Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion a question about reading and eyesight...

Here goes...

My daughter (nearly 7) is normally a great reader. She's been reading for years and enjoys a variety of texts, mainly non-fiction. Recently, she's started skipping words when she reads out aloud. In the past I've assumed that she starts getting anxious if she sees a big word coming up that she doesn't recognise and this leads her to stumble over the small, simple words that are in her way. Or I've thought that skipping words is a signal that she's reading in her head much more quickly than her mouth is moving. But tonight she was explaining to me that sometimes she doesn't actually see some words on the page. But when she re-looks or is asked to re-look at the sentence, she sees the missing words. She also says that sometimes she sees the letters at the start of the word but sometimes doesn't see how the word ends so she just guesses the word that most makes sense in the context of the story.

I've had her eyes tested previously with no problems. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Anyone like to have a guess with what I'm dealing with? Am I being paranoid?

jojo

We had this problem earlier in the school year as well with dd(7). We went back to easier books and had her slow down. She was reading way too fast. We read aloud every day .. she reads to her brother. It took about 2 months to break the habit... but now she catches herself when she does do it which is rarely.

Ordinary eye exams often won't catch tracking and convergence issues, or problems with visual processing. This is worth investigating further.

Aculady, would you suggest a pediatric ophthalmologist? Or another type of specialist? jojo

Yes, I'd suggest a pediatric ophthalmologist.

In a recent thread, someone suggested I take DS7 to a developmental optometrist. http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/94330.html#Post94330
I took him just a few days ago, because has been getting headaches when he reads. She asked him lots of questions about what he sees when he reads: "Do you ever see two of the same word, when you know there's really only one? Do the letters ever seem to get kind of mixed up? Do the letters ever get fuzzy when you're looking at them?" DS ended up with reading glasses, which apparently is supposed to help address the convergence issues.

I wonder if a similar type of practitioner might be appropriate in your case.

Sending good thoughts your way!