Friday, January 7, 2022

 Friday, January 7, 2022

   My ankle got stiff lying in bed. When I got up to go to the bathroom, it presented a challenge. I had to be careful not to make asymmetric changes in my body to compensate for the dysfunctional foot. I couldn’t move my left foot through a full range of motion while walking. I adopted what I am calling the Tim Conway shuffle. Does anyone remember him from the Carol Burnett show?   While it looks ridiculous, it works. I could be pain-free and symmetrical in my movement. 

    When I had adolescent D today, I got him to agree he needs to work, so he doesn’t have accidents where he confuses the order of the letters even while the image remains stable. (An unstable image is a different problem.) Dash first will admit that it’s worthwhile changing. He still argues the error is not a serious problem. I say that little error is as serious as hitting the gas pedal versus the brake when driving or vice-versa. Yes, it’s a small error. After all, the brake and gas pedal are only inches away from each other. However, it is a fatal one. If it happens more than once, you shouldn’t be driving. Likewise, confusing which letter comes first is a disaster in reading. It should never happen. You should understand that it is serious error when it does.    

    I told D that if we don’t solve this problem, someone will in his lifetime. Scientists are figuring out how the brain works and how to help people whose brains do not work appropriately for the needs of our culture; reading is necessary in our culture. 

  I had him write the words on his forehead. I had him ask his mind to ‘show him’ (visual representation) or tell him (auditory representation) the letters in the word. When he does recall the letters in a word, I asked him how he remembered. I am always cultivating metacognitive strategies. “Notice what works and develop that strategy.”

   I had my second appointment this week with my PT, Terry. After seeing the podiatrist, I could tell her there was no break and only mild arthritis in the ankle. She worked on releasing the inner thigh muscles more. Hopefully, this will all have some bearing on my ankle, and I will walk again without pain. 

          Judy and Paulette stopped by and asked if they could sit on my lanai. They are not vaccinated, so I insist on maintaining distance. They were speaking about the back lanai in the open air. You hear me refer to an indoor lanai, a large screened-in porch that is part of my general living area and considered inside the house. I know this must sound weird to those not living in the tropics. This is one reason people move here- to always be in nature. I was exhausted. I had a client scheduled in 15 minutes and needed downtime.

   I had a session with the M & W sisters. I always start with first-grade M. There was something weird going on. She was reading the way she had when we started. Why was this going on? She said she was tired. Okay. We’d see how she would do tomorrow. However, the difference was concerning. She shouldn’t have been making mistakes like this anymore under any circumstances.

   For fifth grade W, I tried to get up the story we worked on. I couldn’t find it on the computer. Then the icons went wonky. I tried to start a new document. The keys didn’t work. I told her we would cancel. To tell her mom I had only worked with her sister that morning.  

   A little later in the day, I checked the computer. The icons looked better, but they weren’t 100%. I wasn’t too concerned. The last time it happened, Tommy came over to check. He couldn’t find anything wrong and said Microsoft probably did a download, and it disabled my computer. What is this about? I restarted the tablet, and all was well. Everything was back to normal.

   I watched Wine Country, another girls’ buddy movie. The difference between a boys’ buddy movie and a girls’ buddy movie is interesting. Now that we have more women producers and directors, things are looking up for us girls.