a long journey where you learn a little bit here, observe a lot, try to figure out how to apply what you learn from tests, try a new way of remediating etc, find that there's another challenge that needs to be addressed, and you just keep plugging along. I hope that didn't sound completely frustrating to think of - I mostly pointed it out because in the midst of all of the worries and planning and work to figure out how to overcome challenges that lie ahead, it's easy to not see how very much progress your child has already made.. and it's very easy to feel like the challenges your child is still facing may seem overwhelming. They aren't overwhelming, they just *feel* overwhelming at times.
We're not dealing with dyslexia, but with other reading challenges. I find reading challenges extremely challenging! So many different skills go into reading. We have a friend who wrote backwards like your ds, but she also wrote forward - she would switch direction as she got to the middle of the page and then switched hands... I am not sure she ever grew out of it, but she eventually succumbed to the adults in her life's multiple attempts to have her only use her right hand
In her case, there were no other challenges (that I know of). My ds used to right some letters backwards just because he'd get them mixed up due to his dysgraphia, but it was very random which letters, they weren't always reversed, etc. Since it's occurring all the time for your ds, I wonder if it's not some quirk in how his brain is interpreting the letters it sees? Did your vision therapy dr have any thoughts on it? FWIW, my first thought is, get him typing... but that's the parent of a dysgraphic kid talking, so take it with a huge grain of salt
Our dd who had the convergence/tracking and double vision issues does rely on typing a bit more than the typical student. We've never sought out an accommodation specifically for it, but she's in a school (and grade) where students have the choice to type for most of their LA/Science/Social Studies work and she prefers typing, and I suspect it's because handwriting causes her more eye fatigue. I've really so often wished I could see the world through her eyes for just one day, because even though she made huge progress with vision therapy she says things every now and then that make us realize she really doesn't see things the same way most people do... plus I wonder how often her one eye automatically shuts down. And oops... I started rambling about my dd... sorry about that!
Re the reading and dyslexia test results... can you ask the person who administered the test what his/her interpretation is and what they recommend for remediation? Even if it's a school district person who tested and your child doesn't qualify for services, they may be able to make suggestions re what might help. If they have no suggestions, I'd look into what other sources are available in your area for reading assessments and reading tutoring/help.
At home, have you had your ds read out loud to you? Does he seem to be reading ok or does he miss words, miss letters, struggle on words you think should be familiar? Does he retain what he's read? Did the tester do any type of testing of auditory vs visual comprehension?
I am also trying to remember - has your ds been through a neuropsych educational eval? I'm not necessarily thinking that you need one, just trying to remember if he's had one and what you found out. My dyspraxic dysgraphic ds has the major issues with telling left from right... he still has to very conciously think it through even at 13, and asks me a lot of the time. And his younger sister also had it figured out at 3!
Sorry I don't have any specific advice... hang in there! You *will* get things figured out, one thing at a time.
Best wishes,
polarbear
