DD Having Visual Problems At School-Too Stubborn To Say!

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi Guys!

Need some advice with DD and thought someone maybe able to offer some pointers

DD is 12 and she started at a good Grammar school last September. She passed her 11+ with flying colours and achieved outstanding grades. DD is partially sighted in one eye and legally blind in the other but this has never stopped her doing anything and OH & I are so proud of her.

In primary school, although she wasnt statemented she was counted as "special needs" and they blew up words in books, let her sit at the front of class etc etc..nothing major, just helpful suggestions.

Although she manages to do basically what she wants, she doesnt always manage well. She is unable to judge distances, cant see well and suffers with headaches. There are other ailments too.

I have bee worried about her for a few months now as she doesnt seem too settled and worried about HW all the time(they have a min of 1.5hrs a night) and some of her books have alot of unfinished work in them. I thought her stroppyness was just becuase of her age but yesterday things came to head and she told us what has been bothering her.

Basically, she cant see the boards! I suggested her sitting at the front if the class but she has said NO because they all sit in surname order and because of her surname, she is sitted at the back in some classes and front in others. She doesnt want to be different and I can understand this but I am worried about her education and falling behind. She has been trying to copy her friends work between classes but this is quite difficult.

What should I do? DD has accepted that we need to sort this but she is not budging on being moved in the class as she doesnt want to highlighted in class and she doesnt want her friends knowing how poor her vision is.

Does anyone have any suggestions/options that may help? I am going to contact her head of year tomorrow and ask to meet with her. Although we told the school when DD started that she has visual problems, we told them that she didnt want "special" treatment although we would prefer it.

Sorry if I have rambled on, but just being a worried, concerned parent:rolleyes:

Thanks

PP
xx

ailuro2

Contact the school and ask them to reverse the order of surnames- this is a perfectly normal thing for them to be able to do- kids get moved places from time to time in my dd's classes.

anonymousie

If everything is smartboarded or pwerpointed, as many things are now she could either view it large on a laptop or a printout.

One school we went to was all networked and she could then have a laptop and see it "real time" at her desk. I know there are argumensts re networks but it would help her.

ICT is "cool" so would suit a teenager rather than large print work sheets.

No idea where in the UK you are , but here in Brum the Queen Alexandra college for the blind would be a mine of useful resources if school needed help. If you don't have contact with similar (maybe via n occupatinal therapist for visual impairment?) then the QAC could maybe direct you to your nearest facility http://www.qac.ac.uk/4-res/4-2.html

Savvy_Sue

Gosh, hard one, but maybe time for you to go all parental and say "I know you don't WANT your friends to know your sight is so poor, and I know you don't WANT special treatment, but you NEED it, and either YOU are going to ask for it or WE will ask for it."

Would handouts at the start of the lesson help? Would she be able to read them better?

Alternatively everyone (including her!) will just have to live with the fact that Miss PP always sits here so she can see the board. If teachers didn't comment on it, it would help.

littlemissmoney

When I was at school we had to move seats all the time. A to Z then alternate girl/boy with A girl sitting next to A boy, then A girl sitting next to Z boy. I'm sure any half decent teacher can declare a seating change without mentioning your daughter and make sure she ends up at the front.

I aggree that you should speak to her teachers whether she likes it or not. She will thank you once she can see the board and keep up with her work

nickyhutch

She is blind in one eye and struggles with the other - she NEEDS "special treatment" if you call sitting at the front special treatment. It's all very well wanting to be treated as if he doesn't have a difficulty, but she DOES and you and she and school need to recognise it to give her the best chance possible. This will hold her back in the long term. You must get it sorted with school before she falls further behind.

mrs_mix

Difficult one whilst on one hand she does'nt want to be given any special help but on the other she obviously needs some sort of help can they not re-arrange the seating without drawing attention to your dd perhaps by saying we'll see if this works better for the whole class
if she is having trouble keeping up can the teachers print lesson material out for her to catch up in a better timescale rather than trying to rush it between lessons the teacher can give this to her discrettly (sp)
hope you get it sorted
pam

Queenie

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

...
Need some advice with DD ... DD is partially sighted in one eye and legally blind in the other ... Although she manages to do basically what she wants, she doesnt always manage well. She is unable to judge distances, cant see well and suffers with headaches. There are other ailments too ..... What should I do? DD has accepted that we need to sort this but she is not budging on being moved in the class as she doesnt want to highlighted in class and she doesnt want her friends knowing how poor her vision is...

