Tuesday, July 16, 2024

 Tuesday, July 16, 2024

    I've been sleeping well, waking infrequently and sleeping through until 4:30. Although I usually plan on getting up at 5 a.m., I stayed in bed even longer this morning, dozing and mulling things over. 

   One of my walking buddies told me her daughter had handwriting problems.  I offered to help.  I've developed a strategy I use over Zoom that's worked well. I draw lines or letters on the Zoom whiteboard slowly with a thick pen point. The student follows my execution with their finger on a hard surface. They do not use a writing implement to start with. The movement must be slow, very slow to begin with. This exercise works better on Zoom than in person because the student only sees the line forming, not my hand. This was the exercise I wanted to try with my walking buddy's daughter.

   As I lay in bed this morning, I thought of a different possibility that had never come to mind before. I saw that as she wrote, it felt like her hand or arm was being pulled in another direction.  So far, I've witnessed handwriting distorted by excessive muscle or lack of tension, but this was new.  I thought this was caused by a disturbance in the motor cortex, much like the disturbance I have found in the brain disrupting visual or auditory perception.

   Her mother took her to a neurologist who said there was nothing wrong with her. The disturbance I am referring to isn't recognized by the medical profession yet.  I learned about it from Ron Del Davis. He was severely learning disabled and considered mentally retarded.  He pulled himself out of it on his own. He identified a spinning sensation in his brain. He stabilized it by designing an exercise to stop it by putting the brakes on. Using what I learned from Barbara Brennan, I devised an exercise that allowed the student to release the spin. Hence, it no longer existed and didn't interfere with sensory processing. I have used this exercise with success with many students. It puts an end to visual and auditory confusion. However, this is my first time seeing it affect motor control.

   I worked with the twins this morning for the first time in several days. I am working on memory with Twin E. I discovered she had been referring to the wrong part of the brain for memorized information. She'd been using the part of her brain that gives her the wrong information while aware that the other part of the brain provides the correct information. I've noticed that in other students. They know what they see or hear in their heads is wrong, and they know the correct answer is in there but in a different location. In my work with her, I aim to use the' right' part of the brain to recall each word. Remembering the words is secondary, merely a means to an end.

   When Twin A read today, she messed up a lot. I had been focusing on decoding multi-syllable words and comprehension. Today, I switched to decoding each word as with Adolescent D. We came across the word how.  I cited the Vh, Vw, Vy rule. I asked her to repeat it. She couldn't repeat any of it.  I asked if she had zoned out. Yes. Did she zone out whenever someone talked about something she wasn't familiar with? Yes. I spoke to her in German. It's a language she doesn't know at all.  She listened as I spoke. I told her to listen in the same way when someone talked about something she didn't know anything about. Something would get in.

   I told her if she listened, more people wouldn't have to repeat things over and over to get the information in. How did it make her feel when they did that, scared or sad? She said, "Mad." Interesting. Was she interested in changing?  No. Did she think she could change? She wasn't sure.  Did she want to change? No. My first thought was opposition to what people wanted from her for individuation purposes. Later, I thought she wanted to be assured she was loved the way she was, not for what people wanted her to be, even if it was for her own good.  

   After my session with the girls, I mowed the street-side grass strip. Last night, I pulled the mower out of the shed and charged the battery so I would be ready to go. It was, and I got the job done. I had mowing therapy. It's very satisfying work, particularly with a battery-charged motor instead of a gas one. As someone said, "It starts every time." Also, there is less noise and no fumes.

  At noon, I met with Adolescent D, who is now 17. I'm pushing the recognition of patterns and saying the words after he decodes them. I may have moved too fast today. He seemed off his pins.

  Paulette was free today for Elsa and me to come up and visit and get more Kangen water.  Matt, Judy's older son, who lives on a different island, was visiting with his two kids.  Her younger son, Adam, lives on the same property as Judy and her husband.  It's been hectic for everyone. The children are very active. Leon, at 9, is the oldest; Zion, who just turned 4, is the youngest.  Noah and Mia, Matt's two kids, are in the middle. Judy passed me as I was doing my morning walk. She stopped to say, "We're on our way to the airport," sounding thrilled to have Matt and his kids leave and return to her everyday life.  As usual, I had a lovely visit with Paulette. We sat on the lanai and chatted for a while. Carol, who lives with Judy and Howard, came down. I enjoy seeing her, too.

   I spoke to a friend whose parents were card-carrying Communists in her youth and stood by their principles during the McCarthy era, paying the price. They both lost their jobs until the McCarthy era was over. She spoke about reading books her parents left her on Communist heroes, men who were democratic Communists. I asked her what that meant. She said they were in favor of economic equality for all. That's an economic policy, not a political one. How was a democratic Communist government different from a Socialist one? The problem is no Communist country has existed that hasn't led to a dictatorship. In addition, over time, economic inequality has reared its head; as the political heads accrued power, they also accumulated wealth.  I'm all in favor of economic equality, at least a limit range from the top to the bottom of the economic scale. The Scandinavian countries seemed to achieve a semblance of that, but it wasn't Communism. Communism is not just an economic policy; it is also a political structure.

   I just checked who introduced the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat, Marx or Lenin? It was Marx. The article said that the revolution never led to the dictatorship of the proletariat, only the dictatorship of a political elite made up of former proletariat.

   Someone reminded me of the conclusion of The Lord of the Ring. As Frodo, the good guy, is poised to throw the ring into the fires of the Mount of Doom, he puts it on his finger. We are all weak when faced with the possibility of absolute power. It is Gollum who embraced his greed from the beginning and saved the day. He bites off Frodo's finger with the ring and falls into the fire, destroying himself and the ring. So much for intelligent life.