My second son is 7 1/2 years old. He has struggled with poor eyesight since he was very little. We've been seeing a specialist but with treatment he is very behind in his ability to read. He's doing mostly 2nd grade work but he's still at Kindergarten level when it comes to reading. He showed some improvement the first part of this school year but now we are trying more aggressive therapy for his vision and the Doctor said it might mean another set back as far as school is concerned. Part of me is not concerned, I believe he will catch up later on. Part of me is a little concerned because at the end of next school year he'll have to be tested per state law. He cannot read anywhere near a 3rd grade level and I don't know whether or not he will be by then. Are there standardized tests available where the tester can read the test to the student? The one we used for my older son did not allow this. Has anyone else dealt with slow learning due to poor eyesight? Any advice? Should I just not push reading right now, at least not until we stop therapy? Or should I keep at it but go at his pace even if its very very slow? He gets frustrated very easily at not being able to see the letters well.
Yes, he will catch up later. Just don't worry about it, don't push it. You said yourself he gets frustrated easily over it. What you DON'T want is for him to feel he's "stupid" because he simply can't "get" it. Then he'll just give up on reading altogether! Read aloud to him a lot, do the therapy the eye doctor gives you, and when things improve, he'll be able to see better and feel successful about it.
I agree with Jackie. The problem you face is the stupid testing requirement. Oh how I wish the government would leave us alone. Do they do anything if the child does not test well? I would explain up front the issues he is having. I would also pray, pray, pray about it.
I don't know of any tests that can be read to the child, at least not for third grade. That being said, I would contact whomever you report to explain the vision issues and setbacks to his learning, and see what they suggest. Perhaps your son could be exempt from the testing rule because of his vision, or you could do a portfolio review instead, or even provide doctor verrification of his vision problems and that it affected his ability to test well. Barring that I would say if you get a test that you can administer just read it to him anyway.
Out of curiousity, are you no longer located in California or do you operate under an independant program, charter, or umbrella program? The reason I ask is because your location says California and California private homeschools are not required to test. Each homeschool makes its own rules. We operate under the same brick and mortar laws as private schools. When I was under an umbrella, we had to test yearly but once I went private, I was no longer required to have Ems tested.
Guess I should change my profile, we live in Georgia now. I am not required to turn in the test to anyone, just to keep it on file. Still I think he would be frustrated not being able to read the test. Again, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, its still a ways away. Its just been on my mind since his appt. last week.
Does larger bolder print help any at all? What sort of therapy/treatment does he get? Sorry if I sound too nosy. You don't have to answer anything you don't want to. I'm just a really curious person.
Linda, I think curiosity is necessary for homeschooling! I was actually up last night thinking about making some giant letters for him to make words with. Large print might help. The therapy we are doing is to patch his "good" eye for 6 hours a day 4 days a week to force his "bad" eye works harder. Then 2 days a week he has eye drops put in his "good" eye to make his vision blurry 24/7 in that eye(which lasts for 3 days). Again, to force the "bad" eye to work harder. His vision was improving and then stopped so we are being more aggressive over the next 3 months in hopes of seeing a result. Since he's almost 8 years old the window of opportunity to correct his vision is closing. Its different for everyone but the Doctor told us that on average that window closes around 6-7 years old for most kids. Even though we had seen a regular eye Doctor much earlier, this problem did not become apparent until about a year ago. (Lazy eye). We started seeing the specialist 9 months ago.
Oh, I am so glad you caught it when you did! My dh had trouble reading in elementary school, but they didn't discover his lazy eye until about junior high -- so now he's essentially blind in that eye! By the time he even got glasses it was too late... Thoughts and prayers going out for you!
