Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Spacing between words and within them

Hi
I posted previously about DS6 getting an IEP for writing issues, he gets OT in the school for that. On their (and people here) recommendaton we got him vision tested. The first level of testing showed a tracking problem with numbers across but not down - however, with the first level of testing it was really hard to determine how this was impacting him since he reads so well so we are getting what they call a perceptual test - if we can get the darn thing scheduled, they are being so annoying, grrr. The dr said he was a good candidate for vision therapy but did not meet the standard deviation of problem where she would have said it was aboslutely necessary.

Anyhow, we have been working with DS over the summer in a HWT workbook and a journal so we don't lose ground between K and 1st. And I have finally made the connection between the testing and his work - he has for the most part stopped reversing - and he never inverted - thank you for that thread on dyslexia! So I think that was developmental but size and spacing are still major issues. Size I think is the OT issue in terms of strength and effort, but I am now thinking the spacing is about the vision issue. He crowds letters in a word and/or hugely spaces them and then will combine a hugely spaced word with the next word so you can't tell what the district words are because the breaks seem in the wrong spot.

Anyone familiar with this? He has been taught to put is finger down when he finishes a word and to start the next after the finger but it doesn't always help because the spacing in the first word could be similar to the finger spacing! Looks like the appt won't be until September but I was wondering if anyone had seen this and had some tips I could start offering at home before we have the eye appt.

Thanks,

DeHe

Sounds familiar, too familiar... oh yeah... that's stil how my writing is. I can't sign my name the same way twice.

Does it improve if he goes much slower? What happens using the other hand? Is it better with one eye or the other closed?

I've always had depth perception issues. I did figure out about 10 years ago that I've been holding my pencil wrong all my life with my index finger wrapped around it. And I only figured it out, by seeing a picture with an explanation. I can't pick stuff like that up from watching other people.

Don't know if any of the is helpful... but ... shrug

I_remember_drawing_an_underscore_between_words_at_some_point_in_school.__ I_don't_know_what_grade_it_was.__ There's_two_skip_a_spaces_at_ the_ end_ of_a_sentence.__ We call them "skip a space" and treat them like a letter. Eventually you start making invisible skip a spaces by drawing it in the air over your paper before the next word.

My DS8 still has this problem. Since the school taught cursive in 3rd grade, it was much better. I think it helped for him to keep his pencil to paper in cursive. It's still pretty bad, but every year it gets better.

Sorry, I have no good advice, except not making an overly huge deal out of it. My DS's teachers were really good about that, and as a consequence DS didn't get self-conscious about his writing.

Try a large-grid graph paper appropriate to his letter size and see if he can put one letter per box, leaving a box gap for a space.

There's a thing called RediSpace by Mead, which pretty much does the same thing, but would be too small for a 6 year old. You might want to check out what else they sell under their heading of Multisensory Early Writing Program.

I can't remember if Mead makes it, but we found similar paper with larger room to write when our dds were younger - I think we found it on the shelf at our local big box store

Also, fwiw, my dd who had vision issues used to just completely not space anything. Her spacing improved dramatically after vision therapy. I wonder if even though your ds' vision challenge is perhaps not great enough to absolutely require VT (per what the dr told you) - if it wouldn't be worthwhile to invest in it anyway if you can? I imagine if he's even straining just a little bit to track his eyes and head are getting tired quickly, and while he may be reading well, he might not be reading anywhere near as well as he could be if his eyes were 100% tracking. I also know that our dd used to have an eye shut off - basically the brain flips a switch and the child starts seeing out of only one eye - that happened when she was tired from vision strain. You could tell when it happened because she'd tilt her head to read.

polarbear

Thanks for the ideas!

Polarbear - I'm not sure we could handle it it if his reading actually improved - its an exceptional strength of his - although he at this point resists adult sized font in books, preferring the kid spacing and possibly that's related to vision but we wouldn't do the VT just for that. And we are likely going that route but based on the first set of tests the dr would recommend it but not encourage it if that makes any sense.

MoN - his stuff is absolutely not where his peers are - he is in a gifted school and there were levels of quality across the K class, in terms of willingness and output. DS is one of the most creative,so his stories are deeper than his classmates but you can't read them. It was actually pretty demoralizing to see the others progressing while he really wasn't in terms of writing. And it was the comparisons that really underscored for us that the problem was not improving with regular classroom instruction.

We have done graph paper to practice but not for actually writing - I like that idea and the spacing idea

His is now willingly drawing - we got one of Ed emberly's book and breaking down a picture into circles and squares really helped, he was so delighted when he made a train that looked like a train, a car that looked like a car. It gave him such confidence!

DeHe