peacefully
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Posts posted by peacefully
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My ds (almost 6) is currently seeing an OT for handwriting issues (among other things). I was surprised to learn that much of the early weeks of his home program for handwriting included toning exercises to improve his strength and stability in the core muscles of his torso. He also had exercises for his shoulder and arms, as well as his wrist, hand and fingers.
This is not the same set of exercises, but this site might give you a few ideas to try with your son.
http://make-the-grade-ot.com/Hand%20Strengthening.pdf
Crawling, wheelbarrow walking, and swinging on monkey bars are good, easy ways to increase core, shoulder, arm and hand strength.
Some activities that help with the "pincer-grasp" finger dexterity and strength: rolling playdough into little balls with just the thumb and forefinger or thumb and third finger; using a plant sprayer to squirt stuff; using small tongs or children's chopsticks; using eyedroppers or pipettes to "paint" on coffee filters or other absorbant papers; playing with clothespins, etc. Google fine motor activities and I'm sure you'll come up with many, many more. Here are some links to get you started:
http://imaware.tripod.com/fmotor.html
Have you seen this gizmo to help with the wrist position?
My son really likes the crossover grip, but our OT originally recommended these:
http://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Grip-Writing-Medium-Colors/dp/B002AGN4N2
(My son needed the medium size, not the small).
This little trick also helps my son with maintaining a proper pencil grip.
http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2007/07/works-for-me-te.html
He can also try writing with crayon rocks, painting with tiny pieces of sponge that he holds in a tripod grasp, small pieces of chalk or golf pencils (a la HWOT), etc.
I personally would gently try to alter his grip now. If he is an enthusiastic writer, I would not push the issue to the point of frustrating him. However, if he is a reluctant writer, addressing the way he holds his pencil may alleviate some of the discomfort associated with an inefficient grip. The short-term frustration may be worth the long-term gain.
My son's handwriting worsened when we first started OT. It really freaked me out. Now I realize that there was a period of readjustment (the OT called it "disorganization") while his brain was figuring out a new way of doing things. Imagine trying to write with your non-dominant hand or a whole new pencil grip. Your handwriting would probably be wonky for a while too. It's helpful to just completely ignore the appearance of his letters while he works on figuring out the new grip and forming letters with his hand in a totally different position. Get rid of the lined paper. Just focus on the grip, writing really BIG letters using correct formation. After a while, you can start reintroducing guideline papers again.
Good luck to you and your son. The whole handwriting thing can be really tough to work through.
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We live in a fairly rural county in California. We have to drive at least twenty minutes to get anywhere, and frequently the car travel time is more like 40 minutes, just one way. I'm realizing that I'd really like to use this time more productively.
So I've already figured out that I can use audio resources. I'll download stories from Story Nory, Great Hall Productions, and audiobooks. We'll listen to music, of course. I'll probably follow the musical selections from Core Knowledge and whatever other music we happen to enjoy at the moment. But I'm all out of ideas and resources after that.
I'm wondering if the wonderful and all-knowing Hive might recommend other audio resources, "educational" travel games," mathy stuff that we could do in the car, etc. My kids are almost 6 and 3, but I imagine listing resources for any age would ultimately be helpful as our travel dilemma is going to be with us for a long while. Thanks! :)
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I have found it doesn't help to say, "of course you can!" It helps them if I say, "I see that this is scary-hard for you. Let's calm down." Then I coach him to take deep breaths and consciously relax his muscles. Explain to him that neurologists have discovered that the part of his brain that solves problems goes inactive when he's upset. The part of him that is upset is a more primitive part that is great for running from avalanches or whatnot, but really can't help him riddle out a tricky paragraph. I have to remind my children of this every time they get upset. Then give him a hug, make him laugh with a goofy joke, ask him if he wants a cup of water. Finally say, "Are you calm enough to try again?"
If he slips into the same panic, just say, "Okay, deep breaths, like you're blowing out a birthday cake," and pat his back and hug him more.
Doing this kind of training is pretty important. It helps the child create a path in his brain from stress to problem-solving mode, and studies have shown that children don't learn that accidentally. Someone or something external has to cause that shift often enough in childhood or those pathways will be nearly impossible to create in adulthood.
This! :iagree: This post is gold. Actively coaching your child to understand his internal state and showing him constructive ways to manage his emotions is so, SO important. Rose, you are my new hero!
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This might be more info than you want, but I found this (and all the materials from criticalthinking.ORG) to be excellent.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/store-page.cfm?P=products&ItemID=231&catalogID=224&cateID=132
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Dh is atheist, and I like to think of myself as just skeptical and tolerant. We're just beginning to homeschool, and we use secular materials. The vibe in our household is progressive, science-y, and curious. And since Mrs. Mungo mentioned political affiliation, I'll say that we've been members of the Green Party since its inception in this country (and actually before that), although I usually vote the Democratic ticket.
We are also going to start attending a Unitarian Universalist fellowship this summer, so that's going to be interesting. I attended church as a kid, went to a fundamentalist Baptist private school, and spent a lot of time learning about Buddhism and Paganism while in college. Dh's folks were involved with Humanistic Judaism, but he was raised without much religious education at all. Poor guy is still bitter that he wasn't bar mitzvahed -- he wanted the goods.
We want our kids to have lots of information about different beliefs and to have an attitude of curiosity, kindness and acceptance about the whole topic of spirituality. Lately, ds has been keenly interested in animal spirits, thanks to the nature-based day camp that he attended. He has also told me that he doesn't believe in God, but he thinks Transformers are real.
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I am interested in this too. :bigear:
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I've never attached a picture to the boards before. I hope this works.
Our world map (haven't done a US map yet) is in the sunroom/teeny-tiny homeschool room just off our living room. I used those removable 3M hooks to hang it to the glass. The detail picture shows some of the mapwork we did for our continent study.
learning in the car - post your best ideas and resources here please!
in K-8 Curriculum Board
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