Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Verbally Gifted but Detests Reading -- Eye Problem

My DD7 has amazing verbal skills, evidenced both both strong and early language skills and an IQ test. She also has strong reading skills for a 1st grader, reading Harry Potter and Roald Dahl.

However, she detests reading and refuses to read for more than about 10 minutes, with that interrupted with "can I stop now" and "I hate this."

She does have strabismus in one eye. (Her eye wanders outwards.) So far, the opthamologist hasn't had her wear glasses or do more than very minimal patching. I thought we were home free when she successfully started reading, though I wonder if her "less than perfect" eye makes reading a lot of work. I will be seeing the opthamologist soon and plan to raise whether her strabismus is impacting her reading endurance or ease. I fear, though, I will simply be told "not every child likes to read" and have my concern dismissed. (Sounds cynical, but I've kind of been down this road before.)

She also ended 4 years of OT with dismal visual-motor delays. She was a preemie with sensory issues and detested anything in her hands. I have her scheduled for a new OT evaluation, specifically to test for and address visual/motor issues. I wonder if she might have difficulty tracking the words in a sentence, etc., making reading a difficult burden.

Lastly, she may be trying to read books that simply are too challenging or too difficult either for her reading level or for her ability to read given her possible visual (strabismus and visual/motor) issues. Her twin brother taught himself to read at an exceedingly high level. She may feel a pressure to read books at his level, even though they are above hers, resulting in her finding reading simply a very difficult, unenjoyable task.

I would love to hear thoughts or suggestions from people who have insights or experience with this.

Thank you!

One possible factor is that books with more advanced content usually have smaller print. You could do some hypothesis-testing by getting her a large-print copy (often available at libraries) of a book that is at her content level, and see if she has more stamina for it.

Great idea! I'll definitely try that. Thank you!

Seems odd to have the strabismus without any therapy. Strabismus can also cause amblyopia where the brain learns to ignore input from the wandering eye. I wonder if the opthamologist specifically tested for 3D vision (also impacts motor coordination, writing, and such.)

My DS7 didn't consistently sit and read until his amblyopia was addressed through patching (caused by astigmatism rather than strabisums.) Line and word tracking is still a problem, but is coming together. Basically, fine motor, gross motor, reading accuracy are all a bit delayed for him. But vocabulary, comprehension, etc. are quite high.

He fatigues much less reading now. One of the biggest aids while he was still patching was to use a visual aid to follow a line of text. His finger ended up being tiring, but a bookmark or a playing card just under the line being read was a huge help.

I would let her listen to audiobooks to get through the advanced content books that she's probably craving - my kids, no matter how well they can read, all loved audiobooks at her age

Re the strabismus, one of my nieces has strabismus that is corrected by wearing a contact lens. Her parents had an option to have it corrected surgically when she was around 5-6 years old but chose not to... can't remember why. Anyway, the lens is amazing - you would never know that without it her eye turns completely outward. I don't know if this is an option for a young child, but fwiw I would *absolutely* tell her eye dr that the eye is wandering while she reads. If the eye dr isn't concerned... honestly, I'd find another eye dr.

Though it's not exactly the same situation, our dd11 has double vision due to inability to focus her eyes. We've been told it's ok to have her wear her patch first on one eye and then the other when she's doing near-vision work such as reading to help avoid her total eye strain. When she does this, she's sometimes able to read better with both eyes unpatched after the initial period wearing the patch (this is all in one time session, not improvement over days). We've also been told re our dd that it's not good to leave things like this untreated or uncorrected or whatever because the brain will eventually shut the vision off temporarily in one eye when trying to compensate for eyes that can't easily focus together. Shutting off one eye shuts down so much of a person's peripheral vision and impacts depth perception. We can usually tell when our dd's eye shuts off because she bends her head a certain way while reading etc.

polarbear

A huge thank you to everyone for your helpful responses!

She does read better with a bookmark and/or finger underneath each word. I insist she use one when she reads to me and am trying to get her to incorporate the use of a bookmark, etc., to help her track when she reads.

At least of the most recent testing, her brain used both eyes apparently equally (?) with 20/40 vision in each eye. It would be interesting to know if the optham. also tested 3D. I don't know.

We do have a supposedly great pediatric eye clinic associated about 3 1/2 hours from here. If the ped. opth. we have seen doesn't seem to understand or suggest proper intervention, then I'll take her to the clinic for a consultation. Second opinions are usually helpful, if for no reason to feel validated that the proper approach is being taken.

We haven't tried audio books, though I do still read a lot to them.

Thank you again! It does make sense that the strabismus would impact her ability to read.

Aw, my DD10 was the same at that age. She could read anything but didn't like to. (At three years old she was sounding out these crazy compound words, letter combos, contractions, silent letters - you name it - but she didn't have the eye tracking development to read more than a sentence at a time). At 6 she was reading from middle school biology text books (words like duodenum, esophagus, etc, and remembering & comprehending), but... wouldn't read more than a paragraph.

Meanwhile she had 6/7 year old friends who'd read entire books of, say Junie B Jones... that kind of thing. I thought "what is wrong with her... she reads so well... why can't she read?"

Interestingly, her brother has strabismus. She's not diagnosed with the issue herself, but I really feel like her early resistance to reading (even though she clearly could) was anatomical.

She's outgrown it She actually didn't start reading novels for fun until she was about 8/9, but now she's constantly reading. Now she'll immerse herself in a novel and read all night, and leave her homework for the next morning (she sets her alarm at 5/5:30 and does it before school).

My 8 yo son was diagnosed with latent hyperopia (farsightedness). He may also have dyslexia. I got him a kindle fire for Christmas. He can listen to the audiobook while also following along while text self-highlights. You can also change the font size. He uses it for reading and listening to audiobooks. He uses it every day. It has robust parental controls, and I have turned off Internet, games, apps, movies etc. I want it to be for books only. It does seem to have made it easier for him to read.

My son with dyslexia loves reading on the Kindle because he can make the type as big as he wants, and when he's tired of reading, he'll turn on text-to-speech and just listen. I wonder if that would help your daughter?

DD(4) also has intermittent exotropic strabismus. One eye turns outward ever so slightly, especially when she is sick or tired--which has been the case now for the last three months--bad cold season! I have also noticed that her eye gets fatigued after reading.

She was diagnosed before she turned two, and in a way that has been a blessing because it has kept me from EVER forcing her to read anything. I do not want to make her eyes worse. And, if her eyes are not ready they are simply not ready, which really goes for any child, vision issue or not.

DD is four, so it is really hard to say how much the eye affects her. She is reading way above level--I understand the "sigh of relief" there. At the same time, I know it affects her. I just know. When she was little she used to say "I see two mommies" when looking at me with the turn. Is it something she just has to deal with? The research out there about this condition is so inconclusive. Surgery may correct the turn, but it may not improve the wonky vision or fatigue. Results are subjective.