We've had the second reveiw now, and the improvement in his performance on the tests is quite dramatic. As predictied, after an initial dip in all-round performance, the dodgy 'vesibular' score has surged up close to normal levels while the others senses seem to be learning to work with this newly awakened team-mate.
All this is undeniable. I watch hawk-eyed as the Dore staff put my son through his paces, looking for signs that would account for the improvement; are they rejecting unfavourable results?; are they skewing the scores through the instructions they give? And, no - they aren't. Tests are performed fairly - and if anything there is less encouragement now to son to really concentrate on the tests - not more. Could it be that son is simply getting better at doing the tests (eg balance board) because he's done them before and knows what to expect? Possible, I suppose - but not very likely because he only does the tests a few times and then has a 6-week gap between.
So it seems undeniable to me that all the hard work is paying off in terms of physical response - and this is supported by my own observation as he does the test. His balance is dramatically better; he can whip through exercises that make me dizzy when I try them for a few seconds. He is getting more co-ordinated.
BUT what I haven't seen yet is any real spilling over of this physical improvement into behaviour. His concentration in class seems much the same - BAD. His new good handwriting is still reserved for concentrated bursts when working with an adult - not for normal school work. He still struggles with 'thoughts-to-paper' and getting his mind to pin-down a Maths question, stay on task, spell a simple word, organise himself.
But 4 months isn't long. (Is that all it's been? I've counted 3 times, unable to believe it!). I'm very glad that the tests vindicated our hard-work and showed big change. I'm glad he works so hard at the tests. It shows he CAN apply himself to tasks that are often tedious and uncomfortable for no immediate reward except praise and self respect. I expect this shouldn't be under-valued in itself.
4 comments:
Glad to see some encouraging progress, Helen.
It's very early days, but that sounds very promising.
Helen, keep your chin up! My son has been a dore client for over a year. For my son the physical improvements came first and we noticed his sports ability start to improve (a nice byproduct). He started to show academic gains at about 6 months. The improvements were so slow and gradual that I didn't always notice until something proompted me to look back to a few months before. He has made very significant gains in both reading and putting his thoughts down on paper. He is generally calmer. He reads and responds better in social situations. We are nearing the end and I am hoping for improvements in distractablity at school and spelling.
Yes keep going Helen it is dispondent when you feel things are not changing but as you have seen from his last assessment it can change from one to another. Even if there are no real signs of improvement it is what is happening behind the scenes thst you cannot see which makes the difference. Their balance etc always improve first and then their improvements in learning come later along with their behaviour changes he has to start coming out of the fog to start feeling that he has control, this will come just be patient. Reap the benefits of what he has achieved so far and the rest will come when it is ready. Ellie XXX
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