In the beginning of this year E's teacher recommended that we take him to a neuro-cognitive specialist. The reason for the recommendation was that his development was very advanced in certain areas but he was also seriously struggling in others. This significant gap in his abilities was a concern and could lead to learning difficulties in later years as it might be indicative of other developmental problems.
So we did and she assessed him and said that he needed to work on certain areas, the most important of those being the development of laterality. Now, I have to admit, I do not really understand what that means, just that we had to play lots of fun games every day for the last seven or so months.
Hopping and jumping, waving our arms and skipping all over the place. With the latest favourite being hopscotch. Drawing the game on the sand in our garden brought back a plethora of childhood memories. As a kid I absolutely loved hopscotch and played it for hours. I have to admit, our game every afternoon is the highlight of my day as I hop along with my kid, my hair bouncing in ponytails at the back of head. Transporting me back more than 30 years.
What is really interesting to me is that the exercises we have done had an almost immediate effect on E’s abilities. He had a language explosion and started to read almost effortlessly, from the first level reader to level 8 in one sitting. Not that he was expected to be able to do this at school as he really only need to read next year. He just walked into the reading corner and started to read and he has not stopped. It is as if the exercises plugged in a little cord and switched language and comprehension on for him. I am so glad we took him and that we stuck to the programme as I am sure this year has made a huge difference to him and I can see it in the self confidence it has given him on so many other levels.
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