Ha - I knew it!!!!!

Have I mentioned we have had concerns that Livi is not as happy at school as she should be? Or that she is showing many of the same behaviours as Abigail was at this age? Have I mentioned that when I talked to her teacher earlier this year she felt that Livi was just a bit prone to daydreaming and needed to concentrate more, or that Livi was well aware that she was being pulled up for daydreaming but that she wasn't actually zoning out, she was simply trying to focus on one point on the wall so that she could listen and take in what was being said?

Did I mention last week's meeting where her class teacher (who is the learning support teacher at the school) really didn't feel that Livi had any issues because her iteracy levels are so high? I explained that Abi's level for literacy at the end of year two put her at least 18 months above her school year but that she has a diagnoses of Dyslexia.

Anyway. Livi went to the Optitians today for an Irlen Syndrome test. Briefly, Irlen Syndrome is a processing problem, where the brain cannot process visual information easily. Good readers can also have the condition because it is not the same as Dyslexia, where the brain cannot process the letters, this is where the brain cannot process the information so easily.

The test is very simple. Once any other eye condition, such as an astigmatism or long or short sight has been eliminated or catered for with a normal eye test, the optitian asked Livi to read words from a page. These were nonsense words but that are decodable - for instance, flollop! The number of words read in a minute is counted and how many mistakes are counted. Then Livi was asked to do similar exercises but with different coloured lenses. Each time the number of words and mistakes were counted. If there is a discrepancy of 10% between  the first time and the best of the tinited lenses then there is a significant processing issue. Livi's discrepancy was almost 100%. She went from reading 44 words in a  minute, to 74 words a minute.

Irlen's can have an effect on behaviour, stress and motivation. It can make reading, seeing work written on a white board or a poster or taking in (comprehending) instructions hard. In Livi's case, it is clear that she has light sensitivity and perception difficulties and we will be taking her to and education Psychologist as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I have a meeting with her two teachers tomorrow.

I shall try not to gloat that I was right and they were WRONG. Livi must have been working her little butt off to get where she is now.

Ha.

Ha-ha.

Mwahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!!!!