Monday, June 1, 2020

    I got up at 6 instead of 5:30 when my alarm went off. I used my Anne Reinking legs. That woman had the most amazing hip joints. There's a scene in All That Jazz where she dances with a twelve-year-old girl. The girl is stiff compared to Reinking. Reinking's legs move up and down as if controlled by a puppeteer's wires coming from her core muscles; as I walked, I tried to relax and move my legs from my core muscles. I don't suspect I will be a threat to Reinking any time soon.

    When I got home, I called Edwin at JAWS to tell him my alert light was on with the battery signal.   It went on the first time I drove my car after Scott put in a new battery. My first response was panic. The alert system had to be reset after the new battery was installed. Edwin could simply do the reset. I had no further problems until I pulled out of the Eyeland parking lot. The top of the driveway was a very steep incline, and the alert light went back on. I thought there must be a loose wire in there somewhere.  

    Tasha answered the phone. Fantastic! Edwin had told me that she was on leave because his business was nonexistent due to the Covid shutdown. I explained the situation to Tasha. She brought Edwin to the phone. I told him about the problem and said that I thought it was a minor issue. He asked me if the car was driving all right. Yes. He said he has a 'mess' on his hands to straighten out; could I come in next week? Sure. I asked him about the mess, concerned. He said all his old customers were flooding back, and he was overloaded. I said, "Ah, a good mess."

    I finally tackled the dead lilikoi vines. For some reason, much of the vine I had the gardeners plant died. It's been that way for quite a while, over a year, if not more. I went out with clippers, prepared to carefully clip them back. I pulled a little on one, and a whole bunch of dead vines came off the fence into my hand. I put down those clippers and pulled and pulled for about fifteen minutes. A good half of the work was done. I had to go in because I had a tutoring appointment.

    The Zoom connection went well this morning. Dorothy had taught me to make the invite from within the meeting. That worked like a charm. I contacted D's mother to ensure he had Beverley Cleary's book Socks in hand for our lesson. His teacher had worked on it with him last week. He found it much too hard. It is. However, he was reading well in the Magic Tree House books we both have. It was time to practice reading with a more challenging book than we had been working on.

    His mother said they couldn't find it. I told her it had to be in the house unless he threw it out. I wasn't going to work with him on the easier books because it would be a waste of my time if a member of his family could do what I would do. 

    His mother said he hadn't deliberately misplaced the book. Maybe not. He might have done it unconsciously because he was uncomfortable with the challenge. I told Daniel that when I worked on it with him, we would start with him picking out the words he knew in the first sentence. Next, I would pick out some words he could decode independently or with my help. Then, I would review every word in the sentence, ensuring he knew what each word meant. Then, I would break down this very complex sentence into smaller units and ask questions. I might then put the sentence back together again if he was ready. I hoped he would accidentally find the book. I would work with something in between if we each had such a book.

    While I couldn't work on reading today, I could work on math. I started by checking his recall of his addition facts. As it turned out, he figured them out by counting up. He thought that was the same as using automatic recall because he used his mind instead of his fingers to do the calculating. I told him that he had to come up with the answer just from hearing the problem 3x2=; six should come up automatically.

    Again, I worked with D. on using the left brain for associative recall. When I asked him to point to the left side of his head, he took his left arm, looped it over the top of his head, and pointed to his head's right side. Oh, dear. Every time we have discussed this, he tells me that using the left side of his brain makes him uncomfortable. 

    I got new images. I asked if his left brain had a lot of movement or was stiff. He said stiffly. I asked him what was going on in his right brain. Lovely! Colored streamers were moving randomly all over the place. No wonder he didn't like to use his left brain.

    I told him the image that worked to free me from right-brain dominance. I drew a line from a center point. The line to the left of the center point represents left brain development; the line to the right of the center point represents right brain development. I thought of myself as having a long line on the right side, the creative side, and a short line on the left side. I was afraid of left brain development. Besides my father's instruction that that was not desirable, I feared it as bringing rigidity. However, I knew I needed some of that rigidity. The left side makes sure the details of any project are completed. Inspiration led me to a way out. If I developed my left-brain skills more, I could develop my right-brain skills more safely. While the development of the sides of the brain does not have to be equal, if the proportions get lop-sided, we don't fare well. Just a little work on the other side brings balance. I told him the two sides of the brain needed each other. Could he help them make friends and work together? He responded to this image. He said that he felt much better about using his left brain now.

