Primitive Reflexes

A lady I have been corresponding with, very kindly sent me a Brochure on the Primitive reflexes, how to test for 4 of them and some remedial exercises. Only one of these was tested by Dore -the ATNR together with other primitive reflexes not included in the brochure. Matthew tested postive for the ATNR reflex at that time. I tested him last night the ATNR reflex is no longer present, and thankfully the other 3 were also negative. Unfortunately my older son was postive for the ATNR and 1 other!

Time Perception

We seem to have cracked the barrier of Matthew's difficulties in perceiving time. He now understands that 5/10mins is not really a very long time. He can look at the clock now and say I have to hurry as we're leaving soon. He is even dragging his Dad out shouting "We're going to be late!"

3rd Follow-Up Assessment

Click on the assessment for a closer look.

(for those of you that have come in late see Dec 17 2006 blog entry for explanations)

We are all delighted with these scores, we have no repeats of any exercises. We seem to be moving on to the next phase- getting into the green for a few visits. These results seem to back up the progression we are seeing.

Left and Right

It suddenly dawned on me tonight that Matthew now knows left from right automatically.We were swopping hands during a bean bag exercise tonight and as I was facing him I kept getting my left and right confused (I think I need a stint at Dore). He corrected me on about 5 or 6 occasions, laughing at me getting it wrong.

Listening Skills, Memory Improvements

Matthew came home tonight telling his Dad that next week he will going up to the next classroom and meeting his next teacher for a day, and he didn't want to leave his current teacher. He also told him that there would be a weekend field trip to Llangrannog Activity centre in September that he wanted to go to, when we were doing his exercises he said that the trip cost would be £75.
He is also retelling us his lessons and events from the day, unfortunately 1 boy has been picking on him, but he as told us that he can put a note in the bullying box or we can phone the school, so he's not too upset as he knows we will sort it out. (The boy put his arm around Matthew telling him he was his best friend and then put a stick in his mouth, he has also stamped on his side and jumped on his back knocking him to the floor). At least he has told us about it so that we can help.

Letter from School

School resumed yesterday after Easter break. We had a letter from the SENCO, explaining that the Ed Psych would be out to observe Matthew in various situations at the school next week, and is also refering Matthew for observation by the "Behaviour Support Teacher". Do not know who this is or why they wish to observe him, the only thing I can think of is that Matthew is seen by his peers as below them and they want to see how he interacts with them. There is 1 boy who appears to be picking on Matthew, we are keeping a close watch on him.

Comments made by Matthew this Morning

Started back to school this morning following the Easter Break. We put his clothes out last night and again he followed his schedule (the 1 in his head). Everything went well, really easy morning again. Exercises were good, as we went to eat breakfast, he announced "those exercises are really helping!" I thought I'd ask more and he said "well my running is better, and dodging (in rugby)", I asked cautiously, well what about listening? The reply was "Oh that's waaay better" (as if to say -that goes without saying). He also says his writing is better- yet to see that myself but I'm sure it's coming. He said he'll let me know tonight although Tues is mostly Maths and PE.
He is singing alot lately with his own lyrics, says he will have to clone himself because there are so many things he wants to do when he grows up e.g. artist, chef, astronomer, songwriter, and maths teacher (that was the last thing- gulp). His confidence is soaring, he's always been a happy soul, hopefully he won't be too tired when he gets home and will have a good day and tell me all about it.

Matthew and the Bean Bag.

A short extract from one of his exercises.

Matthew's Reading, Age approx. 9

I thought it would be a good idea if I gave you an example of Matthew's reading abilities at the moment. So here is an example.

Good Grammer on Holiday

The first night we stayed out in out caravan we all usually find it hard to settle, it was 11.30pm and we were all still awake. The camp site has an all quiet rule for campers from 11pm. Unfortunately across from us we had a group of pensioners who stayed in their awning chatting way pass 11pm.
I was moaning that I would have to get up and ask them to go inside their caravan, so that we could not hear the constant chatting.

Matthew jumped up and said "I'm going to tell them that My family and I are trying to get to sleep, can you please be quiet." Off he went with Glenn shouting "stop him he's so embarassing". I had explained to him about the grammer he used weeks ago, and had corrected him and explained it only once after he had said "me and my friend", not expectig it to stick as it never normally does.

He didn't actually get to say that, as they spotted him coming and got up to leave, so Matthew just said "Oh are you going now?" (we were willing him to say "and about time too"). We had our noses pressed against the window amazed, he never has had any inhibitions when talking to older people, although always respectful he is very truthful in what he says. (We have had impulsive outbursts but with no real ill intent, like the time he asked the Dore therapist if he knew his tooth stuck out- Ouch.)

Swing ball Master Class!

Here we have a very happy Matthew enjoying the game of Swingball, which has frustrated him over previous summers.

Letter form Ed Psych

We received an update from the Ed Psych. He has recieved a letter from the Child and Family Clinic stating that they would prefer that we wait to see the paedeatrician at the Child Assessment Centre in 8 months time (Great!) The Ed Psych has written back to ask them to re-consider and that we would take any cancellation.

Our SENCO has contacted him following the discussion at parents evening, and he has agreed to observe Matthew in class and on the yard. He is going to ask the class teacher if she can conduct a language and literacy heavy lesson at this time, so that he can observe Matthew under normal learning conditions.

Memory

I was promised breakfast in bed this morning and it arrived, I was wondering if he would remember, (I think he has generally had a good memory with promises), but I still want to mention this.

Speech Improvements 2

His speech his improving he is taking notice of the tenses now and correcting himself, I feel this is starting to become automatic. Example I comed over was changed to came over, he is realising his mistakes. He is talking non stop, not always clearly but vocabulary is good, his brain just runs away with him sometines.

Swimming Success

At the end of every term Matthew does a swimming badge. He has been stuck on 100m since July last year. The teacher gave him a proficiency badge last time although he had actually been doing lengths (just to keep him happy).
Yesterday was badge day. Matthew did 20 lengths or 400m, his stamina has incresed greatly this year (since he went back to lessons in Jan), we are all delighted for him. I watched from the bench at the end of the pool, he said after "he caught sight of me and it gave him the extra energy to do it!".
Well Done Matthew, you have such determination! Dal ati! (Keep at it!)