Today, I'm very relieved to say - was a good day! After a week of ups and downs today I felt was a bit of a breakthrough! In fact over the past couple of days I am beginning to see signs of change with S and the feeling that actually we've done a lot of learning and he's beginning to settle into a routine. A drastic change I realise from what I wrote the other day but then I suppose that's life with kids!
For the past couple of days we've begun the day with Social Skills board games. I thought S would not actually enjoy these much but I have been proved very wrong! This is actually really important for him and it has gone down really well as a way to start the day! We've had a lot of laughter and some serious thinking points too. The games are not so much about winning and losing than about completing them which is great as we don't start the day with strops about losing! They have been a great way to "warm up" for both of us! The danger is now that I get into the habit of doing them too much and killing off a good beginning activity! I think though now I need to think of more "game" type activities to start the day.
The past 2 days have had the normal reading and maths but we have finally done a bit more spelling and this time without protest! With both the penny finally dropped that I have been overloading him with "stuff". I have been laminating like it's going out of fashion and filling the desk with lovely plastic cards! Whilst it looks productive - for S I think it has been far far too much for him. When this finally dawned on me I literally halved what was in front of him and it was almost like watching a light being switched on in his head! He got the hang of what I was asking him to do straight away and we flew through the tasks! I need to remember this!
My final highlight (if I can speak in such terms) was when we went onto Education City. At the weekend I moved him up a level in maths. Whilst I know there are areas in the level he was on that he still had to learn we were at that funny in between bit that I was teaching him things beyond what the computer was offering him. Today he agreed to try out some of the activities on the harder level to do with time which I have been teaching him. The first activity he tried he got 100%. The following activity was more challenging and had 3 questions that we haven't really covered properly yet which he got wrong but he still got 70% so I was so so chuffed with him!
I think we were both quite proud of ourselves! We are being able to see now that we are progressing and whilst we have our moments we are having plenty happy times of learning and seeing the penny drop for both of us is lovely!
One last wee thing - I am so much appreciated folks encouraging me - by either commenting on the blog or just through chatting. Every single time a comment has been made it has come at a perfect time when I have felt a wee bit discouraged or flat about the whole thing. It has really made me think about how much I could be encouraging other people! Thank you to all who are encouraging me!
Right - off now to do some wrapping!
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