    Then, I started putting in multiplication facts. I started with 2 x 2 because he knew that one automatically. Then I went to 2x3=. I said the fact 'two times three equals six." I told him to hear my voice in his head. Just listen to it. Do not repeat it in his own voice. Then I told him to push the 'save button,' his nose (It works as a functional image. The nose has no role in memory as far as I know.), make a clockwise movement over his left ear, and feel that information go into his long term memory.

    Then I said, "2 x 3=," and waited for the correct answer to come up. It did. Then I jumped to 3 x 3, also having him just hear 'my' voice in his head and send the information down into long-term memory. We reviewed the three facts.

    I asked him to pick a random fact to learn. He said he didn't know any multiplication facts. I told him to pick any number. He picked 9 x4. I followed the same procedure as I had with the others. When I cued him with 9x 4=, he answered 35. Close, but no cigar. We reviewed the encoding process again and then reviewed all four multiplication facts, 2x3, 2x2, 9x4, and 3x3. He got all three correct. I asked him if he had ever used his brain this way before. He said no. 

    I called his mom after the session was over and told her we made progress. I offered to work with one of her daughters to show her how to sit with D. and help him practice his reading. His mom told me she was having him read comic books, which he enjoyed. If I thought he was reading the words, I would say excellent. But I suspect he is just looking at the pictures. D.'s teacher has been complaining about this family. No one is listening to him read at home. When I made the offer to the mom, she said she had to work out a schedule. She needed it to be at a set time with only one person. If she hasn't managed to get that into place over this year, I'm not very optimistic about it ever happening. I had thought no one was reading with them because they felt inadequate at the job. But no, it is because Mom hasn't worked out some rigid schedule. How about. "Susie, I wanted you to read for five minutes with D. now." 

    I texted Kea this morning to work with K. I finally called. They were on their way to visit her sister and wouldn't be home until late afternoon. 

    I managed to avoid working on the article for the whole day. Procrastination is tiring and depressing. 

    

Monday, June 1, 2020

    I got up at 6 instead of 5:30 when my alarm went off. I used my Anne Reinking legs. That woman had the most amazing hip joints. There's a scene in All That Jazz where she dances with a twelve-year-old girl. The girl is stiff compared to Reinking. Reinking's legs move up and down as if controlled by a puppeteer's wires coming from her core muscles; as I walked, I tried to relax and move my legs from my core muscles. I don't suspect I will be a threat to Reinking any time soon.

    When I got home, I called Edwin at JAWS to tell him my alert light was on with the battery signal.   It went on the first time I drove my car after Scott put in a new battery. My first response was panic. The alert system had to be reset after the new battery was installed. Edwin could simply do the reset. I had no further problems until I pulled out of the Eyeland parking lot. The top of the driveway was a very steep incline, and the alert light went back on. I thought there must be a loose wire in there somewhere.  

    Tasha answered the phone. Fantastic! Edwin had told me that she was on leave because his business was nonexistent due to the Covid shutdown. I explained the situation to Tasha. She brought Edwin to the phone. I told him about the problem and said that I thought it was a minor issue. He asked me if the car was driving all right. Yes. He said he has a 'mess' on his hands to straighten out; could I come in next week? Sure. I asked him about the mess, concerned. He said all his old customers were flooding back, and he was overloaded. I said, "Ah, a good mess."

    I finally tackled the dead lilikoi vines. For some reason, much of the vine I had the gardeners plant died. It's been that way for quite a while, over a year, if not more. I went out with clippers, prepared to carefully clip them back. I pulled a little on one, and a whole bunch of dead vines came off the fence into my hand. I put down those clippers and pulled and pulled for about fifteen minutes. A good half of the work was done. I had to go in because I had a tutoring appointment.

    The Zoom connection went well this morning. Dorothy had taught me to make the invite from within the meeting. That worked like a charm. I contacted D's mother to ensure he had Beverley Cleary's book Socks in hand for our lesson. His teacher had worked on it with him last week. He found it much too hard. It is. However, he was reading well in the Magic Tree House books we both have. It was time to practice reading with a more challenging book than we had been working on.

