What Your Doctor May Not Notice That Can Cause Your Child To Struggle In School

Two weeks ago, I worked with Ivan, a third grade boy, whose reading and handwriting problems told me he had vision issues. As a reading specialist, I knew from experience, these were not the kind of problems he'd "grow" out of.

Not only was reading hard for him, but there were no spaces between the letters when he wrote the words in the book we were making.

Ivan is much like the one in 10 American kids that USA Today and the American Optometric Association say have undiagnosed eye problems. When I asked, Ivan told me he'd never had an eye exam.

What's even more worrisome, when nearly 70% of our kids do not read at grade level, is that an "estimated 85,000 children will enter kindergarten with lazy eye" (USA Today) - which can lead to serious eye and vision problems, and maybe even blindness later on.

Doctors can easily miss a lazy eye during a routine well child check, because it's not always obvious. It's not easy for parents to spot either, unless a child's eyes are crossed. Sadly, lazy eye causes so many problems both in school, in sports and at home, a child's self-esteem can virtually be destroyed if this problem is not diagnosed.

Ivan told me he thought he was dumb, but I knew better. I assured him that his eyes were playing tricks on him and that he might want to ask his parents for an eye exam.

This seemed to make him feel a whole lot better, and he even laughed out loud.

In the meantime, I had Ivan put one finger between his words, and write on paper with large lines and spaces. We also used graph paper for his numbers.

Then, we started practicing some tracking activities from the I Read I Succeed Kit and Ivan went home much happier that day.

Tip: If you have a child under 12 months, former President Jimmy Carter is the national spokesperson for a program called Infantsee at infantsee.org. Your baby can have a free eye exam and you can give your child the gift of good "eyesight" and "vision" to make sure reading is fun, and like James Patterson says, a "page turner."

Tip: If your child is older, go to http://www.covd.org/ or http://www.oep.org/ and find and eye doctor now. It's never too early, and definitely, never to late. Then make sure to tell your pediatrician the results so everyone is on the same page...

Vision Problems Can Be Misdiagnosed As ADHD

Today, I was researching information to help me testify on some pending vision screening legislation that could truly make a difference in your child's learning success.

In addition, I received an e-mail from a mom of a 10 year old, who asked for help, because despite a regular eye exam, her son was still struggling in school. A portion of my reply to the mom is below, as well as a link to the NBC news segment on how vision problems can often be misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD.

For more than 30 years, American schoolchildren have suffered from declining reading scores, and today, the National Center for Education Statistics says that nearly 70% of America's 4th, 8th and 12th graders are not reading at grade level.

As I've said so many times, you want your child to beat these odds. My daughter did, and is now a pediatrician helping heal children. Hundreds and even thousands of others have been helped in the same way my daughter was. Had I not discovered the source of her vision problems early however, it could have negatively affected her entire school career and she might not be a doctor today.

As a parent, howtolearn has worked very closely with multiple optometric associations and developed an inventory that can help you give your eye doctor more information about what may really getting in the way of your child's learning progress.

If you're concerned that your child may have ADD/ADHD, which one of our medical doctor experts recently told me may be the latest "fad" diagnosis, you may be very interested in the NBC5 Chicago newstory on why vision problems may be mis-diagnosed as ADD/ADHD.

I welcome and encourage your comments and we have several free Instant Learning tips newsletters that you may want to receive or show to your friends.

America's Reading Crisis: Nearly 70 % Don't Read At Grade Level

Former President Jimmy Carter said, "Vision is the single biggest handicapping problem in children."

If you're stumped as to why your child struggles to read, school eye chart exams won't give you the answer. They are for distance eyesight only, and no child reads a book at 20 feet away while covering one eye.

Before heading back to school, give your child a comprehensive vision exam, listen to your child read aloud and ask the following questions to get to the bottom of the problem and how to solve it.