Here's what I don't get -- why aren't the relevant weaknesses strengthened just by reading practice?
Hi Meg,
I can't give you the specifics for Pemberley's dd, but I can explain why the relevant weaknesses that my dd experienced couldn't be resolved just by practicing reading.
First, the issue isn't that the child doesn't understand how to read. The issue is (in my dd's case) weakness in the muscles that support the eyes. The weakness (for my dd) resulted in difficulty focusing the eyes together, severe double vision, the vision in one eye often being turned off when the inability to focus overtaxed her brain, severe lack of peripheral vision, and difficulty tracking (eyes don't follow the same direction at the same time). All of those symptoms, occurring in a child who is in early elementary school, meant that learning to read was difficult for my dd, as well as the act of reading. Using her eyes to read for any period of time resulted in extreme fatigue. She often skipped lines when reading, as well as wasn't able to make out simple sight words that she knew simply because her eyes didn't focus well enough to recognize letters. Practicing reading couldn't solve the issue of weak muscles, and it also wasn't helping much in terms of improving reading ability because of the inability to see and focus well.
Vision therapy is made up of exercises that exercise the eye muscles, much the same as riding a bicycle exercises certain leg muscles, or swimming exercises specific arm and leg muscles etc. With exercise, muscles get stronger and develop the ability to work together. I don't have time to list out how specific exercises worked, but there were many exercises that really don't look much like reading at all.
I hope that helps some with explaining the difference!
Good question
polarbear
