Visual Processing Problems 5 Year Old

Hi M.,

Is your son getting speech therapy through the school? If so, talk to his therapist about testing for visual processing problems. You might try talking to the school psychologist and counselor, too. Sometime you have to force issues like these with the public schools -- they don't want to have to pay for services if they can avoid it.

You're right to look into this as early as possible -- trust your instincts as a Mom. It is true that reading readiness is highly variable, but by 5 1/2 your son should be able to recognize letters even if he hasn't yet gotten the idea of how to blend them into sounds. Can he recognize other shapes, numbers and symbols consistantly? If not, this would be a good indication that this is not just a reading readiness issue and that there is a true visual processing issue. The earlier you catch it and treat it, the greater his success will be in the long run. Scholastics are just a part of the picture. Over time if your son can't keep up he could get increasingly frustrated, his self-esteem could be effected and he could start to think of himself as stupid or not as good as the other kids. This could start happening way before 3rd grade. I used to help out in my kids' classrooms. It was clear that by first grade kids classified themselves and others according to their academic abilities. Slower children were teased for being dummies (we would put a quick end to that) and one very sweet and brilliant ADD child was friendless because the other kids couldn't tolerate his behavior.

I highly recommend you check out the books by educational psychologist Mel Levine and the website allkindsofminds.com. Push to get the testing done. If you can't get the school to do it, find a reputable private educational psychologist to do preliminary testing. With some results in hand, you'll have greater influence for insisting on testing from the school. Consider this: the best that can happen is that no problem is found and your child is a late bloomer or one who might just need a little bit more tutoring. The other best that can happen is that your sweetie has a problem that can be diagnosed and helped. Either way, he wins.

BTW, I do not recommend putting your child in a school that has a lower academic standard. That will not help him in the long run, but will only put him further and further behind as he progresses through school. Whether it's fortunate or not, college admissions are highly competitive and kids from better schools can end up with better opportunities.

Good luck with this -- I hope everything turns out well.

R.

First off, you're the mom, and if you think something is wrong and needs to be attended to, you're right. I would call Terri Solochek in Woodland Hills - she's on Fallbrook. She is an psychologist who specializes in learing issues and testing. You're right, his sense of self will soon beome impacted. If money is an issue and your insurance does not cover the testing I would go to the school and request yo ur child be testrucand given an IEP. By law, they are required to test within 60 days of a written request. Bear in mind that if the district does it some critical tests can not be given. These tests became the target of a law suit and were elimiated by most districts.

Good luck and follow up on your instincts.

I would not consider moving him until this is all worked out. I live in this area and am familiar with the schools. You will be much better served at Las Virgines than either Oak Park, TO or Newbury Park.

Have him tested by an occupational therapist.
When my daughter was 4, I had an occupational therapist test her because I was concerned about her spatial awareness/processing, visual processing, etc. All year in preschool she was bringing home artwork where she was gluing body parts nowhere where they belonged and toward the end of the year her teacher asked her to draw a person and the body parts were indiscernable and all over the page. After testing, we determined that she did need occupational therapy but that what was going on wasn't major and with catching it early we could fix the problem. With a few simple approaches and practice her spatial awareness when drawing, doing crafts, etc. has improved tremendously.
We are now struggling with the alphabet and processing. Similar to what you described, I've been trying to teach her E for probably 2 months now and she is still struggling. If there is a row of 3 letters and I ask her to point to the E she will often get it right, but if I point to the E and ask what the letter is she is always stumped.
Our occupational therapist has encouraged us to use all sorts of physical/tactile approaches to learning the alphabet. For instance, drawing letters in the sand, making block letters out of various textures and having her run her finger over the letter. We also just started using these wonderful wooden objects (Long lines, short lines, big half circles and little half circles) show her a picture of a letter, have her use her finger and trace over the picture, then she grabs the wooden pieces she needs and puts them together to make the letter. It made a huge difference. The OT has also started her with only straight line letters. She is following a program called Handwriting without tears.
I hope I haven't rambled too long about my own child, I just want you to know where I'm coming from and what has helped me. I have an older daughter who was in Kindergarten last year, so I know how much focus is placed on recognizing and drawing the letters of the alphabet and am sooooo glad that I've started my younger daughter in occupational therapy so she will have a fighting chance next year in Kindergarten. Especially since we are seeing progress and learning more specifically where her problems and struggles lay.
So, with the above information I say...Get him tested. Get him help. DON'T wait. Talk to your teacher, speech therapist, principal, pediatrician. Find someone who can get the ball rolling for you.
School is hard enough and intense enough as it is. If he has the additional struggle of something not working right in his ability to process and you wait, he is only going to get frustrated and grow to hate school.
Sorry if I'm coming on too strong, it just doesn't seem like you are getting the advice or encouragement to take action that you need. Especially if his speech therapist is expressing concern. I also don't think switching to a predominantly Spanish speaking population is going to help him any. I don't know a lot about the mind's ability to process verbal vs. visual but if he is already having trouble with letters, words and English I think hearing a lot of children speaking Spanish every day will only confuse him more.
I hope this helps.

