Oh Kriston, I have been "there, there'd" so many times, I can't even begin to count!!!!
The only thing the specialist told me was I needed to have a regular eye check up from within the last year before I came to see him. I had my DS checked on Wednesday and the regular eye doctor said he didn't see any problem. I went to the specialist on Friday and he tested deficient in 2 areas. They checked for a whole bunch of stuff and everything else came out just fine. The doctor gave me information on what these deficiencies would present as in real life and they fit my DS perfectly! It was like a light bulb just went off for me!!!
I have been telling everyone I know about this and another person I know had her 6 year old tested and he has some pretty severe deficiencies. She knew he had problems already but she didn't know how severe they were until she had him tested. One thing I learned from all my research was that 15% of the population has some type of visual problem. That is 3 out of every 20 people, or 3 out of every classroom!!! To me, that is HUGE!!!
I knew my DS had problems since he was very young but I never put all his problems together so I didn't realize they were related. He hated reading, when he did read he'd start on one line and then wind up on the one below, he'd reverse letters (past the age you should do this), his handwriting was hideous (still not perfect but definitely better!), etc. I just didn't know these things were all part of the same thing.
Go with your gut is all I can say. Have you noticed any of the things I mentioned? Or is there anything else going on other than his not reading? Even seemingly unrelated things might help point to a problem if there is one. Hopefully there isn't but I think you are smart to think about this while he is young. I only wish I had known earlier.
