Visual Problems and SEN

[mulranno]

My daughter, now 9, has really struggled at school from day one. She has had an Ed Pysc report to say that she has SPLD - she has lots of one to one SEN tutoring (at extra cost) at her private school. From a very early age (2/3) she has been under an NHS hospital opthamologist for a "squint". They have swung from suggesting corrective surgery to zero intervention ie just a watching brief...the consultant does not believe that her eye problems have anything to do with her challenges at school. Her reading age is currently 6.9yrs after lots of dedicated one to one support in school and in the holidays. I have just returned from an optician for a second opinion in Potters Bar today who tells me that she has 3 significant visual problems - binocular in stability 90% divergence in both eyes at a distance and 10% divergence at close range, "poor tracking" and a delay in visual processing. He believes that these issues are the reason for her educational struggles and that these can be resolved thru wearing bi-focal glasses in a couple of months....

Is this all too good to be true? Has anyone else similar experience? If we do find this is a "cure" - I will both be over the moon as well as cross that we have spent 7 years and compromised most of her primary education struggling emotonally thru this

Wow Madge this is an amazing turnaround - I hope that we see the same. My daughter is not dyslexic tho ...... and if this works for her we will have to re-evaluate our plans for her next school we have seen an education consultant to try and find a shortlist of schools with strong SEN support - might be loooking for something else now --

not sure why I am striking out!!

Madge...In our case I feel bad as we have spent the last 7 years pressurizing her with extra tuition in school and holidays which if she couldnt see was a waste of time -- also that we have compromised her future options with respect to 11+ as she is the only one in her year not doing it - we have not started tutoring as it is 100% verbal reasoning where we are and would be impossible for her to do....we have major emotional challenges again related to frustration so if this improves I we will have a happier home. So I think that we should now have a 2-3 yr plan to try to get all of her primary school basics in place....Her birthday is end of August and I was thinking of suggesting she repeat a year to cut her some slack...would do this by moving her at the end of this year to start year 5 again in a new school that runs on to 18....do you think that is necessary...?

Not sure how to do it...will investigate and try...M

Hi, I'm sure you feel dreadfully frustrated and let down, it would be truly amazing if your daughters issues can be resolved with glasses.

I would be interested to hear how you have got on, my son is 9 and also August born, we finally got a private ed pysch assessment last month as he has always struggled with literacy and although the school didnt flag anything, we felt it was time to time action ourselves. He was diagnosed with dyslexic tendancies with slow processing speed etc.. We have also been referred to an optometrist in Potters Bar as he may have some issue with his eyes, we have appointment in March so are hopful this will help with visual processing issues.

Has your daughter found a difference with her new glasses yet?

IMO moving down a year may be really useful to give an extra 12 months to catch up on what your daughter may have missed, giving a better chance at secondary school move! its just about weighing up the impact on her emotionally if her friends are in the year above, we have considered this option ourselves but feel it would hit our son too hard to be parted from friends at this stage!

Good luck..

Hi my ds has poor bilateral intergration - can't fix and focus/poor tracking and has major vestibular and auditory processing problems. This was discovered via school (he is in Yr2) due to various behavioural problems and the school recognising that he wasn't being willfully naughty.

We saw a behavioural optomtrist, and prism lenses were prescribed, and we had 5 weeks of eye exercises to practise each night.

I was surprised that something so significant could appear to be so easily fixed, but we have our follow up appointment next week to see if there has been any improvement, and I think there has been.

Hope that helps.

Someone else has also said to me to go thru the prism test as for those that it works for it is amazing. I am not sure if that will be on the list from my guy in Potters Bar.

Will need to find out what a "behavioural optometrist" is... my daughter also has auditory processing issue think it is short term memory recall which was picked up by her ed psy.

Glasses we have only had for a week now not sure she is wearing them as often as she should need to treat carefully as she can be quite "challenging" ... so we do the softly approach.
I am trying to balance the staying back a year - with the possible emotional consequences. She really loves her friends - and is v happy at school - maybe this is the only part of her life that is great atm. We could possibly engineer it somehow as all the girls leave in July 12 at the end of yr6 - most will go on to the state grammar which is not an option for her. The others will go to a range of independents I was thinking either that we move her at the end of yr 6 to repeat yr in new school that goes on to 18 - so that at least she is not redoing the yr at her current school or we could move her this year - sept 11 - into yr 5 at another school. I thik that we just need some space at this point tho for things to settle over time as M said even if it works it will take another 18 months for her to "catch-up" -- but maybe we just do it at the other end ie she sits her GCSEs late?

I have no experience to offer in the way of keeping your DD back an academic year, but we are also now seeing an occupational therapist who is 'retraining' Ds to use his body differently. She believes his sensory processing disorder and ATNR is responsble for his frustration and we are going to work with her for the next 3-6 mths. If there is no improvement in his behaviour at school, then we will seek an Ed Psy referral.

Mulranno,
You must trust Clyde and Maurizio. They are miracle workers!!!!!
My DD was diagnosed at 6 as dyslexic. Exceptionally bright, verbal child who could not read at all. We did patching and glasses and....fast forward 3 years.....

My daughter is 9. She is a happy City of London girl who got the top marks in her year on reading comprehension and mental maths at the end of last year. She sees the school senco to help with spelling and reads slowly but accurately.

We've been through it and I am more grateful than I can ever express for the help we got in Potters Bar.

Just go with it.

Mulrano - I know it is a bit late since you originally posted, but yes behavioural optometry can correct some squints without the necessity of a operation.

I don't have the link any longer but remember accessing an American site which discussed the pro's and con's of operating versus behavioural optometry; Research and personal testimonials etc.

One case which sticks in my mind was of one child who had three operations to correct a squint each time it returned. Child took several courses of BO and her squint self corrected.

You have to bear in mind that though Opthamologists and Opthalmic Opticians both have their areas of expertise, both have very different solutions/approaches for the similar problem.

DS has LD's also had a mild squint when younger. Personally I would choose BO before an operation

www.babo.co.uk/

I really think that having mums net is amazing.....to share the experiences of quite specific situations is great. This thread has given us the confidence to make informed decisions. We have now got a place at an excellent school starting in sept which she is really looking forward to.....it will be repeating year 5 (we have not told her this bit yet).....we have binned all of her extra sen tutoring before and after school and in the holidays which she found exhausting and on reflection was generic and not relevant to her newly defined condition. We now have a much calmer happier girl. Again from this thread we have managed our expectations and will not look for academic gains for some time. The opticians are really pleased with her progress to date and have upped her prescription....so her large bifocal now have an attractive (?)green tint...this latest development is less than welcome but the theory is if she wears them for next 6 months she will not need thereafter...so the goal is to be green goggle glasses free when she starts her new school.

Mulranno,
I'm so glad that things are working out!
I am actually looking forward to my DD's next appointment with Clyde and Maurizio because she has made such amazing progress. I look back on the 6 year old who thought she was the dumbest in the class because she couldn't read and the 9 year old I have now and get quite teary. She reads for fun! She can catch a ball! Her spelling tests have more correct than incorrect and she feels good about herself.
Repeating year 5 may be great for your DD. She can be top of the class. Her confidence will soar, you'll see.