At seven, my son was fidgety, wouldn't read more than a few paragraphs, was too interested in everything in the room and wanted to ask too many questions and the developmental pediatrician told us there were people who might think he had ADHD, but she didn't think he did.

He had tracking issues that caused him to skip lines if he didn't keep a finger underneath the words as he read and his eyes tired after reading a paragraph or two at that age. In spite of this difficulty he was able to read from a Newsweek magazine for the optometrist. It was hard to believe that he could actually have a vision problem when he managed to read without being taught at 2 and somehow managed to get enough practice to be able to read a magazine that adults read. He seemed to be able to see just fine until his eyes got tired.

In piano lessons the teacher had to use her pencil to point to where he was in the song or he would lose his place. Tests showed his visual motor integration was a few years behind when tested. He also had trouble reading some analog clocks, but not others and it was because he had difficulty telling which hand was longer on some of them. For a long time I thought he was just kidding when he told me he couldn't read our living room clock when he could easily read the one in our computer room, but then I noticed there is more of a difference in the length of the hands on our computer room clock.

My son had to use flipper glasses for a few months and that helped with the tracking problem. He was able to read longer without his eyes getting tired. He could read an article on Wikipedia after vision therapy because he didn't have to have his finger underneath the words. The piano teacher noticed the difference.

But he still has the problem with some analog clocks and I wonder if he will always have this problem. When his visual motor integration was tested the last time, less than a year ago, his visual motor integration was still low but the optometrist had just told us there was nothing more he could do for him.


Last edited by Lori H.; 12/08/08 08:35 AM.