The Broom

Well, we've had the broom 3 days on the trot ... we had a break today, but have it again tomorrow and Sunday - thankfully it will then be finished. This time though I've been holding the broom and Harry's been moving his hands winding the can up and down, which has made it tons easier.

2nd Follow-up

Had our second follow-up check today. Small improvements - still in the red, but getting better.

OMT tests

Smooth Persuit

Eye-tracking has improved as I suspected. His smooth pursuit was better than last time, although he tried to guess on a couple of occasions.

We have a lot of repeat exercises this time - the dreaded broom again! Oh no!

Swingball

I have just had a game of swingball with Harry in the garden. I can't believe how he has improved with his eye tracking. Last year, he missed most of the shots, and I often seemed to be having a game on my own. This year, it was me standing there watching him hit the ball over and over. Another great sign of improvement.

Stretching on the ball

Harry seems to find it very difficult to stretch. When stretching to the side and throwing the bean bag in the air, the stretch disappears altogether! I suppose it is rather a lot to do all at once for him!

Jogging and Running "on the spot"

Harry finds this exercise very difficult. He thought this idea helped! :)

Reading

On the subject of reading, I am noticing that Harry doesn't squirm or wriggle quite so much. We used to have episodes of leg banging if a word was difficult and he needed help to work it out. In fact, he is now asking to read more, which is something he never wanted to do previously.

Eye tracking exercises

Progress

On the plane going out there, Harry actually picked up his Horrid Henry book and read a few pages. Unheard of! Unfortunately, after 30 minutes in the apartment, he ran around outside - fell over and hurt his thumb on the side wall. Think he probably bruised a bone, but he had several falls on consecutive days before the following progress was noted, so he has nicely scraped knees and elbows now!

On the plus side, we noticed Harry's language had improved a lot. He is becoming more precise in what he wants to say - and if he is struggling, you can see his mind trying to work out the correct thing to say, rather than stammering like he used to. He also has more concentration and stamina this year. When playing cards, he understands the rules and pays a lot more attention than previously. He swam 12 lengths of the swimming pool non-stop (for 12 euros I might add!) He has only managed 1 or 2 before and that has involved hanging onto the ropes that separate the lanes. Harry has just reminded me that he also did 24 lengths on another occasion, stopping only a couple of times. These pictures show you the size of the pool and also Harry's dad trying to catch him up! Watch him go!

Back from holiday

Just returned from our holiday and had a brill time. Harry was more than happy to do his exercises. We worked it out so we only took the bean bags, so nothing too stretching. We will return to the wobble board and bouncy ball soon.