Hey M., I'm in WLV. I'm so sorry you are under this totally unnecessary stress and pressure. There is NOTHING wrong with your son. Most schools (public and private) push the Kindergarteners way too much, beyond what they are developmentally ready for. Your son is simply not developmentally ready yet. That is not a bad thing. He is perfectly normal (unless you think something is off? from your post that does not sound like that is the case.)

I just attended a 3 day workshop in Ventura on becoming a Learning Success Coach (I want to learn tools to help my children in public school, because I know they treat everyone in a cookie cutter fashion and teach to the test, blah, blah...) It was a great course and eye-opening for me.
http://www.learningsuccessinstitute.com/

Please get their book DISCOVER YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING STYLE. Every parent should read it. Do the profile for yourself and your family to figure out what kind of learner he is.

But here is what I learned in the class about reading and spelling:
- a child needs to be developmentally ready to learn to read
- each child's readiness time clock is set differently (some rare children are reading books at age 5! My son age 8 is just beginning to "like" reading and I have not pushed it at all until now. He goes to Westlake Elementary. He's got a girl in his class who was reading Harry Potter books at age 7!!!! That is not my son and not most children.)
- Vision is learned
- Everyone sees differently (reading the Learning Styles book will help you understand this POV)
- Vision is the LAST of the senses to fully develop (remember he is only 5!)
- The rods and cones of the eyes aren't ready to differentiate between the page & the writing (for most children) until the age of 7 or 8 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- In Sweden, they do not teach reading to children till age 7-8 because THEY KNOW children aren't typically ready for it developmentally, until they are older.

But that is not the case in our "push them early" culture, is it?

Vision Readiness Skills
- Focusing
- Convergence
- teaming
- tracking

Teaming and tracking (being able to put things together and track them through space) is learned through PLAY! Take the pressure off and let him play, play, play...

Now... does your "great" and my "great" public school tell parents that? Nope! I have heard that course work is brought down a grade... meaning what K is today is not what it was years ago... Years ago it used to be more developmentally oriented (lots of play).

The fact that your child day dreams and goes off mid-stream is not a bad thing. He is creating ideas in his head - NOT a bad thing! That is wonderful! To have an inventive and creative mind is a gift.

Your well-meaning K teacher is coming from a completely different mind set and that is why she is worried. Perhaps she is very goal oriented and task oriented and if this child is doing X,Y and Z, oh my, he's behind. Not.

My children (ages 8 and 4) attend a parent co-op, parent education program that is very developmentally based. Academics is not pushed (but children do learn letters and numbers - counting - through their play). When they had a K, I signed my son up because i knew it would be far superior to the typical "great" high achieving local public school because it would be very developmental and hands-on (vs. boring work sheets every day).

I think you need to do some more reading. The only book that comes to mind is the one I mentioned. I know there are more...

I'm going to add 2 more resources for you... in case he is a PICTURE learner (not a PRINT learner... some kids are print learners. My son is not.)

I would get MEET THE SIGHT WORDS (since that is what they are working on)
http://www.preschoolprepco.com/h/i/index.php

I did a search for SIGHT WORDS & PICTURE LEARNERS (read that Discover your child's learning style)
http://www.child-1st.com/new_site/SW_Sets.html