Hopefully the thread title reaches anyone with children that have these issues. We have an 11yr old nephew living with us with severe ADD/ADHD. Our 7yr old son has always been that "active" or "busy" kid. We have had our son checked by doctors and teachers in this field several times and they have all said he does NOT have ADD. Despite the fact he does NOT have it, every year in school the teachers seem to want to label him. This year has been especially bad. Honestly, it makes one think she simply does not want to work and do her job. After some investigation and talking with the principal, I have learned she is actually one of the better ones to deal with if you have a child that is "active". However, it does irritate me that she feels the need to label him and tell us he has ADD. Not her job.
If you can relate to this story, listen closely here. My wife has been doing some reading and research. She reached out to many resources and learned of a problem some people have with tracking. Since this is a hunting website, I am sure some of you may have had problems with eye dominance in the past. I know I do. Right handed, but left eye dominant. My solution is to close my left eye. However, at 7yrs old, our son doesn't realize his eyes aren't working the way they are supposed to. Basically, they are fighting each other. When this happens, he tends to skip words, substitute words when reading (ex. say "the" instead of "a" or "these" instead of "them" or "there"), or he will read the first few letters of a big word and substitute another word which is similar. We have realized something was going on for awhile now, but have not been able to put our finger on it. Today we went to an Optometrist who specializes in such issues. The tests he gave our son made our jaws drop. When reading, we are always behind him or next to him. Today he read off the charts while the doctor faced him and we stood behind the doctor. Amazing to see his eyes fight each other while reading.
What we learned today is the majority of eye doctors test for near sightedness mainly, and very little exam is given to far sightedness if any at all. He told us most people are not tested for far sightedness until around age 40! Our son's prescription for his glasses is completely wrong. He sees just fine at a distance, yet his lenses are for poor vision looking out far.
If your child is having issues staying focused and on topic, sitting still, reading, writing, mixing up letters such as lower case B and D, or similar. . . you might consider looking into this. If you have been through the tests for ADD/ADHD and it has been determined this is not their problem. . . now you have something else to consider. Is your child clumsy? Hold their reading materials close to their face? Tilt their head to the side while reading? Close one eye while reading? Check into it. Something else interesting to learn: Does your child have bed wetting issues? They asked us this and we scratched our heads. Apparently the same part of the brain which controls the eye tracking is also what works to control the bladder or muscles used to keep from wetting the bed. Who woulda thunk? I never would have guessed unless I asked why this question was asked.
I hope by sharing this it saves someone some time and frustration. If just one person reads this and it helps a child out and enables them to learn better then I am glad to have shared it. Our children are everything to us. Today was an eye opener (pardon the pun) and we are feeling a lot of relief knowing what has been holding our son back from reading and writing as well as he could be. It will be so fulfilling watching him get excited about reading or seeing him breeze through his homework without struggling as bad.
If you can relate to this story, listen closely here. My wife has been doing some reading and research. She reached out to many resources and learned of a problem some people have with tracking. Since this is a hunting website, I am sure some of you may have had problems with eye dominance in the past. I know I do. Right handed, but left eye dominant. My solution is to close my left eye. However, at 7yrs old, our son doesn't realize his eyes aren't working the way they are supposed to. Basically, they are fighting each other. When this happens, he tends to skip words, substitute words when reading (ex. say "the" instead of "a" or "these" instead of "them" or "there"), or he will read the first few letters of a big word and substitute another word which is similar. We have realized something was going on for awhile now, but have not been able to put our finger on it. Today we went to an Optometrist who specializes in such issues. The tests he gave our son made our jaws drop. When reading, we are always behind him or next to him. Today he read off the charts while the doctor faced him and we stood behind the doctor. Amazing to see his eyes fight each other while reading.
What we learned today is the majority of eye doctors test for near sightedness mainly, and very little exam is given to far sightedness if any at all. He told us most people are not tested for far sightedness until around age 40! Our son's prescription for his glasses is completely wrong. He sees just fine at a distance, yet his lenses are for poor vision looking out far.
If your child is having issues staying focused and on topic, sitting still, reading, writing, mixing up letters such as lower case B and D, or similar. . . you might consider looking into this. If you have been through the tests for ADD/ADHD and it has been determined this is not their problem. . . now you have something else to consider. Is your child clumsy? Hold their reading materials close to their face? Tilt their head to the side while reading? Close one eye while reading? Check into it. Something else interesting to learn: Does your child have bed wetting issues? They asked us this and we scratched our heads. Apparently the same part of the brain which controls the eye tracking is also what works to control the bladder or muscles used to keep from wetting the bed. Who woulda thunk? I never would have guessed unless I asked why this question was asked.
I hope by sharing this it saves someone some time and frustration. If just one person reads this and it helps a child out and enables them to learn better then I am glad to have shared it. Our children are everything to us. Today was an eye opener (pardon the pun) and we are feeling a lot of relief knowing what has been holding our son back from reading and writing as well as he could be. It will be so fulfilling watching him get excited about reading or seeing him breeze through his homework without struggling as bad.