Raising Smarter Children

When my daughter, Erin, a Pediatrician and co-founder of this RaisingSmarerChildren.com blog, was in the first grade, her teacher called me in and said she wanted her to repeat the first grade due to reading problems.

I was horrified as you can imagine, because Erin could read at age 4, and I am a reading specialist.   What was I missing?   

Fortunately, and I believe there are no coincidences, the mother of a child I was coaching in faster learning strategies, told me her son was taking vision therapy. She said her son had visual perceptual problems that weren’t picked up in the school vision exam on the distance eye chart, and she discovered he didn’t see the printed page the way he should.

Just today, I read a story on Fox Business News about the NFC West champion wide receiver for the Arizona cardinals, Larry Fitzgerald, who credits vision therapy for his success.

He says, like I have been saying, teaching and writing about  for just over twenty years now, “that most people don’t know that there are over 15 visual skills that every person needs to succeed in reading, learning, sports and life.  Reading at 20/20 distance eyesight is just one of those skills”.

My daughter, Erin, who had vision therapy in the first grade, was more than just lucky.  When she was finished the therapy, she read well above grade level.  She too, credits her much of her dream of becoming a medical doctor to the vision therapy she received as a child.  Had her visual perceptual problems not been solved right then, she may have struggled with reading all the way through school. Read the rest of this entry »

        How To Use The Visual Eye-Brain Connection For Written Test Success

If you’ve been following this mini series, excerpted from the best seller, Learning vs. Testing,  on test taking success strategies, today is THE Day to find out HOW to help your child or student add that visual learning style strategy for the ultimate boost in test taking scores! 

Read the rest of this entry »

     Part 1 of our series on visual strategies for test taking success, excerpted from Learning vs. Testing,  Strategies That Bridge The Gap Between Learning Styles and Test Taking Success, talked about how my students revealed their own visual learning and recall strategies to get higher grades on their tests.

Today, we continue with how your child’s eye movements are a clue to creating mental snapshots, which enhance their memory during tests.  While I didn’t understand why when I first noticed the eye movements, the physical act of looking up helped my students created and recall nearly everything they read…

Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know that your child may suffer unnecessarily from visual stress?  In fact, eye doctors say that kids may be working much harder than necessary to read and write, simply because their visual system is stressed and it’s undetected.  On page 53 of the book,  Learning vs. Testing , here are the four ways eye doctors and reading specialists say you can reduce visual stress for your child.

Read the rest of this entry »

During the past couple of days, you’ve gotten several tips on what to do about inadequate school vision screenings, and which visual skills are essential for you child.

Today, here are 5 things you can do to reduce your child’s visual stress, which will make reading easier, and ultimately help your child do better in school.

Read the rest of this entry »

After listening to President Barack Obama’s second press conference last night, it occurs to me that we may be missing something very important as we decide which resources to put into education.  Technology is so very important, but what about the fact that nearly 70% of our kids aren’t reading at grade level?

How can we expect to raise smarter kids, who are able to compete in the global marketplace, when we’re not addressing the underlying causes of our national reading crisis?

As parents, the first thing you need to do when your child is an infant, is to get an eye screening, that includes visual skills as well.  Former President Jimmy Carter arranged for every parent to do this free if you don’t have the resources or insurance for this.  Visit his site at infantsee.org for more information.

As your child gets ready to enter school, you’re going to want more than the typical school vision screening with an eye chart, to know whether your child has the visual and perceptual skills to become a great reader.

Most schools use a simple eye chart, and have kids cover one eye to look at letters 20 feet away.  I don’t know too many kids who read their books while covering one eye, from 20 feet away, so you have to get a better screening.

Eye doctors called developmental optometrists at covd.org and oep.org specialize in learning related eye exams.  As a reading specialist and parent, I can tell you that these are the best doctors for your child to see prior to and during the school years.  They will examine not only eye health, but all the more subtle vision skills that relate to learning.  Visiting one of these doctors early can save you and your child years of problems later on, plus give your child the best foundation for reading possible.

One more thing you can do to help your child is to check up on your school’s vision screening.  Ask your developmental optometrist how to make this screening more meaningful and related to what we ask kids to do in school.

Tomorrow:  Look for the list of visual skills every child needs to do classroom work – we’ll use the excerpt from the best selling book, Learning vs. Testing, Strategies That Bridge The Gap Between Learning Styles and Test Taking Success.

Remember, every child is smart!

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

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Visit our sister site at http://www.howtolearn.com for more tips and information on raising smarter children.