Breakthrough in DS's reading.....due to glasses!

[Blu]

DS's reading has been a bit of a struggle. Hand on my heart I have not felt pushy or anxious or competitive about it, but he has been slower than I would have expected, and his attitude has been very resistant.

Last night we picked up his newly prescribed reading glasses, having had him diagnosed as slightly long-sighted.

This morning he happily and voluntarily picked up his reading book, read 16 pages aloud without stopping or needing help, and we had to stop him in order to get him to school on time!

Bless him - he looks so earnest and unchild-like, and Un-DS-like in his little glasses, but he is pleased to bits with them, and very proud of them, and I feel so ashamed that we didn't get this sorted out earlier, or that I had a pang about him wearing them, and we were just overwhelmed with joy over his pleasure in reading, this morning....big mixed emotions.

Wow blu, what a fantastic difference
Well done to boyblu!

Oh Blu- and at the same time. That's fantastic that he's cracked it and I bet he looks absolutely lovely in them.

Oh Blu, my ds has just had reading glasses too (he's year 3) and although his reading never suffered (he is an utter bookworm) I felt really gutted that he had been struggling (and he now tells me for a while) and I hadn't noticed.

Full steam ahead though for your ds now!

Thats great. My DH somehow didnt get his extreme shortsightedness diagnosed till he was 15. He could read books close fine, but couldn't work out how the heck anyone read the blackboard or catch a cricket ball ... but how was he to know everyone else wasnt the same? He was stunned when he got glasses and realised that you could actually see leaves on trees!

great things, opticians

I twigged about ds's eyesight after he worriedly asked me exactly how it would feel if you had strained your eyes (I had told him off for reading in bed WITH THE LIGHT OFF several nights in a row and told him he would ruin his eyesight)

Fantastic

Don't feel ashamed we only found out that my eldest son was very long sighted and had a squint in Year One when the school nurse came round. I wear glasses myself but honestly he seemed fine to us. Even his teachers were surprised he was so bad.

Thought we'd have problems getting him to wear them but soon as he tried them the world became a different place for him.

DS had his eyes tested in Reception and we had a letter saying he had failed his eye test but that no action beyond monitoring was necessary. I didn't follow it up promptly because I was sure DS had deliberately failed because at the time he was desparately wanting to wear glasses just like his best friend.

He is apt to let his imagination get the better of him...anyway, beyond a few months of me tearing my hair out and forcing myself to remain patient during his reading practice, no harm done in the long run.

How did your ds react during the eye test? was he ok with it?
The reason being, my ds (6) is also v.v. reluctant to read, screws up his face, and his pupils are HUGE a lot of the time.

But he is the worst patient in the world, a real baby. Won't have anything on his face like a mask or sunglasses.

So I'm unsure as to how he would react to an eyetest. Any ideas?

DS went with DP who had his eyes tested at the same time. he quite enjoyed it, I think - but DS is very used t being fiddled with by doctors etc.
but you could get yours done at the same time - whether they need testing or not.

Also - children seem much more compliant in the hands of professionals, too shy to make a fuss etc, so he may be all right.

They do them all at the dc's school (one of the perks I guess ) which I think does help with the "I want to have glasses just like X" routine.
I just bet he looks adorable in them. Did he request purple frames?

Marina - the frames are navy steel and are sort of narrow rectangles - for which I suppose I should be grateful since they were chosen under the influence of DP.

I'm lucky he hasn't come out looking like Dame Edna Everidge, frankly.

It sounds a bit like when my son got issued with his hearing aids and jumped two stages of the Oxford Reading Tree.

It shows that if a child is struggling with school how important it is to test their vision and hearing.