Hello all. For those of you interested in the Handle Insitute that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, Tucker went to his evaluation yesterday. In many ways it was an eye opening experience for me. Tucker (who has anxiety issues) was totally and completely at home. He saw the experience as “fun” and was disappointed when it was time to go. (Could have had something to do with the mini tramoline he used regularly or the video camera he got to help operate :wink: ) I learned several things about my child that I didn’t even know. Although I knew he was somewhat sensitive to light I didn’t know just how sesitive he really was and how much it was effecting him. Same with sound. And I had no idea that he had extreme sensitive in his fingers. So much so that certain exercises made him dizzy or sick to his stomach. As they did certain exercises and the instructor talked about how the brain works many behaviors or learning difficulties started to make sense. I also didn’t know that Tucker had problems with eye convergence and many times was seeing double! Imagine my surprise when he pointed his finger at an object when he replied to the instructor “which finger?” :shock: Other testing showed that instead of his eyes blending information that he sees, he see things from the right eye seperately from things with his left eye. No wonder the kid doesn’t wanna read. Also nothing is on “auto pilot” yet so every tasks he undertakes takes his full concentration instead of being intergated in the body and automatic. Poor baby has to work soooo hard at everything he does. So we left with a request to have him take only one supplement and that was omega three fatty acids. We have 13 seperate exercises to do daily, all very low impact. My goal is to work with Tucker 6 times a week as the more often the exercises are done the quicker the brains response to them. I plan to make this a time with little distraction, no TV etc. So that he can focus. and I am sure that at 7 this will become boring so am looking for ideas that might keep Tuckers interest alive. Any ideas? I am excited to see what will happen for him and to tell the truth it is nice to view Tucker’s challenges in a different way, meaning that they are a breakdown or weakness in a system (the brain) that can be strengthened and enhanced rather than a disability that can be somewhat improved but ultimately is a lifelong sentence.
They say it takes 4-6 weeks to see significant improvement but there are things that will integrated in as soon as 2 weeks. I will keep you apprised of our progress.
Re: Evaluation at HANDLE
Beth in FL,
That sounds very interesting. I looked at their website and they do not have a clinician near us. Can you tell me if the activities listed on their website are similar to the ones you are doing as a home program? I thought I might just do some of them with my son, since he definitely has issues in these areas.
Re: Evaluation at HANDLE
Yes we are doing some that are on the website as well as ones I didn’t see. But I think I would be careful with experimenting. There are specific exercises for specific weaknesses and if you do to many it can actually be counter productive. You might e-mail them or call and ask about it. This is Tucker’s second day of exercises and I noticed that the evaluation was very taxing for him and he was toast the next day. Couldn’t focus or concentrate to save his life. But he was better this morning and I swear he woke up easier and was in a better mood. Probably wishful thinking but that’s okay cause he was a pleasure this morning and it is usually a nightmare. I’ll take it when I get it :lol:
We’ve done Neuronet, which has some similarities to Handle, especially in the emphasis on achieving automaticity. It also has required doing exercises at home.
I have never tried to make the exercises fun or reward my son for doing them. This is not because I am opposed to rewards in general—my son got rewards for doing Interactive Metronome, for example. But I found it really was unnecessary for several reasons. One is we just made it part of our life. It was something we did, like brushing our teeth. The other thing is even my son could see the improvements in the exercises and that was reward enough. He felt triumphant when he mastered an exercise.
I will say that I credit Neuronet for my son’s positive self image (he just turned 11). Even when he could not succeed in school, it was somewhere he was successful. This is a benefit apart from the transfer we have seen to everyday school and life.
Beth