This month our focus is on reading and the critical role that eye tracking plays. Today I would like to bring your attention to the different ways your eyes track and work together as a team. Eye tracking affects just about every area of our lives, from reading to driving, to sports and more.

Do your child’s eyes get glazed over when you’re talking to them? Do they have a hard time following through on instructions you’ve given them? When it comes time to do their homework, are they confused about what they’re supposed to do? Has their teacher commented that they often don’t get started on an assignment but just sit at their desk? All of these may be symptoms of poor listening comprehension.

“Parents [or teachers] of a child with a memory for information deficit are often convinced the child is irresponsible, lazy or stubborn..."  (Barbara Arrowsmith-Young)

We all respond and make decisions from belief systems often operating at the unconscious level. We look at situations in life through our belief systems, just like a pair of sunglasses. When we stop to examine the implications of this, it can be almost frightening. Where have I made assumptions or judgment calls unconsciously which have then clouded my future interactions with others? If we only look at behaviours, it’s easy to label a child with laziness, acting out, ignoring, bullying, fidgeting and distractibility as character traits. These labels do us and the child a great disservice by keeping us focused on the symptoms instead of looking for the root causes.

You won't find the word "flexabilities" in the dictionary, but if you parent or teach children with learning disabilities, you likely find it in your life, every day.

Today started out like any other day. I arrived at the office thirty minutes early. In the silence of an empty office, I prepared to meet a young boy (we’ll call him Nick) that I would be assessing. I laid out all my testing materials and paperwork and looked around. Satisfied with my preparations, I started on the mountain of paperwork that seemed to regenerate whenever I slept. 

I think reading was perhaps one of the most liberating experiences of my childhood so I am troubled by how many children struggle with reading.

A recent survey by Canadian Living Magazine (May 2012) of Ontario’s grade 6 students revealed that ½ of them don’t like to read. Reading was always an area of strength for me, but I have worked with many children who struggle with reading for a wide variety of reasons. I believe that if you are good at something, then in most cases you will enjoy it. For 50% of grade 6 students to not enjoy reading there is something seriously wrong.