Raising Smarter Children

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.

If you observe any of these visual problems, then use the suggested solutions:

1. If your child has difficulty copying work from their book to the paper, have another student help by using carbon paper and talk with the teacher about reducing the number of items copied – maybe doing only the odd or even numbers.

2. If your child complains it’s tough to copy from the board, have the teacher make larger letters with more space between them and put the same material on a piece of paper for your child to copy.

3. Tracking problems mean your child loses his or her place when reading.  This is a signal that you need a thorough learning related vision exam by a developmental optometrist, but here’s what you can do in the meantime.

Allow your child to use a marker and inform the teacher why.  Suggest that your child look away from the book for 30 -60 seconds to relax the eyes.  Next, have your child trace a sideways figure 8 in the air, first with one hand, then the other, to activate both brain hemispheres and integrate all visual fields.

4.  If you notice that your child’s numbers don’t line up as they should on the page, then use large box graph paper to make it easier.  You can also suggest that each line of numbers be a different color.

5. If your child doesn’t see punctuation, omits words, complain that the words jump around or gets tired when reading, try colored overlays.  Place one color at a time over the printed page and let your child tell you which color clears up the print.

Most importantly, if you notice any of the visual/perceptual problems, then have your child’s eyes checked by a doctor who specializes in learning related vision exams.  They are called developmental optometrists. 

Remember, every child is smart!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

Visit our sister site at http://www.HowToLearn.com for other tips and strategies to help raise a smarter child. 

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