Thing is, she *is* special, very special She's clearly a very intelligent young girl and academically capable of very high standards of work and by all accounts has a very good future ahead of her. If her vision impairment is holding her back and making it difficult to complete her work, or putting extra strain on her time trying to catch up, then this will ultimately affect her self esteem far more than any move within the class might.

Perhaps another way of explaining it to her (to win her over) might be to explain that if she falls too far behind she could be moved groups/classes and I'm sure she would be more upset by that then by moving chair.

As for the other children noticing, well, as you pointed out, she can sometimes have trouble judging distances and can't see well at other times, so eventually the other children *will* notice anyway.

Try and explain to her that it's better to be noticed for sitting at the front and being top of the class, then sitting at the back struggling to keep up and being noticed for being the bottom.

Wishing you luck with the school today, but more importantly, finding a way to sell it to your DD in a positive light and keeping her self esteem in tact.

pippamannequin

Hi, my 14 year old is blind in his left eye and has been since birth.
He is the same and doesnt like it 'broadcast' in class.
I spoke with the head of year discretely and the suggestion i made on his behalf that he always sits on the left and so has full vision from his right 'good' eye. The nearer the front he sits the better but the left position in class is something he can secure without other classmates becoming aware.
I was also told that during exams etc he can officailly be given 25% extra time.
He has recently had his sats and didnt want it for them but has requested he have it when he sits his gcse's.
If i can think of anything else he found usefull then i will let you know.

nappentass

FWIW
I have one eye that doesn't work properly (effectively blind) the other's OK, yes distance vision can be challenging, but I've never known anything different so have learnt life skills with it.
From my own personal experience I'd say not to worry about it - if she was born with it then so what - it's only a problem if you make it one.
The only time mine caused real problems in school was when they kept insisting it was a 'lazy eye' and put a patch over my good eye - effectively making me blind - hideous nightmare for a 9 yr old - then when another helpful schoolchild stabbed me in the eye they finally got the fact that I REALLY could not see. I wore glasses all through school until eventually at 18 my mum got me to a specialist who identified the problem with the optic nerve - nothing could fix it!

I'm 46 now, consider myself a reasonably safe driver, am learning to ride a motorbike. I can't catch anything to save my life but that's not stopped me getting O & A levels, and later in life a HND & BSc earning a living, and doing everything the same as 'normal people'
I have NEVER considered it a problem because thankfully my parents didn't treat me that way and did everything they could to build my confidence and self-esteem.
I'm reluctantly having to wear glasses to read now but that's age and because I'm longsighted my arms are no longer long enough!
I know that I could have been registered as partially sighted/blind since being a child but would not chose to limit myself in this way unless I lost sight in the better eye and had no other option.

If your DD cannot see the board from the back of the class then is it possible that she may be able to have glasses to correct that? If so it may be an alternative to being self conscious about changing desks and such like.

HTH
Jill

pippamannequin

Hi Jill, thats exactly what happened to my son, they insisted it was a lazy eye and by the time he was 3 told me i wasnt patching his eye properly and despite me saying he cant see a thing with a patch on his 'good eye' they forced me to keep doing it.
Eventually i couldnt bare it anymore he was so upset and i caved in and took it off so i told the specialist to admit my son to hospital during the daytime and for them to have a go at it. After one day they decided to run some more tests and then all became clear that his optic nerve was damaged, he'd never seen out of it and he would never gain any sight.
Slightly off topic, please dont have a go at me! but just saw the coincidence and wanted to mention it.