better and better

Today H's teacher told me that her behaviour has been very good at school.  She is getting all of her work done on time and is sitting in her seat and following directions.  She is also writing down her assignments like she is supposed to (and which she couldn't seem to do at the beginning of school).  Of course I was thrilled to hear this.  And it was a nice bit of encouragement since I have felt like we had hit another plateau.  We do the exercises from the therapist (neuroplasticity) every day and it is a bit tiring.  And for the past month I had not seen any changes in her behaviour (though I am thankful there are no changes for the worst).  Apparently all of the changes were happening at school.  It has given me the boost I need to keep doing this every day, even when I am worn out.
It is definately worth it.
'Chelle

Almost done with the first semester

I can't believe how well things are going.  We got a progress report and H has all Cs and Bs.  One of the Bs is an 89, too!  She has been getting her work done at school most days, which leaves very little homework to do.  She has been pretty calm and has been good about remembering instructions and obeying.  Her behaviour is what I would expect for a 9yr-old.  I feel like she has (for the most part) caught up with her classmates socially.  I find myself more scolding her younger siblings for being wild than H anymore.  I can't tell you how thrilling this is!  Here is a recent example of what would have been unheard of behaviour for her just a year ago:
We went to the beach and saw some jellyfish on the shore during our long walk. At the end of the walk H announced that she had counted 36 dead jellyfish. This amazed me that she would (1)keep the number in her head the whole while and (2)would stay focused on a task that is not her favorite for an extended period of time.  A year ago this would not have happened.
Two things I forgot to mention in the last blog:First, her teacher told us that H is very good at math and has an intuitive understanding of it.  Remember that 18 months ago her school was talking about holding her back a year because she was failing math so badly.  Second, her teacher looked back over some competency tests H had taken at the end of 3rd grade.  Her reading competency score jumped from 46 to 60 (or close to that; I don't remember exactly).  The teacher said that was unprecedented.  At the time of the first test H had been in therapy for about 1-2 months.  At the time of the second test she had been in therapy for 3-6 months.  I was surprised because if anything I expected H would do worse on the second test, since she had figured out by then that most other kids didn't have to take these and was a bit resentful.
We are continuing the therapy.  H's organizational skills are still very poor.  But I feel like we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
'Chelle