When children have difficulty reading, parents often think poor vision is the problem. If a visit to an ophthalmologist rules out any medical or vision problems, it may be a learning disability.

A learning disability is a disparity between a person's ability and performance in a certain area. It has nothing to do with intelligence or IQ. A learning disability can make it difficult to succeed in school and, if untreated, gets worse, causing a child to lose self-confidence and interest in school.

Identifying the learning disability is the first step in treating it. Dyslexia, a reading disability that may involve reversing letters and words, is one of the many learning disorders that can affect reading.

Exercises have been used to improve the coordination or focusing of the eyes. Since poor reading is not usually an eye problem, these exercises rarely prove helpful. Colored lenses, special diets or vitamins, jumping on trampolines, or walking on balance beams have also been prescribed without much success. Over time, these methods have tended to fall out of favor. Children with learning disabilities benefit from various educational programs, in or out of school. Parents also play a vital role. They can support their children by reading with them at home.

Children with learning disabilities need to be encouraged to develop strengths and interests so they can fully develop their unique talents and abilities.

 

From: Childhood Reading Problems
Eyecare Associates of East Texas
http://www.eyecaretyler.com/pediatrics.htm

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There are several basic steps that are essential to getting young children to wear their glasses.

• Refrain from nagging. Nagging, reasoning, explaining, and the like will not improve glasses wearing. Try to refrain from any such reminders.
• Provide lots of love pats ("time-in"). Children, like adults, thrive on affection. We cannot say that children will not wear their glasses because they are not loved enough. However, we can say that providing lots of love pats (50 to 100 per day per parent) can provide much of the foundation for getting children to wear their glasses.
• Discipline must be calm and matter-of-fact. You can use time-out as a form of discipline for glasses wearing. You should practice using time-out with many other behaviors before you try to use it for glasses wearing. And do at least 9 love pats for each time out. Only after you are successful at using time-out for other behaviors (for at least 1 to 2 weeks) should you try to use it for glasses wearing.
• Ask questions. The first week or two, when you and your child are just learning how to do time-in and time-out correctly, is the most important. Please call your health care provider if you run into any difficulties or if you have questions.
• Keep your follow-up appointments. Plan on keeping follow-up appointments. While it may be tempting to go ahead on your own, your health care provider can help you resolve the glasses wearing problem permanently but cannot do so without your cooperation.

Written by Edward R. Christophersen, Ph.D.
Published by McKesson Provider Technologies
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_glasses_hhg.htm

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