My 9 year old son is in 4th grade and has a reading level of a 7th grader. He loves reading and language arts. Over the last week he has told me the words start to wiggle on the pages? Any ideas on what could cause this? Heven doesn't mixed up letters of words or anything they just wiggle. Edit: He says he was not tired and it has happened for the laSt 2 weeks, he just didn't say anything. He has an eye appointment, but earliest he could be seen is in 3 weeks. Just looking for ideas as to what it could be or what to ask the doctor. Thank you to everyone who is answering :)
He needs a pediatric opthamologist. This indicates a tracking problem. Talk to them about this. There are tests they can do to help him.
My daughter has three kinds of migraines, which all occur separately. One is the typical headache kind. One causes vertigo.
The third are called ocular migraines. When she gets those, she does not get a headache or experience vertigo. The ocular migraines cause some flashes of light around the edge of her sight. They also cause what she's looking at to appear as though the left side doesn't quite line up with the right side. And they make words and other things look as though they're wiggling, like they're under water.
It is extremely important that you do not take him to a place that makes eyeglasses, where an optometrist examines vision and then prescribes glasses to correct any vision problems. You need an ophthalmologist, which is a doctor who does more than prescribe glasses. The ophthalmologist will be able to perform tests and do retinal scans and diagnose ocular migraines or any other vision problems. He or she also is able to write a prescription for glasses if they're needed, but the exam will be much more in-depth.
My daughter sees the optometrist once a year and the ophthalmologist twice a year. She wears glasses, and when the ocular migraines occur, she takes a break from reading and they don't usually last too long. She also takes migraine medication regularly (a preventive med) and has another med for the vertigo and headaches only to be taken when those occur.
Go to the eye Dr. Tell your eye Dr that 3 weeks is too long that this is a new thing that is occurring and needs checked as soon as possible.
We have no idea what it could be and can't diagnose him. Stay away from Dr Google.
Ask the eye doctor to run an eye function test. You may need to talk to your pediatrician first to get the referral and make sure you are working with an ophthalmologist because a standard-issue optometrist may not be trained to diagnose eye function issues. (Some do study this, but many optometrists don't. So ask.) Do keep your pediatrician in the loop on this.
Astigmatism maybe?
Could be any thing - an eye doctor will be able to tell you more.
Makes me wonder if he was tired when that happened. Even so, I think a call to the eye doctor is a good idea.
its probably imagination ifs he on a 7th grade level he has no problem reading or any effects on reading. he probably has been reading in the dark this causes bad eye sight I have had this problem my self. and when I started to squint it had started to become bad. Ask the doctor hhow bad is itt and is he farsided or nearsoded he problem just needs reading glasses
I agree with Nervy about seeing an ophthalmologist.
My only thought is does he ever complain about headaches? I get ocular migraines and my vision can be affected for days at a time. There are other neurological things that can affect vision - an ophthalmologist would be able to help over an optometrist.
Added: I should add you don't have to have headaches with migraines. You can just get the aura (vision disturbances) and no headache.
You might want to take him to the eye doctor.
Could be a visual tracking issue. You'll need a regular eye appointment first to rule out a simple vision problem. If the exam you scheduled comes back normal, ask your school if they have a reading specialist who can screen him for tracking issues. One form of tracking problem is known as Irlen syndrome and can be treated with reading using a colored overlay (on paper) or by changing the background color of text on a screen. There are other types of visual processing problems that can make words do funny things on the page (my oldest son's eye was drawn to the rivers of white space between words). School should be able to help point you in the right direction (either suggest a diagnosis or refer you to a specialist) if his vision checks out OK.
time to see the eye doctor.
Get his eyes checked. Only have one set. Better to be safe than sorry.
Is it only on the page, black letters on white paper?
My son is color blind and we discovered it when the letters on the white board (where teachers used different colored dry-erase markers) would wiggle and jump if certain colors were used in combination. He spoke to the teacher, who agreed to only use red or green but not both together.
Make notes of where he sits in the classroom and whether it occurs at a distance (road signs, blackboard) or just on the page, and take a sample page with you to show the font size/style. Also note the lighting and anything else going on - don't evaluate or weight it, just note it.
Let the doctor run the tests. I'm sure it's something simple to fix.
