First review

On Tuesday, son and I dressed ourselves in our muddiest coloured clothes (not intentionally - how does that happen?) and set off for Bedford for our first programme review.

Two months into the programme and we've both been very good at remembering to do the exercises, even though there appears to be little to show for it. Yes, when son concentrates now on his handwriting practice, the quality of concentration that I get for ... ooh 5 minutes, is really something new. But this might all just a phase he's going through. If anything, things are slightly worse in the playground. He doesn't quite seem to fit in, doesn't quite pick up on the social clues, gets frustrated quickly when his 'rules' don't seem to be followed.

Anyway, another go at using the balance-board, more computer generated results and ... indeed things have got slightly worse! The scores which were in the 'normal' range have now come down a little - although the score in the 'very poor' range has come up a bit. I am assured that this is normal and that change is what is sought in the results at this stage - not necessarily improvement.

Apparently, the analogy is of three people working in an office - or at least, one sitting around all day, drinking coffee and doing nothing - the other two working furiously and effectively to compensate for this dead-weight. When the slacker begins to pull a bit of weight, it actually throws the others off their familiar routine and causes a bit of confusion. So if the office slacker is child's cerebellum, this early stimulation is only really confusing matters initally.

That's the analogy. If it's right, then improvement must surely be around the corner...

Anyway, we have a new set of exercises - and ones which take noticeably longer to complete and seem rather harder, so we're going to need to keep positive.