Reading Comprehension

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.

An Evaluation for Possible Vision Therapy

As I have written about previously, my oldest child has strabismus. She recently received progressive lenses which were hopefully going to help her see more clearly close up as well as continue to correct her eye alignment for farther away viewing. After getting the lenses installed over two weeks ago and a special educational and instructional session for us parents (so that we could help with tips on how to use them as needed), my evaluation is that she is doing the same as with the previous (single-vision) lenses.

In a candid conversation with my spouse several nights ago, our daughter asked, “Do you like to read?” When told that the answer was definitely “YES!“, she asked why. She then went on to explain that she no longer liked to read because she didn’t have the “patience” to try to read. This was a girl who was reading at a 2.8 reading level eight months ago.

Due to a question on a questionnaire for a doctor’s office, I tested her a few days ago with her new lenses to find that she was at the very minimum of the scale (1.2 grade level). We use the McCall-Crabbs book and I used Lesson A4. I gave her three minutes to read the small selection and answer as many questions as possible. She answered three of the eleven in the time allotted and I let her answer the rest without stopping her. She answered only one question correctly out of eleven (number four - past the time deadline). Zero correct is indicated at a 1.2 grade level – the lowest on the chart.

To further my knowledge-gathering, I had her sit back, close her eyes, and listen to me read the SAME selection again out loud. I asked her the very same eleven questions out loud and she got nine of them correct.

I repeated this test a couple days later with test A41 with similar results. Her coloring, despite how much time and patience she puts into it, is not getting any closer to being “in the lines.” When taking her turn at hitting the softball with her cousins at the farm, she was barely able to connect with even half the balls her next younger sibling did. I just can’t help but wonder if she is having trouble processing the signals her eyes are sending her and matching them to her movements.

After a consultation with our wonderful local eye doctor, we have an appointment in mid-September for an evaluation with a specialist to see if Child #1 would benefit from vision therapy. This doctor, whose office is about an hour and a half from our home, deals specifically with younger people, strabismus, and vision therapy. We have a myriad of forms to fill out and bring with us and it looks like it will be an expensive ordeal. But we both would like our child to have the bumps smoothed out of the road. We are disappointed that it takes so long to get in for the evaluation appointment, but time will fly by quickly enough. It could take up to four visits to determine a path to take and then up to a year for the therapy. I will write about it again when we have more information.

Strabismus: Accommodative Esotropia & Progressive Lenses?

About three years ago, an observant neighbor noticed our eldest child’s eyes were both turning inward. I dismissed it to the neighbor, but passed along the mention to my husband. I hadn’t known that he had problems with his eyes when he was younger. He immediately jumped into the situation. Our pediatrician immediately referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist in a big city about 1 1/2 hours away. The experience there was horrific and I am reduced to tears remembering the impatience of the doctor, how he didn’t listen to a word I said, the screaming of our child as she had to be held down to get drops in her eyes, the fifteen minutes in the waiting room calming her down, and the screaming when she realized she had to go back into the back office again. We came away scarred – with a prescription for glasses in our hands.

Once back at home, I called a local optometrist who attends our church. He assured me that he could treat our child locally and she did not need to go back to that doctor’s office again. Our local doctor is patient, understanding, and very hands-on. He answers all our questions about our daughter’s accomodative esotropia (intermittant turning in of the eyes). Admittedly, my husband is much more educated about her condition. I’m the one who doesn’t think of the tough questions or question any decisions. I just know when she wears her glasses, her eyes don’t turn inward much anymore.

We used to go every few months for an eye check and new prescription. Due to a slip of my memory, what was supposed to be a six-month interval became a 10+ month interval between appointments. On Wednesday, I dutifully brought the four children for her latest appointment. Her far vision has been corrected as much as it can be, but the doctor found that her close vision was blurry.

In the midst of trying to keep the toddler and crawler busy, my ears perked up. He held some lenses in front of her glasses and she reread the close eye chart. This time, it appeared, she didn’t have nearly the trouble as last time and got many more correct. The light bulb went off in my head.

You see, our eldest child’s reading took off in the middle of last year and I couldn’t keep her from reading books late into the night with her reading lamp in her room. Then, after about three months, I would check on her to find her asleep almost immediately – no book in sight. She preferred to go straight to bed to reading. I thought perhaps she was just tired. Instead, was she starting to have trouble focusing on the words and it was now too much trouble to read her precious books?

The doctor prescribed progressive lenses – something neither my husband nor I have any experience with. My husband had ten or more questions that I had not thought to ask. I have been told she will not have any trouble after the first few days adjusting to them. I am apprehensive, but hopeful.

When I was looking up some links for this blog article, I ran across several “success stories” about Vision Therapy. I know my husband has asked about therapy before, but I don’t remember much about the answer. I plan on bringing the subject back up when we go to pick up her new progressive lenses.

I want what is best for my child. Doesn’t every parent?