My 11 year old son always wanted to solve problems using mental math instead of writing them out because columns caused him so much trouble. He has motor dyspraxia and dysgraphia. One of his biggest difficulties is with columns. He has difficulty keeping them straight when he writes out multi-digit multiplication and division problems and now I realize he even has trouble sometimes telling when numbers or musical notes are lined up vertically, especially when he is tired. His piano teacher often has to highlight the notes that are played together because he has this difficulty. It is one of the reasons he needs to take a break after about 15 minutes, rest his eyes, and then work on it again.
When he was seven, a developmental pediatrician noticed a problem with his vision and I remember it had something to do with accommodation. She said she thought it might be the reason he wouldn't read more than a paragraph or two without resting his eyes. He also skipped lines when he read. He could easily read a paragraph from a magazine like Newsweek at age 7 and did this in the optometrist's office, but he had to keep his finger underneath the words and when his eyes got tired after that one paragraph he wouldn't read any more. His therapy was having him read while using flipper glasses that were supposed to help him read for longer periods and it did help a little. Instead of a paragraph, he could read a page without his eyes getting tired. Then the optometrist said there was nothing more he could do for him so vision therapy stopped.
I am going to see if I can get a referral to see another developmental optometrist. My son used the vision training game on his Nintendo DS but it didn't seem to help with his particular issues.
Last edited by Lori H.; 07/16/09 08:29 AM.
