advice re visual perception

[WhenWeMet]

Hi,
I'll try to be quick, ds age 6 been having probs learning. Reading and writing very below average, behavior is excellent at school, no concerns. Has intervention via school action. Was assessed by EP and initial signs show that he has, and I quote "visual perception deficit" (it may well have other names but I'm just repeating what I've been told so please don't shoot me,again). I have been looking at some info on the net but not finding it very helpful. A lot mixed in with AS/ADD/ADHD which I don't think he has.
Waiting for an appointment with OT but I'm looking for some advice from parents who's dc's have this and what I can expect. Would a visit to the GP help? Hate waiting for " the professionals" to get moving.
Thanks in advance

Hi when and welcome to the board. My Dd's all have visual perception difficulties Dd1 had prisms in her glasses to force her eyes to work together and this helped her. Dd2 is dyslexic and has trouble with tracking, reading off white boards and copying, she was helped by visual excerises and coloured lenses in her glasses.
Dd3 has difficulties with copying,with depth perception and with words jumping around on the page. She wear coloured lenses in her glasses.
Dd3 is the only one with an actual formal diagnosis of visual perception difficulties she was tested by an OT and scored well below average.

Is there anyway you could afford to pay for either a private OT or for a behavioural optometrist.

Also look at the Tinsley House thread on this board there are lots of helpful people on there.

Good luck

By the way, we dont go in for shooting people down on this board

Thanks for advice.
I'm glad you don't shoot people down on this board, I was starting to fill with water in the bath what with the holes n all, especially for a slightly different way of wording things :).
Could you please tell me what the OT will be able to do to help? Will they be able to tell what type of visual perception problem he has?
Thanks again

Hi whenwemet
Do pop over to the tinskey house support thread.
Also check out engagingeyes.co.uk for visual/eye exercises that could really help you son x

I am sorry but I am afraid I just took the word of our amazing optometrist and let him sort the girls out. I think badvoc will be more help than me.

Good luck anyway

Ahem.
You are a great help, Ineed!
I was going to go down the BO route but then did the engaging eyes stuff instead.
Much cheaper!! :)

Lol, Dp has had a direct debit with our BO for about 10 yrs so far .
Although lovely man did manage to get some funding for Dd3's most recent coloured lenses he was able to access it due to her Asd diagnosis. Not sure where from though.

Sorry for the hijack when
Actually I should have said that despite Dd3 having perception issues and poor motor skills she was discharged from OT after the first appointment as her needs werent severe enough

Ah, yes. That sounds familiar :(

Another whose child was discharged from OT.

Been seeing someone privately for a year now, (BO, RRT etc) but it's a SLOW process to improvement, and I can't help getting impatient sometimes. The NHS however, would just left him to rot and he would deffo have been on course to leave school at 18 still unable to read. At least this way hope is on the distant horizon iykwim.

TH is only for those whose development was normal until 4 months, so although it's had very good results for some children, it's isn't right for everyone iykwim.

I can't agree with that bochead.
Ds1s development was abnormal from birth and TH has done wonders for him.
The 4 month mark is when changes should occur in the neonatal brain, but in some children - like my son - it doesn't (due to developmental delay.)
My son also did rrt and a course of ait which also helped him, but wrt to his dyslexia and asd traits it is TH that has had the most impact.

My comment was based on a long convo I had with Robin re the suitability of his treatment for my own specific child. It would have been nice to have been able to use a "one stop shop" like TH to sort my DS, but sadly his specific combo of difficulties mean that isn't the case. No single therapy exists that will sort ALL children. If it did we'd be looking at androids, not humans .

Dyslexia can have 3 main origins, or a combination of them:-

1. Neurological (this includes attention issues)
2. Visual (for some just the use of the correct coloured filter can sort it)
3. Auditory

The key is to find the key area of difficulty for an individual child and then to identify the best therapist/s for that child, in that area. Sadly the NHS & worse the private Dyslexia Association just doesn't seem to bother.

TH is great, but it's not the magic bullet for everyone. For a start Robin looks at those whose dyslexia is mainly neurological in origin, his therapy programme is not designed to help those children whose problems stem from inner ear issues. OT/audiolology are the professionals for this group of dyslexic kids. (An OT who does the "astronaut programme" being the holy grail!).

DS will be doing the listening programme as opposed to AIT, as that specific auditory therapy is better suited to his needs. For us we are still a LONG way off standard BO visual tracking therapies, though I can accept some children can be cured in as little as 3 months via a visual computer training programme. The fact that for some kids it's that simple and quick is why I'd advise any parent who is unsure as to the core underlying problem to get a check up with a behavioral optometrist as a first step.

I just think it wise to advise people look at ALL options, simply because none of us can assess someone else's child through our screens. It's really hard to wade through all the available options to best help a child.

Absolutely.
Which is why ds did rrt and ait too :)

Badvoc,

I'm not sure if I've asked you this before - I've been doing engaging eyes with DS for 2 months now. He has a squint and no 3D vision. He's doing really well with Whack and Alien, but not progressing much with Target Practice.

When I give him incentives ie you can play a CBBC game if you get 6 targets first time etc he manages to get them first time. But most of the time he is guessing. And even when he's got the target he says that the gun moves from side to side, rather than forwards and back.

Do you think we should give up?

IneedmorePatience - who was your amazing optometrist?

Thank you both of you.