Dr Mandelman - reading?

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 9:59 pm

amother Ghostwhite 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.

I’m not sure about the multiple PhD part. Perhaps one PhD with a specialization.

amother

Orchid

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 10:10 pm

amother Lightcoral wrote:

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.

"an actual reading disability" just means "your-child-cant-read-we-have-no-idea-why" so it doesn't actually exclude functional vision problems.

amother

Mustard

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 10:14 pm

amother Lightcoral wrote:

That there is a language issue. That doing the LIPS program will help it. There is no standardized testing done in his eval.

We just went to Dr. Mandelman a month ago and he did not say anything like that to us.

amother

Poinsettia

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 10:24 pm

He was very helpful with my child and making sense of tons of evaluations that were done by non Jews who didn't understand the yeshiva system and the implications of a boy that primarily speaks English but his rebbies are speaking Yiddish (he understands just fine) and he's learning aleph beis not ABC.

amother

Lightcoral

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 10:59 pm

amother Orchid wrote:

"an actual reading disability" just means "your-child-cant-read-we-have-no-idea-why" so it doesn't actually exclude functional vision problems.

I mean actual dyslexia.

amother

Powderblue

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 11:03 pm

We bought our child to Dr. Mandelman. He is a top diagnostician with 2 phd’s and 4 master’s. He is hugely knowledgeable, not an alarmist, not into meds, but knows when they’re needed. He has assembled an amazing team and knows who to recommend each person to. I would trust him with reading issues too, even though we were there more for mental health issues.

amother

Mauve

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 11:05 pm

amother Lightcoral wrote:

I mean actual dyslexia.

The definition of dyslexia is simply that your child has trouble learning to read. It does not reflect on what the reason for that difficulty might be.

Plenty of children who were diagnosed with "dyslexia" have seen major improvement with the proper treatment (of prism glasses).

amother

Orchid

Thu, Feb 29 2024, 11:06 pm

amother Mauve wrote:

Yes this

amother

Lightcoral

Fri, Mar 01 2024, 1:19 am

amother Mauve wrote:

That is correct
But plenty of children haven’t.
More than have
That’s all I’m saying
OF COURSE we tell parents to get eyes checked immediately. We’re both agreeing on the same point. Whet we’re disagreeing about is that you think most kids who have reading issues have them because of convergence insufficiency. And THAT is not true. More kids have actual learning disabilities so it’s important to realize that eyes should be just one (significant) area to check out.
And I KNOW that dyslexia just means a reading disability
But what I mean is that there is a true learning disability, such as a phonologic based dyslexia, or orthographic dyslexia, etc. versus an eye problem looking like dyslexia.

amother

Lightcoral

Fri, Mar 01 2024, 1:21 am

amother Powderblue wrote:

He’s amazing for mental health. No one said he isn’t. He knows a ton.
The reading can be an issue. Depending on the origin of the problem, he may or may not be the right address. You have to go with your eyes open.

amother

Gray

Fri, Mar 01 2024, 3:29 am

OP- adhd can hide. You say your child doesn't have adhd, but I thought the same thing. The second we gave my son adhd meds his inattetive adhd was treated and he was able to focus on really learning the letters and learned to read beautifully. The meds saved him. People seem to think adhd is bouncing off the walls and coming home with no material and being disorganized, but it can look very very different depending on the child.

amother

Lightcoral

Fri, Mar 01 2024, 7:35 am

amother Gray wrote:

This exactly! Thank you!
That’s why all our kids who can’t read are told to actually get TESTED for ADHD, no matter if they look like they have it or not. Attention disorders can affect reading in a big, bad way.

amother

DarkCyan

Fri, Mar 01 2024, 9:29 am

Hi,
Reading difficulties are very specific to your own child's neurodevelopmental profile. That means that there are probably a few factors that are contributing to his reading difficulties, not just one specific cause. A scientifically based good reading program or a good reading specialist who has training in a few programs is your best bet in helping your child get the help he needs.

The LIPS program is an older program that is specific to certain underlying issues that contribute to reading delays. It's definitely a piece of a puzzle for some kids, but not for all. Usually even with a LIPS program you also need someone to work on decoding as well, it's not a one-stop for solving decoding issues.

So you would have to look at the attention, language, and memory of your child to see what is and isn't working. You might need an excellent OT who is trained to see the 8 different pieces of visual processing to make sure there aren't other issues going on- SHE can tell you about the glasses, it's very nuanced.
REGARDLESS, you need a good reading specialist trained in scientifically backed programs that are proven to work.

Some children with dyslexia struggle spatially, some struggle sequentially, some struggle with memory, and some struggle with....do you get my drift? There's no one answer. Most need a good language therapist as well.

ANYONE who gives you a one-stop answer is usually coming from their own angle on this forum and please consult with the ones who know your child best.

There are MANY reading teachers out there who call themselves therapists but are not trained in mutliple programs.

Dr. M. is a great shaliach for many, but you may have to find out for yourself if he has the answer. You can start reading therapy with someone experienced and then go to him if you don't see progress in a few months.

But please vet out the reading specialist you choose- anyone who only uses one program or a program that isn't scientifically based may not end up getting to the root of the answer. Maybe yes, maybe no.

The journey to solving reading delays is a very personal one. No two children share the same profile. Everyone has to figure it out for their own children.

One more thing about the prisms: Prism glasses generally do not solve reading difficulties on their own. You STILL need an excellent, trained reading specialist to work to teach decoding to your child. Also, you need a trained OT who can help your child use the glasses to learn the tracking and visual processing strategies. The research on it for just getting the glasses is very weak. If someone hops on here telling me that her child was helped with the glasses, well, good for you, but ask any neuropsych about the statistics and it's really not for everyone. And upon questioning the person you'll uncover that either: 1. the reading is still slow and weak, OR 2. other assistance was given as well.

Hatzlacha to you and your precious child!

amother

Lightcoral

Fri, Mar 01 2024, 2:52 pm

This was really well said! Thank you!