English Second Language Dyslexia Question

I work occassionally with kids who are ELL and LD. This makes for an extremely difficult situation.

Much like any native English speakers, they are going to need extra supports to help them overcome their LD. There are many helpful books on Dyslexia which would give you ideas that may help this student.

scifinut mom to: ms 16, bp/adhd/anxiety/complex ld mr. 20, add/dyslexic I hear and I forget I see and I remember I do and I understand. -Anonymous

Teachinginjapan,

Try doing some reading on vision therapy and the sort of vision problems it addresses. You will find that not only the student you're concerned about manifests symptoms of a vision problem, but you will probably also begin to wonder about some of your other low achievers.

Your attentive student is still trying. By junior high, most kids with vision challenges have given up and found other ways to get through the school day with their self esteem intact. (Note how you, yourself, think that they are incapable or just don't care--they have been getting those messages from teachers since the first year of school.

The website for developmental optometrists at www.covd.org has information and also lists two practitioners in Japan, one in Nagoya and one in Kasugai. If either of these is convenient, you should consider mentioning them to the parents of your student.

If you'd like to learn about vision therapy from my personal perspective, I've been building a website at http://ontrackreading.com for the past month. Take a look at The OnTrack Reading Story on the sidebar of my site.

Good luck in finding help for your student

Rod Everson
OnTrack Reading