Subtest scores were lower on processing visual information. I asked what part sensory overload could play in this.
I'd flip that question around and ask - is it possible that part of what looks like sensory challenges might actually be a child who isn't seeing well?
What if he needs visual therapy of some type? How can we help focus, etc?.
Not all professionals believe in vision therapy and developmental optometry, but fwiw, this was soooo important for my dd. She had 20/20 *eyesight* but her eyes didn't focus together at all - and once she went through vision therapy so many of the behaviors that we thought were all tied up in her SPD disappeared. She did definitely have some SPD-related issues - but we were mistaking other issues for SPD, including vision, simply because we knew she had sensory challenges and we didn't realize there were other things also contributing to the behaviors.
I was concerned that the "where's Waldo" type of visual test may have caused visual sensory overload and that effected the low processing speed score.
A low score on the "Where's Waldo" type test (Symbol Search on the WISC) definitely impacts the processing speed index score - and it's one of the two subtests that my vision-challenged dd scored anomalously low on before she had vision therapy.
Ds is very good at playing dominos and has been very intuitive since the first time we played on maching and seeing the correct dominos. So I know he can process visual spatial info quickly and correctly.
And this is where issues with vision get tricky - we had no clues that my dd had a vision challenge... or perhaps I should say we had no clues that we recognized. What we found out from our developmental optometrist was that she had severe double vision due to her eyes not tracking (due to low muscle tone). We didn't ever see crossed eyes, and she seemed to be able to see to do schoolwork, play games etc. What we didn't see were subtle clues that when her eyes were overly stressed to focus her brain shut one eye off - basically she was then seeing through only one eye. That's why playing games etc and other close-up work was ok - her brain had a way of compensating for the double vision. What happened as she went on in school though was that the amount of effort she had to put into close-up work really started to strain her eyes. One thing you could look for is - does your ds make good eye contact or does he look off to the side when he speaks to people? Does he tilt his head when he's reading or looking at things up close? Does he have good posture when he's reading or does he curl up around whatever he's working on? How does he do with puzzles? Things like that could be clues that there is a vision challenge.
I'm wondering if it is an attention issue? If so, what therapy can we begin? It seems many parents here have audio/visual therapies to help their children.
The psych suggested it might be ADHD, which is attention-related. ADHD doesn't only mean hyperactive. Two of my kids were suspected of having ADHD when they were young, and neither does - but it took a bit of time to figure out that what we saw wasn't an attention issue. It was vision for my dd, and an LD for my ds.
I don't know. I suppose time will tell. I just wonder why so many very intelligent individuals have children with (forgive me for phrasing it this way) "issues". My husband is a chemist and works with many very highly intelligent and very educated people. There are five people in his lab right now, and with our ds included, 3 out of 5 have children who qualify for ADHD. Does that seem odd?
That does actually seem statistically a little high, so it might just be coincidence. I can tell you that the rates of ADHD, LD, ASD, are all rising exponentially in the US (I don't know about outside the US). There have been all kinds of theories about what might be behind the rise in these things (as well as similar increases in childhood allergies, celiac disease etc). I won't go into all that here ... just wanted to point out it's not just among families with high IQ kids.
What does this say about intelligence and neurological issues? My best friend from HS married a validectorian who is very gifted in many ways, and their ds is diagnosed as orderline ADHD. It just seems that intelligence has some very strong correlation to impulsive tendencies and sensory issues.
I think one weak link here is that higher intelligence in parents can track with higher SES which in turns tracks with easier access to professionals who can help diagnosis and treat challenges. The same child with the same challenges, living in a lower SES family where the parents are challenged simply keeping food on the table etc might never get a diagnosis or help.
I guess we just limp along the best we can. The school will not help in any way until our ds suffers academically. If he is 2e he will be able to compensate for many of the issues he is facing. I've been told that the next school will be much more helpful in 1st grade. I just pray with maturity he will be able to make better choices and hopefully work at learning ways to focus and compensate.
Maturity will help, as well as whatever remediation/accommodations etc that you come up with along the way. It does take time, and with time comes more data and more understanding. Although school might not *test* until a student struggles academically, you always have a voice as a parent that allows you to advocate with the current teacher etc, so you stay on top of trying to figure out what works for your ds, keep making suggestions to his teacher etc. Some teachers will work with you, some won't. Don't stop trying though - because your ds is watching
Even though he's quite young, he's still noticing you supporting him
And every time you advocate and aren't successful, it's at the very least practice in advocacy and eventually you *will* be successful.
The flip side of that is - you also don't want to depend fully on the schools, because they are never (no matter how great they are) going to be as fully invested in your child's success as you are. You are going to have to be his best advocate and supporter, and you're going to have to stay on top as best you can re understanding what's going on with him. I am not sure there are any 2e parents here who've made it through school with school being the sole source of remediation etc. Most of us have had to provide a ton of support and also enrichment outside of school.
I'd better stop now before I ramble on forever lol - hope some of that rambling helped!
polarbear
