questions - Hi there (forgive me if you know this already, I'm new here, having just discovered this site) - I just wanted to add something on the vision angle. My dd, 6 y.o., saw a pediatric opthamologist for a regular vision checkup and he found nothing wrong with her eyes. Later that month, we happened to do testing at the Gifted Development Center and they suggested we look at vision again, in part because some of her responses on block design were nearly correct but skewed. We went to a behavioral optometrist and lo and behold she has an eye tracking problem. We are now about halfway through vision therapy and she's finally reading at grade level (1st grade, though I'm hoping for still more improvement, more in accordance with her supposed potential). If you are still considering the vision issue, you can find the right kind of optometrist at
http://www.covd.org/ . The testing for us was altogether different than the quick check of eye tracking done by the ped opthamologist - a different kind of appointment, actually.
Incidentally, the vision exercises were much easier for dd to do after she completed an intensive program of OT for SPD. The OT thought this would happen, but the improvement was amazing (I wasn't holding my breath. The vision therapist was blown away at the difference). Our OT noticed the eye tracking issue, but if she hadn't I doubt I would have taken her word for it that it wasn't there. The vision homework is a substantial commitment (around 1/2 hr x 5 days per week, plus one hour weekly with the therapist) and I'm counting down the weeks left.
Now I have to go back and re-read this interesting thread since I am looking for tips on building dd's confidence with reading - at this point I think she's capable of more than she's willing to try...
OK, now that I have re-read about half of this, I wanted to point out that getting lost from the end of one line to the beginning of another indeed could possibly be due to an eye tracking problem. I remember the optometrist specifically mentioning that issue.
