Vision therapy for hebrew reading only

amother

Bronze

Wed, Feb 03 2016, 9:59 am

My 8 year old DS reads English extremely well but is struggling a lot with Hebrew. His school would like me to look into vision therapy. If it was really an eye focusing issue, why would it only impact his Hebrew reading? I do want to mention that when learning to read, he initially struggled with English reading as much as he struggled with Hebrew. At some point he caught up to and surpassed his grade level in English reading (but not Hebrew). He loves, loves, loves to read (English books) and spends at least an hour a day reading at home after school (ie finished all 7 Harry Potters over a couple of weeks in the summer).

He does not focus well in school but I don't notice this at home.

Any thoughts on whether I should pursue this or not?

We have been doing "regular" tutoring etc and it is not helping much and at this point he hates going to school and is giving me a hard time about it Sad

I really need him to start reading Hebrew well.

Thanks!

merelyme

Wed, Feb 03 2016, 10:06 am

I wonder if he has an issue but has managed to compensate in English, which is apparently his main language. (You didn't specify - is that correct?)

It's not a big deal to have his vision tested, and if you can identify and treat an issue now, that can save him from a lot of heartache (and self-esteem issues) later on. It's called a binocular vision test, and checks if his eyes work together, focus properly, don't skip letters as he reads, and more.

And yes, it could be an issue even if he enjoys reading.

g'luck!

amother

Gold

Wed, Feb 03 2016, 10:06 am

My son was similar you what you describe. I did vision therapy with him. I had the same question you have but my son was the opposite. He had a harder time with english than with hebrew reading. The dr explained to me that the brain procceses both languages very differently.
I my self always had an easyer time reading english than reading hebrew for years

amother

Bronze

Wed, Feb 03 2016, 10:08 am

merelyme wrote:

It seems clear to me (based on how much difficulty he had learning to read Hebrew AND English) that he has SOME issue (not sure what) that yes, he's compensated for somehow in English, which is his main language. But if it's something requiring vision therapy, would it make sense that he compensated and/or was able to get past it in English and not Hebrew?

amother

Bronze

Wed, Feb 03 2016, 10:09 am

amother wrote:

What was your experience with it? Did it help?

merelyme

Wed, Feb 03 2016, 10:16 am

amother wrote:

It is definitely possible.
For example, the eyes read in blocks of 5 letters, then another 5 letters, and so on. I know a kid whose eyes read 5 letters, skipped one or two letters, then read another block of 5 letters. He loved to read because his brain learned to compensate and guess the missing letters, but when he started to learn Gemara (where every letter is important for understanding the material) he was lost. Vision therapy helped him a lot.

amother

Gold

Wed, Feb 03 2016, 10:39 am

amother wrote:

What was your experience with it? Did it help?

My son had more to the issue inthat he would hold what ever it was very close to his face. Weather it be a book, a toy... he also was not able to 'see' something with out holding/touching it. He would run into the steet with out looking. When I explained to him that that he needs to look both ways before crossing to check for cars he would do the motions of turning his head with out truly looking at anything. He was akso 'clumsy' and was constantly falling.
We did vision therapy it made a big differance but my son didnt fuly cooperate with the dr. He had a once a week appt. With dr. For 45 min and I practiced with him at home also. She worked on his traction and I forget what else now. Like she had said she taught him how to 'look'. She also gave him bifocal glasses for astigmatism and prisims at some point. She removed the prisim from the prescription when she felt he did not need it anymore. Before I found the vision thearapist the pediatrition said he was ok even though he had 'failed' their standard vision test and he was presenting these 'symtoms' of holding things to close.. a regular eye dr I took him to also told me that 'he sees something slight there but he doesnt like to give young children glasses'' (this was when my son was 4 years old)
I did the vision therapy when my son was aprox 7 years old he is now 10. He did not regress as some people claim could happen. He reads fluently now, although he is not a fast reader. All his other 'symtoms' dissapared also

amother

Gold

Thu, Feb 04 2016, 8:08 am

There are computer based therapys and actual task therapys. The dr I worked with used more of the task based thrapys and just a bit of the computer saying that the world is not stationary like a computer us. The world moves and child has to know how to navigate the movement if I explained it correctly..