We have now completed one full week of no exercises: and everything is still going well!
The therapist suggested giving H a break from exercises for the holidays. At first I was a bit wary, since in the past if we have skipped massages for just 3 days H would have a meltdown. But this time everything stayed the same. I am so thrilled. I think it is another sign that she is closer to normal. I plan to continue the break for another 3 days, then start up the exercises again. That way she will be back in the routine well before school starts again.
As a side note, I have also been letting H have a bit more sugar than usual. And it is not leading to the wild, out-of-control behaviour that has been usual in the past. I am still leary about letting her have lots of sugar though.
Happy Holidays!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Celebration (and the outcome)
H continues to do well. Her grades for this quarter are 3 As and 3 Bs. This is a HUGE improvement over the first quarter's grades. Even better, she is still behaving well at school.
In celebration of a whole week of good behaviour at school we went out for a donut on Friday. We went late at night, right before bedtime with the hope that the sugar would work its way out of their system while they slept. It seemed to be working in that they all had a good night's sleep. However the next day H had three minor meltdowns over trival events. She did not have good control over her emotions. I am willing to bet it was the donut. Next celebration will be pizza.
In celebration of a whole week of good behaviour at school we went out for a donut on Friday. We went late at night, right before bedtime with the hope that the sugar would work its way out of their system while they slept. It seemed to be working in that they all had a good night's sleep. However the next day H had three minor meltdowns over trival events. She did not have good control over her emotions. I am willing to bet it was the donut. Next celebration will be pizza.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
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
It is definately worth it.
'Chelle
Friday, November 18, 2011
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
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
Friday, October 21, 2011
Yea! Good news
It is wonderful to have good news to share. We had the therapy meeting 1.5 weeks ago, and the teacher meeting 1 week ago. The therapist was impressed by how well H is doing. She can look at and repeat 9 numbers at a time (how did that happen? We have never practiced more than 8 at a time). Her responses to physical stimuli are good. Her crawling and walking is good. We are still to work on the juggling more as well as the visual and auditory stimuli. She still needs to work on her eye muscles as well.
When we met with the teacher she said H had been behaving well the past few days. At the time I thought it was probably just a few good days for H. However for the entire past week she has behaved well at school. This is huge. She has also been finishing most of her work at school so that we don't have as much homework. And her last few spelling tests have been Cs instead of Fs. It is the only subject she is failing, so I feel encouraged by the trend. Her other grades were Bs, with one high C in science due to two tests that she didn't study and failed. Her teacher said that now that she is doing the quantity of work expected, we need to work on the quality of work. Her sentence structures are at a 3rd grade level at best (hmmm....and I was always thrilled for her to simply have a whole sentence rather than a fragment). I think she can come up with the complexity that a 4th grade student would, she just hates to write and therefore writes as little as possible. We have given her some extra-large paper with the hope that this will give her more room to write more detailed sentences.
Overall her maturity seems so much better, and yet she has not lost her fun-loving nature or her goofiness. I am so glad, since that is what makes her unique and was one of the things we lost when she was on ADHD medicine. I know there are still challenges ahead. She still requires more teacher attention than most children, and still tends to be distracted easily. Her organizational skills are still non-existant. But I feel like we are now on the tail end of normal, rather than being out in the land of disadvantaged or disability.
Smiles,
'Chelle
When we met with the teacher she said H had been behaving well the past few days. At the time I thought it was probably just a few good days for H. However for the entire past week she has behaved well at school. This is huge. She has also been finishing most of her work at school so that we don't have as much homework. And her last few spelling tests have been Cs instead of Fs. It is the only subject she is failing, so I feel encouraged by the trend. Her other grades were Bs, with one high C in science due to two tests that she didn't study and failed. Her teacher said that now that she is doing the quantity of work expected, we need to work on the quality of work. Her sentence structures are at a 3rd grade level at best (hmmm....and I was always thrilled for her to simply have a whole sentence rather than a fragment). I think she can come up with the complexity that a 4th grade student would, she just hates to write and therefore writes as little as possible. We have given her some extra-large paper with the hope that this will give her more room to write more detailed sentences.
Overall her maturity seems so much better, and yet she has not lost her fun-loving nature or her goofiness. I am so glad, since that is what makes her unique and was one of the things we lost when she was on ADHD medicine. I know there are still challenges ahead. She still requires more teacher attention than most children, and still tends to be distracted easily. Her organizational skills are still non-existant. But I feel like we are now on the tail end of normal, rather than being out in the land of disadvantaged or disability.
Smiles,
'Chelle
Saturday, October 8, 2011
First quarter of school
So much has happened this past month. It has been a series of ups and downs (what else is new about that?). It is one step forward, one step back. Or is it one-and-a-half steps forward and only one step back? Sometimes it is hard to tell. But at least I can say we aren't getting worse.
On the good side of things, H is still doing great with math. She still has to do some of her math schoolwork at home, but she does it quickly and rarely has more than 10 problems to do anyway.
H has also done really well on her book reports. She tells me what she wants to say in it, I write it down, and then she copies what I wrote to hand in. This gets around the problem of her thoughts being faster (and fleeting) than her writing.
