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Hi there,

DS7 reads quite well, although he's not a voracious reader like his older brother. He has no trouble reading the words or understanding the concepts of Harry Potter. He was bound and determined to read them in K (really wants to keep up with DS9), and spent last year reading the first three, mixed in with other more kid-friendly books. Early on, he seemed to have some trouble with comprehension of HP, which seemed to be as a result of the effort of actually reading/decoding.

The comprehension seems less of a problem now, but in the past few months, he has said that he can't read for more than 10-20 minutes because it makes his head hurt. Recently, he seems less and less inclined to spend more than 10 minutes with a book. We took him for an eye exam less than six months ago and were told he has a mild astygmatism (sp?) but nothing requiring glasses at this point.

I was wondering if anyone has seen anything similar with their DC. He seems to be having trouble also following written directions at school in the differentiated work he's now being given, but I've been thinking that's his perfectionism issue with dealing with new things.

I've ordered the large print version of HP from the library and thought I'd see if that might help him. I guess I'm just curious if anyone else has seen something similar and what ended up helping. Part of me says it's probaboly because he's 7 and maybe his eyes/brain aren't ready for what he's trying to read. But then I wonder why he didn't seem to have issue with it last year, and start thinking maybe I should be concerned.

And then again, maybe I'm just a mom who's worrying too much....

So the headaches and changes in reading habits, etc. started in "the past few months" and the eye exam was just outside that range, yes?

I think another thorough eye exam seems like a VERY good idea. It sure sounds like eye strain from a sudden shift in vision. Sometimes a person's vision can become unstable like that without any apparent reason and without any history of problems, either. It happens to quite a number of adolescents and college-through-graduate students.
HTH!

Mamma2s,
I'm curious to see how the large print books will work out.
My son didn't have the headaches, but I am curious -
At the eye exam, did the doctor know that your son was reading books like Harry Potter? Perhaps if the doc had know what your son was planning to do with his eyes, then he would have judged the astigmatism to be severe enough to warrant glasses?

In any case, if your son used to read comfortably books like HP for more than 20 minutes, and now only can go for 10 minutes, I think it's a good idea to call your eye care doctor and see if medical attention is needed.

It seems perfectly normal to me for a 7 year old to 'get tired' trying to track the small print of books like Harry Potter, but if he used to be able to do this, and now can't or won't, that seems like a time to see if medical help is needed.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Just a thought: Eye doctors are not all the same so I would be interested to know if you saw an Opthalmologist, general Optometrist or a Behavioral Optometrist. If the headaches are in direct relationship to reading, it would seem odd that no interventions were suggested.

A Behavioral Optometrist may be a good choice for a second opinion.

Do you have good lighting in the place where he reads? I noticed that I started getting headaches while reading when we moved into a new house. Turns out the lighting wasn't very good over the couch. We added a floor lamp behind the couch, and it never happened again.

Thanks for the responses.

To clarify, we took DS to a general optometrist about six months ago, as just a routine eye exam -- he wasn't complaining of headaches at that time. The amount of time he has spent reading for pleasure has diminished quite a bit over the past few months. Initially, I thought it was because he was spending more time on homework/extracurricular activities, but over winter break, I noticed he spent a lot less time reading than he used to, and he told me that it makes his head hurt to read for more than 10 minutes. Then, over this past weekend, we were on a brief vacation where he had lots of opportunity to read and he had expressed the desire to finish HP4, but he didn't crack the book open once, and said it was because reading makes his head hurt.

So, now I find myself on a fact-finding mission. I plan to talk with DS to see whether other books he reads with larger print bother him, and whether reading always hurt his head, or if this is something different....

Thanks for the replies. I'll probably make a call to the optometrist tomorrow. Can't hurt.

Also,
I wonder if you've read HP4, MM2s. I found HP1 charming and appropriate for very young kids, but from what I remember, as the years go by, the themes get 'more mature' and 'more scary' and 'less fun.'

My son sometimes read for 'status' - there was a big 'race' in 4th grade to see who could devour Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' books that didn't at all seem to be appealing to my DS on their own merits, but his 'rival' in the classroom had challenged him and well...my DS has always been interested in status.

Lots of 2nd born boys work hard to keep up with big brother (my DH was like this) and I'm wondering if your son really is looking for a graceful way off the hook. If he hasn't read Eragon perhaps you can use that as a way to save face.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Interesting that you suggest this. It's very similar to what I said to DH about a half hour ago. I think it's entirely possible DS7 is feeling pressured (NOT by his parents!) to read the book and doesn't want to say he's not up to it. I'll take a look at Eragon this weekend. Thanks, Grinity!

Mama22Gs,

He may get headache from Astigmatism. Does he squint his eyes or have tics, too?

I am sure some ODs are exceptionally good but he needs to see an Opthalmologist (MD or DO). Another Optometrist (OD) won't do. He may need a new glasses or may have other underlying problem that Opthalmogists can check out.

My DD6 started wearing glasses since 4 (after complaining about headache and Optometrist said she was fine!)

Good luck!

Frankly by the time I got to the last HP book, I felt like I wasn't up to it, and just skimmed to see how it turned out! And I'm a lot older than your DS.

You gotta watch some of these kids for the pressures they put on themselves.
G