I’ve written previously about some issues we were concerned about with our oldest child at the beginning of the school year. We had her evaluated by a Vision Therapy Professional to see if something between her eyes and her brain was causing her to have more trouble learning than she should. While we ended up not pursuing vision therapy at this time, we were very glad we had the testing done.
One of the things I was really concerned about was her reading – or lack of desire and ability in this area. In the spring of 2008, she was reading on second grade level (while at the end of her first grade year). In the fall of 2008, she had regressed to reading very little on her own and tested at a comprehension level equal to a beginning first grader. She struggled. She hated reading.
Fast forward four months to today. It has been a fast and amazing ride with this child. Twice a week, we use McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons for Reading. Per the instructions, we average every ten tests to see where her reading comprehension is. Here is a summary of her results after thirty selections.
First set of 10: Average 2.7
Second set of 10: Average 3.4
Third set of 10: Average 4.1
I have been having a hard time making sure she has appropriate level reading material because of her amazing progress in the past four months. It is a good problem to have!
We can definitely thank our wonderful local eye doctor for helping us make sure she has clear vision. My spouse and I have discussed how we might have attributed this zooming progress to the vision therapy had we done it. I’m not knocking Vision Therapy – I have heard WAY too many success stories and encouraging words since we embarked on this path to say it isn’t worth it. But, I am content in our decision – at this time – not to pursue it.
In the spirit of full disclosure, Child #1′s spelling hasn’t improved very much in the same time period. It has improved – but not by a huge amount. Her coloring (in the lines) has greatly improved to where we have a hard time telling the difference between her coloring sheets and those of her younger (artistically-inclined) sibling. And she still hates to use a pencil to write anything.
How does she feel about all of this? Are her spirits higher and is she showing confidence?
She is loving that she can read to herself most books that we are doing for read-alouds. She crows about how she is “ahead” of the rest of us.
She loves attention and basks in the praise she gets for doing well in anything. However, she is a perfectionist and gets frustrated if she struggles. This translates into a juggling act sometimes – to challenge her without bringing on tears.
There seems to be more drama to raising a girl than raising a boy.