Just wanted to jump into the waters here and say hello…I really need some help with a couple of questions till we can reach the proper people. We are in the midst of our winter break from school, I am a grandparent of a beautiful 9 year old girl who at the present time lives with my husband and myself. She was diagnosed with ADD in the second grade and has been on Adderall XR since then. Despite our best efforts, she continues to struggle year after year with studies. Even after the administration of her medication, scholastically she hasn’t improved all that much. Earlier this year, I had taken her to get her eyes examined before the FCAT’s and was taken aback when she was “now” diagnosed with Amblyopia. Okay, fast forward through the patching, we have now conquered “that” challenge. We’re still not getting where she should be in school. On grade level, but it seems like she struggles way too much. Speaking with her Pediatric Optometric Physician we just had her tested at the University and these are the areas in which she is deficient.
Concluded that she has perceptual deficiencies in the following areas: Ocular motor dysfunction, visual motor integration, laterality/directionality, auditory processing difficulties and visual sequential memory.
I can research these topics on the internet but “really” would love to know what these mean in layman terms? I won’t be able to get a consult done till after January 9th, and just would like to get a breakdown of what the terminology means? Are these definite Learning Disablities that could qualify her for special programs at her public school? They have yet to do their testing (I wanted an outside opinion before they started theirs) and want the best for my granddaughter, meaning whatever help she can get.
Thank you for taking the time to read this posting and any answers and help would be greatly appreciated!
Re: New member with a couple of questions
Also, concerning the ADD, you might want to look into how the diagnosis was made. Many underlying conditions, such as the vision problems you describe, can produce symptoms of ADD. Medication is suitable only for symptoms of ADD that are produced by a chemical imbalance in the brain.
The cognitive skills training programs I mentioned before usually help with symptoms of ADD. Another program with an excellent track record with ADD is Interactive Metronome (http://www.interactivemetronome.com).
Incidentally, most educational professionals have never heard of cognitive skills training or therapies such as Interactive Metronome. Your best bet is to use the internet for research.
Nancy
Re: New member with a couple of questions
Nancy I do thank you!!!!!!
And our granddaughter has been going to a developmental optometrist for all vision exams, she was tested at the Binocular Institute at a local university. She has been doing follow up exams since last March. That is where we had the testing done under this same attending physician. They are recommending therapy and as soon as classes are back in session I will be calling to schedule the therapy and clarify with a consult if needed. Will also be following your suggestions to the best that we can and am submitting all the information to school next week!
She was originally diagnosed with ADD from the counseling center that comes and works in conjunction with her public school. I’m second questioning myself about the ADD diagnosis since that came prior to the Amblyopia (about 2 years apart), but then thought the binocular examiner would of questioned that also, and didn’t.
All in all taking care of all these problems for such a sweet child is still overwhelming but my husband & myself. There have been legal problems that have depleted our savings and to get outside help is going to be a real problem.
Thank you again for all your help and have a great New Year!
Re: New member with a couple of questions
Happy New Year to you and yours also!
Once basic vision therapy is out of the way, I still would recommend a cognitive skills training program. Children who have experienced a sensory level deficit will also lag in development of processing skills. Cognitive skills training is a fast way of developing those skills. There is a home version of LearningRx and PACE called BrainSkills. This is considerably less expensive than the other programs (about $500) and can be done by a dedicated adult. It requires one hour a day of one-on-one exercises with the child for 12 weeks. Website is http://www.brainskills.com . This program, along with PACE and LearningRx, was developed by a pediatric optometrist who wasn’t satisfied with the results from vision therapy alone. They are great follow-up programs to vision therapy, and work on reading subskills, attention skills, etc.
If the ADD diagnosis is correct, you should see a very significant difference in ability to concentrate on academics when on or off the meds. I don’t see you mentioning that kind of difference. You may want to consult with an expert in ADD for a second opinion. Alternatively, you may want to experiment with tapering the girl off meds. There are some excellent websites and email lists about ADD. Try doing a search at http://groups.yahoo.com for email lists. Often the best information comes from parents who have already been through the mill. They often provide more information than busy doctors do.
Best of luck!
Nancy
>Concluded that she has perceptual deficiencies in the >following areas: Ocular motor dysfunction, visual >motor integration, laterality/directionality, >auditory processing difficulties and visual >sequential memory.
What is described here are different layers of dysfunction which are often responsive to appropriate therapies.
The most fundamental level is visual-motor integration. For this you really want to get a private eval by an occupational therapist who can assess sensory integration. Visual-motor integration typically improves with specific types of body exercises.
For the amblyopia and ocular-motor dysfunction, I highly recommend that you get an evaluation by a developmental optometrist. See http://www.childrensvision.com for more information, and especially read the page on amblyopia. It is not enough to correct acuity in the lazy eye. You must also teach the brain to coordinate the inputs from both eyes. Again, there are exercises that stimulate this development and they are usually quite effective.
The laterality aspect can be OT-related, and an OT will assess that. However, directionality and visual sequential memory are cognitive skills that often lag in children with vision problems. Cognitive skills are the layer of development sandwiched between sensory level development (including vision) and academic learning. Once any sensory-level deficits have been remediated as much as possible (e.g., visual-motor integration and visual efficiency skills such as convergence, accommodation, tracking), a cognitive skills training program can be very helpful. LearningRx (http://www.learningrx.com) and PACE (http://www.processingskills.com) are among the best cognitive skills training programs around. These two programs work on a wide variety of skills, including auditory processing skills.
For a 9yo with this kind of history, you will also want an explicit, multi-sensory, structured approach to reading. My personal favorites are Phono-Graphix and ABeCeDarian.
My advice is to do as much as you can privately. Most schools do not have adequate resources or expertise to fully remediate a child like this. Most schools rely on legal requirements to determine eligibility for services. Even when a child qualifies for services, though, what the school can provide is usually not enough for a child to thrive.
Nancy