Surprise, Surprise: Vision Problems of Gifted Children (Part 2)
Posted on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 @ 08:00 AM
In the first part of this series on vision problems of gifted children, we focused on why visual skills can be overlooked in gifted children. We also related details of how gifted patients can often make for very resistant patients, a fact that doesn’t surprise Dr. Knueppel.
“Many times these gifted children don’t want anything to be wrong with them and also can find very creative ways around the problem or explanations of why they do things in a certain way,” she said.
They’re also smart enough to buck the system to prove there’s “nothing wrong.” Dr. Knueppel recalled a six year-old patient who figured out how a visual activity worked, and then refused to participate in any similar activities in her therapy because she “knew the answer.”
“Often really bright people think too much when it comes to vision therapy. They don’t just let it happen. They think about what it should look like rather than actually looking to see what it looks like.”
The telltale sign that a smart child has a vision problem
Dr. Knueppel notes that children who are extremely verbal should probably have a Functional Vision Test. If a child does much better with verbal testing than written testing and/or would prefer to be read to rather than reading themselves, it would be worthwhile to make sure their vision is functioning properly.
IQ testing can also sometimes give a clue that a child has a vision problem or that vision therapy might be helpful.
“A simple rule of thumb would be that any time there is a significant disparity between a child’s performance scores and verbal scores, they should probably have functional vision testing to see if vision therapy might help,” Dr. Knueppel said, pointing out that the performance subtests are most relevant to assessing visual information processing issues.
If your bright child is not performing up to potential in school, strongly consider a Functional Vision Test. We’ve seen many intelligent children surprised to discover they have a vision problem and then delighted to know that vision therapy can help correct it.
Source: Silverman LK. Diagnosing and treating visual perceptual issues in gifted children. JOVD 2001;32:153-176
(Photo by woodleywonderworks)
Learn how undetected vision problems can impact a child's ability to learn. Download your free Vision and Learning Guide.
The Vision Therapy Center has helped over 2,000 people overcome vision problems since 1995, and has Wisconsin vision therapy offices in Brookfield and Madison.