    His mother said they couldn't find it. I told her it had to be in the house unless he threw it out. I wasn't going to work with him on the easier books because it would be a waste of my time if a member of his family could do what I would do. 

    His mother said he hadn't deliberately misplaced the book. Maybe not. He might have done it unconsciously because he was uncomfortable with the challenge. I told Daniel that when I worked on it with him, we would start with him picking out the words he knew in the first sentence. Next, I would pick out some words he could decode independently or with my help. Then, I would review every word in the sentence, ensuring he knew what each word meant. Then, I would break down this very complex sentence into smaller units and ask questions. I might then put the sentence back together again if he was ready. I hoped he would accidentally find the book. I would work with something in between if we each had such a book.

    While I couldn't work on reading today, I could work on math. I started by checking his recall of his addition facts. As it turned out, he figured them out by counting up. He thought that was the same as using automatic recall because he used his mind instead of his fingers to do the calculating. I told him that he had to come up with the answer just from hearing the problem 3x2=; six should come up automatically.

    Again, I worked with D. on using the left brain for associative recall. When I asked him to point to the left side of his head, he took his left arm, looped it over the top of his head, and pointed to his head's right side. Oh, dear. Every time we have discussed this, he tells me that using the left side of his brain makes him uncomfortable. 

    I got new images. I asked if his left brain had a lot of movement or was stiff. He said stiffly. I asked him what was going on in his right brain. Lovely! Colored streamers were moving randomly all over the place. No wonder he didn't like to use his left brain.

    I told him the image that worked to free me from right-brain dominance. I drew a line from a center point. The line to the left of the center point represents left brain development; the line to the right of the center point represents right brain development. I thought of myself as having a long line on the right side, the creative side, and a short line on the left side. I was afraid of left brain development. Besides my father's instruction that that was not desirable, I feared it as bringing rigidity. However, I knew I needed some of that rigidity. The left side makes sure the details of any project are completed. Inspiration led me to a way out. If I developed my left-brain skills more, I could develop my right-brain skills more safely. While the development of the sides of the brain does not have to be equal, if the proportions get lop-sided, we don't fare well. Just a little work on the other side brings balance. I told him the two sides of the brain needed each other. Could he help them make friends and work together? He responded to this image. He said that he felt much better about using his left brain now.

    Then, I started putting in multiplication facts. I started with 2 x 2 because he knew that one automatically. Then I went to 2x3=. I said the fact 'two times three equals six." I told him to hear my voice in his head. Just listen to it. Do not repeat it in his own voice. Then I told him to push the 'save button,' his nose (It works as a functional image. The nose has no role in memory as far as I know.), make a clockwise movement over his left ear, and feel that information go into his long term memory.

    Then I said, "2 x 3=," and waited for the correct answer to come up. It did. Then I jumped to 3 x 3, also having him just hear 'my' voice in his head and send the information down into long-term memory. We reviewed the three facts.

    I asked him to pick a random fact to learn. He said he didn't know any multiplication facts. I told him to pick any number. He picked 9 x4. I followed the same procedure as I had with the others. When I cued him with 9x 4=, he answered 35. Close, but no cigar. We reviewed the encoding process again and then reviewed all four multiplication facts, 2x3, 2x2, 9x4, and 3x3. He got all three correct. I asked him if he had ever used his brain this way before. He said no. 

    I called his mom after the session was over and told her we made progress. I offered to work with one of her daughters to show her how to sit with D. and help him practice his reading. His mom told me she was having him read comic books, which he enjoyed. If I thought he was reading the words, I would say excellent. But I suspect he is just looking at the pictures. D.'s teacher has been complaining about this family. No one is listening to him read at home. When I made the offer to the mom, she said she had to work out a schedule. She needed it to be at a set time with only one person. If she hasn't managed to get that into place over this year, I'm not very optimistic about it ever happening. I had thought no one was reading with them because they felt inadequate at the job. But no, it is because Mom hasn't worked out some rigid schedule. How about. "Susie, I wanted you to read for five minutes with D. now." 

    I texted Kea this morning to work with K. I finally called. They were on their way to visit her sister and wouldn't be home until late afternoon. 

    I managed to avoid working on the article for the whole day. Procrastination is tiring and depressing.