Saturday, April 24, 2021

 Saturday, April 24, 2021

            I woke up without the alarm this morning after sleeping well through most of the night. There were only two students plus Yvette at yoga this morning. She announced that she was going to cancel the Saturday class for now. She is busy every morning and wants to have one day to sleep in. Maybe this would be a good time to start with Bikram again, at least one day a week.

I was exhausted today. I haven't felt this order exhaustion for a while. Last night, I didn't apply the magnesium oil to my legs before bed. I have noticed that I feel better, more energetic during the day. I wonder if this good feeling is coming from the magnesium oil. Damon is taking magnesium pills to help with restless leg syndrome. It cleared it up. I wish I had known about this when Mike was alive. He frequently suffered from muscle cramps. Sometimes he would have to get up and walk around to work it out.

            I had a 10 am appointment with my adolescent D.  I continued to see slow but regular improvement. He read many words more fluently. He does a little better holding on to sounds and blending them when he gets stuck. He seems to have a better grasp of the procedure. I heard him struggle and start with the initial letter at one point. I reminded him, "Always start with the vowel and the following consonant – if there is one." He snapped back, "I did start with the vowel." This would be a wonderful development. 

       D told me he was following text when classmates read out loud in school the other day. He was able to recognize words. Today I asked him if he heard the word first and then went, "Oh, yeah," or figured out the word first and then got confirmation as his classmate said it. He thought it was the former. I always work to make him aware of his cognitive processes. This allows him to take charge of them.

     D's mother had texted me to ask me to schedule a session for Sunday because they would be out of town from the 28th through the 5th. His mother is passive in a way I find annoying. She never made a serious effort to get him help until now. She is unappreciative of the difference we have already achieved. She seems unappreciative of both his accomplishments and mine. I don't expect it from the kids. After all, they are kids. They're angry because of the position they're in. They see me as another annoyance to remind them that they're not okay. But the parents!

            Adolescent D had been making errors with the most basic sight words, the first ones he learned -it versus is, they versus their. These are the words on the first sight word list. I've seen this pattern over and over again. I had often thought the problem was because the kids had used the wrong part of the brain when learning those words when they first started reading. My experience with D. strengthens my conviction.

    I got a text from A's mom. He had a rough night; could we cancel for the day? She didn't think he'd be much good in a session. Okay. I was also exhausted and lay down for a long nap. I finished the Gamache book last night. I started on Dahaene's book How We Learn, a book on the neuroscience of learning. All his books are sitting on my coffee table, waiting to be read or reread. 

   I have one step in my house as I move from the garage, now Mike's library, to the main part of the house. I usually step up using my right leg. I have been forcing myself to use my left leg. It hurt, but my leg got stronger. This led to my using my leg differently as I walked. I pushed off from the toe of the left foot. That forced my leg to straighten at the hip joint. Darby was at the edge of her driveway as I walked by. She admired by even stride. 

        I did my before-dinner walk around 6:30 pm. The late afternoon light was amazing. The colors were brilliant. I tried to catch a picture of it on my phone—no such luck. The camera isn't good enough to catch that light.