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Sounds like your local folks don't specialize in the relevant area in this case.

What you'd look for is someone in developmental optometry with the letters "COVD" after their name.

You can find such a specialist at the "Locate a Doctor" link at http://www.covd.org/Home/ParentResourceCenter/SymptomsChecklist/tabid/279/Default.aspx

In a typical eye exam, they check each eye independently. A developmental optometrist will also explore how the eyes work together (or fail to!) and how the brain processes the information from the eyes. My child passed the local eye doctor tests just fine, and read above grade level, but had strange things going on. A COVD could test and identify what those were.

The good news is that these sorts of things are treatable through therapy (the bad news is that vision therapy is not fun and most find it very tiring). However, these are things that can be improved and then life is much easier. (There are a number of older discussions on here about "vision therapy" if you want to search and learn more.)

Most children with these problems are picked up through achievement problems (e.g. child cannot read). Gifted children can compensate for some of these challenges. A good doctor will listen to you and your child, and test appropriately. Given what you have described, this sort of testing may be very helpful.

You can look at a list of symptoms at http://www.covd.org/Home/ParentResourceCenter/SymptomsChecklist/tabid/279/Default.aspx You can observe if your son engages in other behaviors, such as turning his head to read with one eye, rubbing his eyes, etc. Keep in mind that this list is not developed for PG kids, so some items are not such good indicators as they would be in a more general population.

Many insurance plans will cover some or all of this testing. Some will cover vision therapy as well.

Thanks for the above links Laurel. My DD has many of these symptoms (but all thrown off by super high reading comprehension) and several people have suggested a visit to a developmental optometrist. She got a clean bill of health from a pediatric ophthalmologist and our pediatrician freaked out at the mention of vision therapy. You have convinced me, though, and I just contacted a FCOVD in our area.

Thanks!

Good luck, Pemberley! It's always great to figure out problems (or, alternately, rule out possible problems).

I'd recommend considering doing any actual therapy over the summer. Vision therapy is often daily and can be very tiring (even though it doesn't take long each day).

Also, I'd encourage parents to think of real appreciation for--and possibly incentives like an explicit reward system-- a kid doing vision therapy. Vision therapy can make one fatigued and/or nauseated, and it takes a few weeks to a few months to get the results. So it's a lot of unpleasant time before you get to notice that your work is actually accomplishing anything. I know some families have had battles and fights about doing the daily practice. Others drop it because it is such a pain to actually make it happen each day. If your child needs it, it is totally worth it, but just wanted to let anyone considering it know the process can be a bit of a pain. (But when your child reaps the results for years, it is totally worth it!)

Vision therapy is seen as "woo-woo" by some doctors. However, it definitely works for many. In addition, research supports it and it's becoming more mainstream. The Mayo Clinic has an entry on convergence insufficiency (one of the many vision issues a development optometrist looks for) at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/convergence-insufficiency/DS01146

Sorry to send this thread in such a vision-oriented direction. The OP was discussing a number of other issues as well.

Let me second Pemberley with thanks for the link Laurel. I did find a few COVDs in my area. Now to decide which one. I sure hope our vision or medical coverage with cover some of the testing and therapy. I'll be checking in to that. Does it fall under vision insurance or health insurance usually?

Happily Mom, I am going to send you a PM of my location - if you are in my area I know of a few COVDs who take Aetna and are good practices. The one my son goes to now is especially good. My insurance (Aetna) covered all of the testing and therapy - my co-pay is steep though - $44.00 but still that's good coverage! Ours was covered under regular health insurance.

HappilyMom, I'm more familiar with the WISC, and I'm not 100% certain which subtests are used on the WPPSI, but fwiw, the tests on the WISC that are most highly impacted by vision challenges are the subtests under Processing Speed (PSQ), and one or two of the subtests under PIQ... so considering that you are seeing those two scores significantly lower than your ds' VIQ, I'd take that as potentially another reason to consider seeking out a COVD.


He does sound like the children I've known who have ADHD (with the HD emphasized!). OTOH, my dd who went through vision therapy was also a bundle of never-ending energy when she was little and before VT... we couldn't keep her seated long enough to even begin to do any schoolwork.. we honestly couldn't even get her to sit down most days. Turns out, that for her, the issue was vision, not ADHD. She's still a fairly energetic kid who loves sports like running, swinging on the swingset, swimming, skiing, riding bikes, anything that takes a lot of energy but not a huge amount of skill or teamwork


I should probably have said "exactly" the same way - because there are commonalities... but otoh there are also a lot of differences in how it impacts people. The way it was diagnosed for our ds was a combination of observed fine motor challenges on neuropsych testing (including testing beyond just IQ vs achievement), a detailed developmental history, and an interview with the neuropsych re current level of functioning (at the time he was diagnosed, he was 8 years old and having difficulty with things like buttons, zippers, not wanting to have to get dressed in the morning, taking a long time to get dressed, not having learned how to tie shoes yet, and not knowing the difference between left and right). My ds also didn't speak until he was 3 years old, and never babbled like most babies do.


Those things don't sound like dypraxia to me.


Is the gifted school (that caused the trauma) the school he's in now for K?


Your worries are completely absolutely understandable. OTOH it's possible that a change of school or teachers might make a huge difference in how your ds feels about school. A skip would probably work out really well for him re academics, but I think it's important also to try to figure out what's up with possible vision or other issues asap, because he may need support and accommodations in full-day school - and if he needs those and isn't receiving them and is grade-skipped... possible recipe for school staff thinking the skip isn't appropriate.

Good luck to you as you continue seeking answers, and also good luck with your school meeting!

polarbear

ps - we also have the same insurance company as Irena, and my dd's VT eval + therapy was covered, under medical.

Thanks Polar!

Interesting about the PSQ. We've sort of had this ominous "there's a processing issue" thing repeated over and over but no one could tell me what it was. The old wait and see is a tough answer sometimes. At least with the new vision info we have something to go on.

My son started telling me he thought that things were moving on the page because there were earthquakes in other parts of the world and that everybody else saw the tremors too(!) He said he's always had that happen and lately it's been happening more.

Also thanks Irena and Polar for answering the insurance questions. Irena did not have contacts in my area but with the information you have all provided I was able to check on both practices we are considering to make sure they accept both our vision and health insurance.