It’s been an interesting week. Some changes to our normal schedule, and several of us STILL recovering from the wicked nasty stomach virus and cold that have plagued us since February 4. I will say—it’s nice to be feeling fully human again.
We had a huge success this week! It is so fun to see things starting to click for our guy. He struggles with much academically, but this week made great strides. Working on his math worksheet, he did one of the addition problems: 7 + 4 = ______ He got out his math blocks (the 7 block and the 4 block) and set them side by side. After looking at them for a moment, he picked up the 7 block and said “7.” Then he proceeded to move the the 4 block and count “8…9…10…11.” Prior to this, he’s needed to start at 1 every time and count the blocks. To see him grasp that he can start at the end of the first math block was amazing. It was what came next, though, that had me jumping up and down. He worked through problem 3 and problem 4 in the same fashion. Then we got to problem 5: 7 + 5 = ___________. He looked at me, then said, “I know! It’s 12.” I must have looked at him funny, because he immediately started explaining: “7 + 4 = 11, so 7 + 5 = 12 because 12 is 1 more than 11, and 5 is 1 more than 4.” I think the neighbors on the next street heard the yelling. I am SO PROUD of him! That’s a huge concept for him to get.
AND we’re getting a handle on some things that are helping with the phonics instruction. He doesn’t decode (put sounds together to make words) well yet, but he encodes (breaks a word down into its phonetic parts—basically spelling) well. So we’ve changed some things around in his phonics lessons and we’re seeing more and more success there. He LOVES getting things right, and the more we learn about how he learns, the more he learns. It’s a good pattern, :)
The better idea of what we’re up against? Well, try this one: 2 days ago we had a conversation. He asked me to write something on the whiteboard for him. He wanted to remember later in the day for Daddy. Hearing loss and language processing difficulties definitely came into play. He asked me to write “Pass the Sold House” on the board. After several minutes, lots of clarifying questions (and some tearing my hair out, if I’m honest) I discovered that he had been watching This Old House on PBS and they were running a special that night, with updates on “past this old house” homes. Yep. “Past This Old House” had become “Pass the Sold House”. The problem? He just doesn’t hear the difference between the 2 sentences. No matter how I enunciate, he cannot distinguish the 2. It will keep our lives interesting, to say the least.
Hopefully soon I’ll get some concentrated time to pull together a more formal plan to get my guy moving ahead. In the meantime, we’re praising God for success and insight this week.
WONderful progress! It's a big step to get past the 'starting from 1' thing in math... for every kid.
ReplyDeleteWe, too, have been struggling with series of colds since November, and then a bout of stomach stuff. I'm ready for health!