Spelling is still a problem; she has been getting 40s and 50s on her tests. However, after trying many things, her teacher recommended we use a chalk board and flashcards to study the words. That has seemed to help. At the very least she doesn't mind writing with the multicolored chalk we bought. And I think writing the large letters, using her arm more than her fingers, is easier than regular writing for her. So this makes studying less of a chore, and therefore we study more. On her last spelling test (the first one after we started using this method) she made a 73% on her test. So I feel like we are making progress there.
Her creativity has been enormous lately. She is designing and sewing outfits for her stuffed animals. She is making clay sculptures (we love sculpty clay) of her favorite animals. She is making small books. She is drawing all the time. And she is happy. And she is loving. I do realize how blessed we are.
So what are the steps backward? Her teacher said she still moves constantly, and has to be brought back on task alot. Even worse, she mentioned that if her grades don't improve, she will have to repeat 4th grade (I am a bit confused over that; I think spelling is the only thing she is failing. She has gotten some really low grades in science and english, but that is balanced by some really good grades too). And as another low, the scouting troop leaders said H can come back only if I or another adult specifically assigned to H were to come, for those times she has behavioural issues. This really took me by surprise, as last year things seemed so good there. But I do know she is a problem at times. Since I have the other kids and can't leave them by themselves, H is not is scouting this year. Instead she is taking flag football and loving it. I think God's providence was in that little move.
And onward we go: we will be meeting with the therapist again this week. It is the first time since school started. The therapist and I will also be meeting with H's teacher later in the week to see what we can do to help H's teacher. I think she is beginning to be overwhelmed by H. She has been a huge help. She has started to give H a sheet telling her every day what books she needs to bring home and what assignments she needs to do. She is also assigning H stars for good behaviour each day: and if she misses a star, I am told why, which lets me have some good talks about what is socially acceptable and what is not. Things that I think of as obvious, like not looking toward bathroom stalls because you can see through those cracks in the door, never occur to H.
So I will try to post again soon, to let you know how all the meetings went.
'Chelle
On the good side of things, H is still doing great with math. She still has to do some of her math schoolwork at home, but she does it quickly and rarely has more than 10 problems to do anyway.
H has also done really well on her book reports. She tells me what she wants to say in it, I write it down, and then she copies what I wrote to hand in. This gets around the problem of her thoughts being faster (and fleeting) than her writing.
Spelling is still a problem; she has been getting 40s and 50s on her tests. However, after trying many things, her teacher recommended we use a chalk board and flashcards to study the words. That has seemed to help. At the very least she doesn't mind writing with the multicolored chalk we bought. And I think writing the large letters, using her arm more than her fingers, is easier than regular writing for her. So this makes studying less of a chore, and therefore we study more. On her last spelling test (the first one after we started using this method) she made a 73% on her test. So I feel like we are making progress there.
Her creativity has been enormous lately. She is designing and sewing outfits for her stuffed animals. She is making clay sculptures (we love sculpty clay) of her favorite animals. She is making small books. She is drawing all the time. And she is happy. And she is loving. I do realize how blessed we are.
So what are the steps backward? Her teacher said she still moves constantly, and has to be brought back on task alot. Even worse, she mentioned that if her grades don't improve, she will have to repeat 4th grade (I am a bit confused over that; I think spelling is the only thing she is failing. She has gotten some really low grades in science and english, but that is balanced by some really good grades too). And as another low, the scouting troop leaders said H can come back only if I or another adult specifically assigned to H were to come, for those times she has behavioural issues. This really took me by surprise, as last year things seemed so good there. But I do know she is a problem at times. Since I have the other kids and can't leave them by themselves, H is not is scouting this year. Instead she is taking flag football and loving it. I think God's providence was in that little move.
And onward we go: we will be meeting with the therapist again this week. It is the first time since school started. The therapist and I will also be meeting with H's teacher later in the week to see what we can do to help H's teacher. I think she is beginning to be overwhelmed by H. She has been a huge help. She has started to give H a sheet telling her every day what books she needs to bring home and what assignments she needs to do. She is also assigning H stars for good behaviour each day: and if she misses a star, I am told why, which lets me have some good talks about what is socially acceptable and what is not. Things that I think of as obvious, like not looking toward bathroom stalls because you can see through those cracks in the door, never occur to H.
So I will try to post again soon, to let you know how all the meetings went.
'Chelle
Friday, September 2, 2011
Third week of school
Things are both up and down at school. On the plus side, H has discovered she can do math, and do it quickly. It began as a competition (I was desperate; it was taking her an hour to do 5 problems). I bet her she couldn't do 5 problems before I finished unloading the dishwasher. Then it was 10 problems while I folded the clothes. She was delighted to beat me, especially if I acted chagrined. On my part I was amazed at how she was whizzing through the problems. After a week of that, she is now doing all of her math at school at a normal pace, and not having to bring any of it home. She even got a 95% on a recent math test. Thank God! On the down side, she is now dragging at spelling. She is fairly decent at it, but has gotten it into her mind that she is horrible and it is taking forever to go over her words, the whole time she is moaning about it. I think I may try making a competition out of that too, since it worked so well with the math (bribery doesn't work for her). I'll let you know how it goes. She is also having trouble (again) bringing home the right books for her homework.
'Chelle
'Chelle
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