Raising Smarter Children

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.