[mgbridges]

Well we had a lengthy meeting on Wednesday morning with both of Joe's teachers (at first) then we retired to one of their offices after morning bell went. It appears the concerns are more to do with physical development rather than academical although being behind in one means he his behind in the other! Equally they certainly aren't (at this stage) saying he is a child with a learning disability and although he is behind its not quite as far as we thought.

Basically we need to work on his upper body strength, gross and fine motor skills, eye tracking and auditory processing. We've been given a whole load of different exercises and resources to do this and are now getting our head around it all as it was a little bit of a case of information overload!

They still plan to do an RTLB referral and are busy gathering data/assessments for it as its the first thing that is asked for after the referral goes in. The cut off is week 6 of Term 2 so it will definitely go in before then. Joe is also 2nd on the waiting list for the literacy enrichment program the school runs and if all goes according to plan he should get a place on that at the beginning of Term 3 - the school only has enough resources for a set number of kids at one time so its one in, one out.

I mentioned Braingym, Kip McGrath, ProEd and whether we should consider any of these or a behavioural optemistrist and/or further auditory tests but at this stage the school has recommended we hold off. There is a lot they and we can be doing and equally a lot of what these programs/assesor would suggest is a lot of what we are doing already. The school as a whole is also currently looking into Earobics but I've had a little look at it and I'm not convinced as its very American based.

Anyway OH and I are feeling a little calmer about it all and are now trying to figure out how we build these exercises into Joe's day without it becoming a chore for him!

Thanks for all your support so far, much appreciated!

Anneliese

[dharder]

Good to hear it went well for you!

I usually come out of meetings with schools with 50 more questions than I started off with, so it is good to hear it can be productive and positive :)

Hope you manage to build in the exercises so that they can be fun for Joe and they won't seem like exercises to him :)

Daniela

[peebles16]

Glad to hear it worked out well and that school seem to be on the ball :yes
Good luck with the exercises and thanks for the update

Karenx

[pinkpiggy]

Glad to hear things went well. It can be very hard not fear the worst. We also have to do exercises with our son (also Joe) every day to improve his hand eye coordination and fine motor skills and as he has poor muscle tone we have to build his muscle tone generally.

We make the muscle building exercises fun by having trampoline and/or going for walks and bike rides. A lot of the hand eye coordination stuff is playing some kind of sport (which is difficult as Joe is very good) but he likes cricket, tennis and swimming - all highly recommended by his OT.

Lastly, he has exercises to strengthen his hands and fingers - so getting him to thread beads on to string/pegging clothes peg on to his (or our) clothes and his teacher is teaching him to knit.

It's very hard to fit it all in but we try to make it fun for him and sometimes we all join in so he doesn't feel different. Also, we have explained to him the need to do the exercises and he does now do the exercises without being 'forced' to do them.

It's hard work but thoroughly worth while as we are starting to see the results of it coming through.

[Tia Maria]

Glad to hear you got all the info you needed, they probably wondered how you went from a Mum who knew nothing about the system, to one suddenly asking all these very well informed questions!

We were told monkey bars and swimming for upper body strength. And for fine motor skills I got my son a book about how to draw super heroes, so he's working on his writing skills without knowing it. Stencils are quite a good idea for kids that don't like to draw as it can give them an instant pay off but they still have to use a pencil accurately. You can get ones with more grown up boys themes - guitars, motorbikes etc.

Food that is quite difficult to cut up will test their motor skills, although if he's anything like my son, he will just fork a whole piece of chicken and nibble away at the edges!

Get a soft ball and get them to throw it against the wall, for you to catch and then you throw it for them to catch. We have one in the front room, so the boys will quite often play catch even when the telly is on. Its also good for wet weather and its less of a big deal than all going outside to play a game, so can just be done for a quick minute here and there.

Swingball is a good hand/eye game. (and actually xbox/playstation is suppose to improve hand eye coordination! But don't tell anyone you heard it from me!)

Have fun!

Cheers

Tia

[Sam B]

So glad to hear it went well, and what brilliant ideas everyone has, I'm going to steal some of them for my clinic.

[lockstock]

Glad to hear there's a team effort going on here. It looks like you're all going to be pulling in the same direction - and we're all part of your team too so keep us informed and we can all chip in. As long as your little one is happy in himself, the rest can come on board gradually. Then you'll feel better too. It's a bit of an uphill struggle I know - but believe me, if the school is listening to you, the worst is over. That's a battle too many parents have to fight.

[StevieD]

Glad it went well, good luck.

[TrentBridge]

Very glad to hear things went well for you.

I have to say that I'm reading the posts with tears in my eyes. Everyone has posted such supportive messages, I can't believe what a fantastic forum this is and what great people you all are.

[mgbridges]

I have to say that I'm reading the posts with tears in my eyes. Everyone has posted such supportive messages, I can't believe what a fantastic forum this is and what great people you all are.

Couldn't agree with you more TrentBridge! :nice1 Its been sooooo heart warming having my virtual family supporting me/us through this. I was really, really missing my close girlfriends from the UK when we first got the news because I thought "who can I talk to about this?"... Now I'm wondering why I was worried!

THANK YOU EVERYONE! :clap

BTW I asked his teacher about Earobics and apparently the RTLB system recommend it even though it is quite American so we'll be looking into that further.

Anneliese

[napiers]

Glad to hear that the meeting at school went well. Good luck with the exercises and everything else that came out of the meeting - I'm glad you feel better about it all now. Many parents wouldn't have taken the trouble to find things out like you did and you're better off for it.

Also have to agree with TrentBridge about this forum. It's great to know that there are people out there who can help/support/advise/just be there at those stressy times! I'm looking forward to meeting some of you when we finally make it to NZ. :)

[JandM]

It sounds as though the school are very much on the ball, and these are great suggestions all round. So glad you're getting good support.

I'm looking forward to meeting some of you when we finally make it to NZ. Me, too.

[Kerry and David]

Glad your meeting went well at the school.
One of my sons has Dyspraxia and we had to do alot of different excersises with him which we got from seeing an O.T. Most of them were movement,hand eye, fine and gross motor skills.
PM me if you would like any further info, we also hasd some books which I could try and dig out to recommend to you.
I have to say that he was diagnosed when he was 8 and he is now 16 and doing really well, the difference is amazing.

Good luck

Kerry

[tea drinker]

So pleased that your son's school is on the ball and working to help and support him (and you). It sounds as though they are happy for you to go in and chat to them as things evolve?
I've read several threads where NZ schools have suggested intervention strategies early on even when these weren't in place in the home country.

[Debbie]

Anneliese,
So glad everything is working out for your son. I read your post and it all sounded so familiar. I think our son's teacher gave us the same talk last yr. DS has been doing PMP for 5 terms now and 1 term of fine motor skills at school and the progress is great. I'm sure your boy will do well with the support he is getting. As i said to you, we went the optemistrist route for home because I won't have the dreaded X-box in the house. Getting DS to sit in front of a computer was an easy way to get some of the exercises done.

I am starting to wonder if the early yrs upbring DS had in the UK contributed to his difficulty. I see my younger daughter using hammer and nails and swinging like a monkey from the school climbing frames and know that she isn't going to have the same difficulties as her brother.

All the best Debbie

[shakyle2906]

Very pleased for you and the family Anneliese.

I am sure everything will work out really well for your little one.

Sharon
xx