There Are No Miracle Cures
Dyslexia Remains a Puzzle is the title of the last Page of The Dyslexia Puzzle . And it does remain a puzzle, at least to me.
I had a parent tell me recently that she hoped that vision therapy would be the miracle cure for her child’s reading problem. And, in the sense that she means it, vision therapy just might be the miracle she’s been looking for. What I’ve tried to make clear is that dyslexia runs in families, that it probably is accompanied by vision problems that first need to be diagnosed and then need to be addressed, usually with vision therapy, and that then some children still need to be taught phonics. And, as I state in Dyslexia Remains a Puzzle, sometimes neither of these is sufficient, though both might have been necessary.
Dyslexia tends to be the sort of problem that draws parents who want miracles and practitioners who claim to be able to provide those miracles. If it were that simple, we’d have figured out exactly which miracle worker was correct by now, and all the rest would be considered charlatans, just out for the money. It is more reasonable to assume that dyslexia is a puzzle, that figuring out the puzzle is a matter of prioritizing, and that miracles don’t often happen.
One of the problems with the miracle worker approach is that each discipline claims to know the answer. This results in each discipline subtly, or not so subtly, disparaging the competition. Phonics instructors, convinced that every child not reading simply needs a good phonics course, can be heard claiming that vision therapy is not effective. Convinced that all reading problems have visual roots, some developmental optometrists might prescribe vision therapy without bothering to see if a child is hopelessly confused about phonics.
Similarly, advocates of dozens of other approaches can be heard claiming that they have the answer, which a desperate but hopeful parent hears as the miracle cure. Vision therapy and effective phonics instruction are pieces of the puzzle, but if you read Dyslexia Remains a Puzzle, you’ll see that I believe there’s sometimes more to the puzzle.
By the way, I’ve added a link to ReadNOW on the sidebar under Blogroll. This is a site on Yahoo Groups that has longstanding contributors some of whom are quite knowledgeable about other programs that might be useful if your child’s vision is fine, but he is still struggling with reading.
September 30th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
I’ve just come across your website - thank you. I currently teach Gr2(7-8years old) in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. I have a child in my class who has not thrived as a reader in spite of intervention, one-to-one tutoring, caring parents (and caring teachers!) and specialist attention for the past three years. She fits your description of a struggling reader perfectly. I have recommended that the parents visit a developmental optometrist however the closest one is in Australia. Is there any way I can put vision therapy methods/exercises in place here? I am very concerned for this child as her gaps are becoming more and more noticeable as she gets older and I fear for her socialization with her peer group. This hasn’t yet become a problem.
I’d appreciate any assistance.
Thanks
Kerry
September 30th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Hi Kerry,
My website has links in the blogroll section on the sidebar to the ReadNOW group and also to COVD.org. There’s a developmental optometrist named Dr. Doug Stephey who contributes to the ReadNOW group and he sometimes works long distance utilizing a computer program. I don’t know much about the arrangement and I don’t know how effective it will be, but it’s an option.
While there’s a lot of phonics information on my site, the main reason I started it was because of my frustration with the difficulty of getting kids into the vision therapy so many of them need, so I know how frustrated you are.
Aside from the suggestion above here’s a couple of thoughts. First, talk to the parents and see if one of them had trouble with early reading instruction. The vision problem almost always has a genetic origin, in my opinion. One of the parents probably went through what the child is going through and can lend perspective, especially if that parent now reads well (as many do by the time they’re adults.) This can help the child realize that while it might be tough now, the end result can be all right. (What happens is the brain eventually resolves the problem one way or another, often by just ignoring the input from one eye.)
The second suggestion will sound a little strange, but if she does have a vision problem that’s getting in the way of reading, it’s likely to be because both eyes are not consistently working together and viewing the same spot on the page. One way to stop this confusion is to patch one eye. Now, I’ve never done this, but a lot of kids do it either consciously or unconsciously when they sneak one hand over an eye, or turn their face so their nose blocks vision of one eye. If you try this, I would alternate the eyes from day to day for a while and see whether reading starts to make more sense to her. If it does, it might help her to realize that it’s a vision problem she’s fighting, and not a problem with understanding the instruction.
Good luck. I know it’s frustrating….Rod Everson