 "My
almost seven year old ( dx mild high functioning autism) has excellent one word
recognition. However when reading, he has trouble tracking words with his eyes.
He gets lost on the page easily. Often he looks away. He stutters through the
words. Any suggestions? Would larger text help? Are there any reading programs
that might help? He's being retained in first grade. He also has absence seizures
(being treated) and has trouble tracking objects thrown to him."Joan
Answer: Kelly Wilk, Occupational Therapist, www.junctionof-ot-function.com
I would suggest one way to increase your son's visual attention to task would
be to increase the text size and use a cardboard template that is cut out for
the size of just one sentence. This will help him concentrate on only one sentence
at a time and not be distracted by other text. A thorough reading evaluation concentrating
on word recognition and word analysis skills would also be helpful. From what
you describe there is a possibility of poor visual memory skills and therefore
slow acquisition of sight vocabulary.
I think that there may be a visual attending problem as well that could be caused
by visual overload, too much extraneous visual clutter/detail on a page. Also,
your son's tracking troubles suggest delayed visual-motor skills. An assessment
from an Occupational Therapist would probably benefit your son and they could
provide remedial work to increase these skills. |
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Disabilities 
