31 for 21 Day 24: More Practice

Every day after Colin has had some time to rest and decompress after school, I have been working on different things with him.  Although there is no true homework aside from learning sight words, I have been working on similar things to what Colin is working on in school.  One day after this past week, we were working on fine motor skills in combination with some content (number identification and counting).  While he still has a long ways to go in terms of his fine motor control and strength, he has come a long way since the end of the school year last year.  I've noticed that because he has better control, his patience for different tasks has greatly improved and I have also found that because his strength is improving, he is more interested in tasks like handwriting practice and coloring because it is easier than it was before.  

 

I got these number tiles/puzzles over the summer and the first few times that I tried working with Colin on it he was getting incredibly frustrated because he was having trouble manipulating the pieces exactly into their spot in the tile.  A lot of the pieces were small and had to be exactly placed in order for him to be able to do it.  I could not get him to work for too long on it because he was getting so frustrated and then crying because he was really struggling.  This past week I took them back out and he was incredibly patient and was able to work through all of the tiles up through number 10 because it was so much easier for him.  In addition, he worked much more quickly than he did the last time. 

 

As you can tell in the video, he is more patient to figure out the direction the little truck needs to be in before placing it in the puzzle and will work through until he gets the piece in the tile.

 



 

A suggestion that both of our OTs have made (both private and at school) when it comes to handwriting practice is to tape the paper to the wall so that Colin is working against gravity and therefore helping to build strength when writing.  He worked through quite a few worksheets this way until he tired out when we practiced the other day.  

 

I often change up the location with him to keep him interested so after he started tiring out with the wall, we moved into his room onto his bed where he did quite a few more. 

I'm always changing up my approach and the activity that we do to keep him interested, especially after a long day of school.  It's challenging at times because by the time he gets off the bus and relaxes, we often have to pick up Kailey from school and then throw in there dinner, baths, and bed not to mention, caring for a newborn.  I also think that while it's important for Colin to have extra practice, I also don't want to burn him out either.