More improvements

Well, we're having a great week. Harry is doing his exercises really well and with much improved attitude (makes life easier!) He is developing a good sense of humour and generally seems really happy with life. His balance seems a lot better and his ability to do the mental exercises at the same time seems to be getting easier for him.

He is also remembering his spellings from weeks ago - occasionally he will mix up the letters (ie., "froce" instead of "force") - this week's words, but realises almost immediately afterwards.

He can recall things that have happened more than a week ago (beats me hands down) and give me a blow-by-blow account of daily events.

So, all in all, a much better week, I'm pleased to say.

Good Day

Before taking Harry to his karate tonight, we did his exercises - I have some great books for mental maths (http://www.qed.uk.com/mathematics1.htm), and we used these for mentals tonight. Using 4 digit numbers, he had to round the numbers up or down to the nearest 100. No problem tonight!

Driving to the karate class, we had a lovely chat in the car. His subject matter and speech was very mature and fluent, which just amazes me sometimes. I had to laugh out loud as it is just so out of character for him.

Spellings

Harry has a spelling test every Tuesday, so we have been learning his words as mental exercises to help him. This week's spellings are harder and we have had a few difficult moments :) Today, we went through them again just sitting at the table, and we also did a few sets from a few weeks back. Previously, Harry would have forgotten the spellings from before, but today he got 100% right. I am very proud of him.

Exercises

We've had some difficult exercises to do and to be honest I was thinking that Harry may possibly need to go back a step at the next assessment. However, today I have seen a vast improvement on Harry's attitude and ability to do mentals with a difficult exercise. I tried one of them on the ball and couldn't manage it at all, which helped me to understand Harry's frustration.

Restructuring Phase

I think the combination of exercises and mental tasks has really kicked in with Harry at the moment. He doesn't seem to be "with us" and school have noticed too. It has become quite obvious at home, and when Harry commented about something his teacher had said, I made the decision to send in a letter explaining the Dore process, advising that this phase was only temporary. His teacher replied telling me has had difficulty staying on task, and she was pleased I had written the letter explaining the reasons why. Hopefully this phase won't last long as it is becoming very frustrating for all!

Maths Support

As promised, Harry has started his small group learning in maths. Homework this week is division and he worked independently and confidently. Where the problems were written in text (Page 1), we had to explain to him it was the same as a sum, but once he grasped it, he was well away.

6th Follow-up Assessment

Harry had his assessment this morning (first check after mentals) and he did very well. Unfortunately, we're now back with the reds, but they were pleased he didn't slip too far back and we have some more repeats - also more with the lightbulbs (ie., no mentals). Saccades has improved - he had 10 slips last time, and this time only 5. We're on the right track! Next assessment 11th December at our new Centre in Bromley.