Dr Mandelman - reading?

amother

Wed, Feb 28 2024, 11:57 am

My child has some reading issues .
The school recommended seeing Dr Mandelman
It is not ADHD .
Does he help find the root of reading issues and how to solve ? ( What I ve been reading here has been neuro related) Don’t want to spend $$$$ and waste my time

amother

Lightcoral

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 8:13 am

The LIPS program is for people who have specific phonemic awareness type dyslexia ONLY. He recommends it to everyone, though. There are loads of other types of reading problems, AND OTHER LANGUAGE AND LEARNING DISABILITIES that don’t need - and in fact, aren’t even helped with - LIPS. Just note that.

amother

Lightcoral

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 8:29 am

amother Mauve wrote:

Please please please have your child's eyes tested for convergence issues. I believe that is the most common reason for reading problems. (It is treated with prism glasses).

I agree that seeing an excellent eye doctor to test for convergence insufficiency and other issues that might be causing a reading difficulty its extremely important. It’s one of the things we recommend to parents immediately when we realize the child is struggling with reading. However, you are mistaken - that IS NOT THE MOST COMMON reason for reading problems. At all. The most common reason is an actual reading disability. So if you check your kid’s eyes out and they’re all good, or even if they have a problem that’s being treated by the eye doctor, that does NOT mean you have ruled in or out any other underlying problem for the reading problem.

amother

Lawngreen

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 9:42 am

Sorry to digress and I will do a spin-off if necessary but Any other professionals here -I’m an slp with a private practice in the field for over 20 years-feeling supremely frustrated by the duping of the general frum population as well as the naïveté and vulnerability of parents. I’m so supremely frustrated as I have to deal with the fallout in my practice when parents can’t discern between reality and fantasy, tried and true intervention and quackery. Why is there no organization set up yet to address this-I would be so interested in organizing a groups to provide oversight, education and referrals to parents. Do you think relief would be the right place to start? Open to suggestions and will make a spin-off if there is a need.

amother

cornflower

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 9:45 am

amother Lawngreen wrote:

What duping are you referring to?
As a mother I’d love that. The hardest part of being a mother for me is figuring out what’s what developmentally and how to give my kids the intervention they need.
If you’re serious You can contact Sendy Orenstein he’s involved with relief, Refuah, renewal and more. You should start a spinoff I think it would be great

amother

Lawngreen

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 10:15 am

It’s too much for a quick post here which is why I think an organization for education and oversight would be so useful. But in a nutshell professional ethics adhered to by most (or likely all, although I haven’t researched this) professional organizations require documentation and record keeping of both evaluation and treatment sessions , methodology based on sound scientific research with replicable results , firmly established goals for intervention, and methods for assessing progress. So many parents pay thousands of dollars for interventions that meet none of these criteria, resulting in a lot of skepticism and confusion about educational intervention fields in generalas well as resource burnout. If parents were able to be guided directly to effective intervention that works, the effects would be enormous.

amother

Whitesmoke

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 11:11 am

amother Lawngreen wrote:

Ur being very vague. Please give more details and examples as to what ur referring to

amother

Lemonchiffon

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 11:45 am

Dr Mandelman was very helpful for my daughter. A real mensch to us as parents. And very kind and understanding to my daughter. His evaluation is pennies compared to what other professionals charge. Among the many people that we encountered in trying to understand and help our daughter to learn, Dr Mandelman stuck out as the one who knew what he was talking about, made sense, and most importantly, went to bat for us against the school. Definitely not a quack. But there is another individual who does evals here in Lakewood that people speak highly of, and the man is an absolute flake. We had such an awful experience with him. And he has reviews on this site where people recommend him. So, its hard to go by people's recommendation. Its not easy...

amother

Mauve

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 2:37 pm

amother Lightcoral wrote:

You're saying that convergence insufficiency is NOT the most common reason for reading issues, but how would you know this? 100% of the people I have spoken to over the last 15 years who's children had reading issues have been diagnosed by an optometrist with convergence insufficiency. Many have been helped by prism glasses.

I know this is anecdotal and I did not do a survey, but I'm fairly confident that a large majority of children (and adults) with reading issues do in fact present with convergence insufficiency.

If I were a mother with a child who has reading problems, I would run, not walk, to a really good doctor who specializes in this. If, as you say, it is not common, at least you've ruled it out... but I still maintain that it is VERY common.

amother

Ghostwhite

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 4:13 pm

amother Lawngreen wrote:

While I agree with you that oversight is beneficial, do you have multiple PhD’s from Ivy League universities?

The subject of this thread does, and is highly respected in his field. My child was helped by him, as were many others.

It’s a tad offensive to portray yourself as someone who knows it all and throw the professional being discussed under the bus when your degree is likely from TTI.

amother

Lightcoral

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 8:39 pm

amother Mauve wrote:

I work or worked kids who have reading or language disorders. By now numbering in the thousands. So I think I’ve seen more kids with reading disorders than you know about. The research also doesn’t support what you're saying. Don’t get me wrong….MANY children with reading problems have convergence insufficiency. Of course this should be checked out asap. But not the majority.

amother

Lightcoral

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 8:44 pm

amother Ghostwhite wrote:

Multiple PHDs from different universities don’t always make a better therapist.

I’m an SLP with nearly 20 years of experience also, and my degree is from a respected university.

And that has nothing to do with it, and everything to do with experience, expertise, training, and research in the specific field.

Dr. Mandelman has helped many people. He is a true tzadik.

There are probably also better addresses for reading disorders where the exact type of reading disorder will be diagnosed and the right treatment offered.

LIPS is truly not for everyone.