Hi Diana,

I am glad you found us as I hope we can answer some of your questions.
I am 100% a believer in Helen Irlen Syndrome (AKA: Scotopic
Sensitivity Syndrome). In the previous post I replied to Chris has
some of my history with them I mentioned that her glasses has been
very positive for me. They don't hold all the answers for me, but they
were crucial in getting me started to calm my central nervous system
back down so I can become more involved in my life.

Well, at least you have a family member who was able to help you, and
found that your granddaughter is a good candidate for them. Gee, it
sounds like you have a serious challenge trying to help her. I am glad
to hear that she has good intuition to help her get through her
schoolwork. This is a good sign as it proves how intelligent she is to
overcome and work around her problem. If the day comes where she can't
I hope that her father will reconsider, but hopefully you don't lose
anymore of his trust should he have a trust issue...

The problem is that parenting is up to her father, and I fear you are
just going to have to respect him for now, as you don't want to get
him angry at you anymore than you have to. It would be sad for your
granddaughter, you... I don't know what the situation is, but he is
her father and unfortunately for you, he has the custodial rights of
how to parent her.

Perhaps, you can figure out how to gain his trust, so that he will
feel it a benefit to support your granddaughter using the color
overlays. You may have to be patient until then, but maybe then he can
see that she needs to use them in the future to help her further her
education. For now...it's his call.

Have you gotten a copy of her book? Maybe after some time has passed
to let things settle back down (if needed it) you can give him a copy
of her book, and see if he is interested in reading it. Especially if
her behavior of getting up at dinnertime starts to bother him, and
that it is not psychological, but rather the struggle she has to
endure from Helen Irlen Syndrome.

If people are not educated on this subject, they can be dumber than a
doorknob. Its a hard lesson to learn to forgive teachers,
doctors...for being ignorant so don't expect too much help from those
who don't/won't/can't appreciate this syndrome. All you can do is work
around it as best as you can without making enemies in the process.
You can farter with sugar, but you have to exercise patients because
that's the way it is for now.

You are correct in wanting to protect her self-esteem, but I am sure
you can figure out a way to work around this without confusing her.
Books, movies... Sometimes telling a child too much can hurt them in
the long run because of the lack of support from those she needs it
from. Beware…"Scorn the parent…scorn the child" this is because if you
scorn her father it's like scorning her because she loves him, and as
this is part of a child's psychological makeup to identify with their
parents.

Good Luck,
Lu