Stealth Dyslexia – What's That?

Have you seen gifted children who are very bright yet they struggle in school?  Maybe they are not “bad enough” to be labelled as having a reading or learning problem?

These kids are often hard for parents and teachers to understand because they may have verbal IQs in the high range, but still struggle with reading and writing skills.  Many of these kids have visual processing difficulties that contribute to poor eye-hand coordination for writing and tracking.  They often don’t qualify in school for special help, as they are not bad enough.  They are bored, yet can’t perform some easy tasks.  They often don’t fit into the gifted programs because they can’t keep up with the written work.  These kids often show frustration and avoidance of tasks.

In some parts of the country, these kids are often labelled as “twice-exceptional.”  Click here for more information on “twice-exceptional” kids.

Drs. Eide, neurologist from Seattle, discuss the concept of what they call these kids…”Stealth Dyslexics”.  Click here to read more about “Stealth Dyslexia”

At Hellerstein & Brenner Vision Center, we’ve been successfully treating these “twice-exceptional or stealth dyslexic” kids with vision therapy including visualization strategies to help these bright kids learn easier ways to read and write more successfully.  Sometimes we collaborate with great academic tutors as well if the written language skills are of more significant concern.

Click here to read what a few parents have to say about how their kids benefited from vision therapy.

By Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, Colorado optometrist in Vision Therapy and Visual Processing