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These statements were regularly ar-ticulated by our daughter during the rstthree years o elementary school. Reading,spelling, and handwriting were rustrat-ing skills or her to develop, at least romour perspective as her parents. However,school standardized testing results did not

refect delayed development or evidenceo a learning disability. Ironically, we hadalso regularly queried our pediatriciansabout the act that one o our daughterseyes seemed to dri t and not always ocusthe same as the other eye. These concernswere dismissed because she never ailedthe acuity/e ciency vision screenings atschool or the doctors o ce. It is discour-aging to remember how many times wewere told, Dont worry, she just mightnot ever like to read, or She just mightnot be a good speller, or Many kids justhave poor handwriting.

At the beginning o her irst-grade year, we took Tessa or an independentexam with a local optometrist, who prescribed glasses. Inhindsight, we realize that her handwriting skills were muchbetter during that time. However, when she was in secondgrade, we again pursued independent examination, thistime with an opthalmologist. At the end o a three-hourappointment, we were told to discontinue the use o the glassesbecause her eyes would become dependent and weak. Noone ever mentioned anything about visual processing despiteour articulated concerns about her academic struggles.

In her third-grade year, our daughters rustration levelskyrocketed due to increased academic workload. Six weeksinto the school year, we made the decision to homeschooland enrolled with a state- unded public virtual charterschool. Our main goal was to alleviate the stress causedby homework and environmental classroom distractions,with the hope that we could better understand why our

daughter was struggling academically.During that same time, we also pur-sued an evaluation with a well-knownresearcher who provided us with adiagnosis o AD/HD. For some this di-agnosis might bring more stress; or usit was a huge relie ! We began imple-

menting strategic interventions suchas reduced assignment length, blockscheduling, personal planning, and so

orth. We also pursued cognitive behav-ioral therapy and began to see a reduc-tion in her emotional stress responses aswe learned the value o developing and

ostering emotional intelligence.While these e orts did begin to

alleviate some o the stress related toacademic work, she continued to strugglewith oral and silent reading, comprehen-sion, math errors, writing, and spelling.We tried everything we could think o ,but we were as ba led as her teacherswhen none o our e orts produced any

signi cant improvement. A ter three years o unansweredquestions and hours o independent research, we stum-bled across in ormation about visual processing disorders,o ten termed the hidden disability. Two separate evaluationswith developmental optometrists yielded the same diagnosis:convergence insu fciency (one o several widely accepted andwell-researched visual processing disorders).

Almost immediately, we had some much-needed hopeand treatment options. Thank ully, our medical insurance

covered all but our deductible costs. With this diagnosis,we now understood why the child who constantly askedquestions never wanted to work with puzzles or gamesthat required visual strategy skills. Similarly, it was obvi-ous why the child who loved to draw and paint wouldonly scribble on her school worksheets, o ten using justone color and marking well outside o the lines. Math er-rors were no longer just careless mistakes, and we hadinsight about why she could correctly spell words orally,but would write them with reversals and/or omissions.Equally important, we were no longer experiencing ex-treme emotional responses due to her personal rustration

wh i i n Ju ad/Hd?A familys struggle to identify a hidden coexisting condition

By Esther Falcetta

i Hate tHis! i wisH i didnt Have to Go to scHool! We do this in school, why do I have to do it at home all over again? Why do I have to learn to read and write cursive, anyway? I already KNOW this!!

xper encet H e l i v e d e X p e r i e n c e

e h f ,the proud mom o a child who has AD/HD,lives in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and is a member o CHADD.She advocates or ongoing research, education, and awarenesso AD/HD and sensory processing disorders.

Tessa in a recent photograph.

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about schoolwork. We also stopped considering her expressions o atigue and headaches as excuses to get out o reading and started

working with her proactively because we better understood whereand how she was struggling.

We want to stress that appropriate diagnosis and treatment o ourdaughters visual processing disorder was NOT a miracle cure orAD/HD. Visual unction is only one area that must be comprehen-sively evaluated. Although she now reads at grade level and withpro cient comprehension, our daughter continues to struggle withtypical executive unction issues in the areas o sequential process-ing, short-term and working memory, sustaining ocus/attention,managing rustration, and regulating her emotional responses. Herwritten expression work has improved tremendously, and she rarely makes math alignment errors.

We have continued to homeschool, but hope to re-enroll ourdaughter in the local brick/mortar school system or her seventh-grade

year. We use a web-based remediation program or reading fuency/comprehension and have sought additional assistance and supportin other academic areas. It is our opinion that she had to catch upbecause she missed so much during the rst three years o school.In hindsight, we know that the signs and symptoms were all present,but the solution to many o her academic struggles truly was hidden.

French philosopher Jean Baudrillard once said, In ormation cantell us everything. It has all the answers. But they are answers to ques-tions we have not asked, and which doubtless dont even arise. Weknew something was wrong, but didnt know the right questions toask. We are thank ul or CHADD, and the many researchers whoare diligently striving to better understand AD/HD, including thepresence and e ects o coexisting disorders. However, rom our per-sonal experience, we understand that a great need exists or increasedawareness among the education and medical communities. Regular,comprehensive screening or all aspects o sensory processing is vitaland should be part o all early intervention evaluations.

In ormation really is everything. We encourage parents andcaregivers to never stop asking questions. I all you have is a gutinstinct, continue to research and seek every possible opinion youcan nd. Our daughter was not lazy or careless, but she was be-coming apathetic and unmotivated to learn. She was beginning tohate school, and our home li e was emotionally stress ul becauseo it. We trust that sharing our experiences will provide hope, andcreate possibilities or our children. A

for more info :Be ure to vi it t e new s oo

n ad/hd e tion of h . g.

Editors Note : Only a qualifed pro essional can diagnose and treatvisual processing disorders. Read the joint statement rom the Academyo Pediatrics (Section on Ophthalmology, Council on Children withDisabilities), the American Academy o Ophthalmology, the AmericanAssociation or Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, and theAmerican Association o Certifed Orthoptists published in the August2009 issue o Pe i tri . You can access the statement throughhelp4adhd.org , the website o CHADDs National Resource Centeron AD/HD. Go to the NRCs coexi ting con ition page ( rom thehomepage drop-down box under Diagnosis & Treatment ); under OtherWeb Sites, click on le rning di bi itie , dy exi , n Vi ion.