Monday, February 15, 2021

 Monday, February 15, 2021

 

            Despite going to bed late, I was ready to get up when the alarm went off. Elsa hadn’t been happy about walking with me. She pulled back. Then we came across a cat. When she sees a cat, I’m lucky I can stay erect. Elsa has a thing for cats.

            I called my friend Carol in Ohio today on my morning walk. It went straight to voicemail. That was unusual to start with, but I didn’t hear back from her. This leaves me concerned. Carol is not in the best of health. I don’t have a number for her daughter, but I have a home address. If I don’t hear from Carol soon, I will write.

            Both H and J canceled today. I found out that Presidents’ Day was when I asked Yvette if Josh was okay when I noticed his car was out front.  

            I committed the morning to working on the PowerPoint. When I went to open it, it wasn’t listed under “recent.”  I searched for it and couldn’t find it. My computer had been acting up. It deleted the graphics from the PowerPoint. I restored them because I had an earlier version as an email attachment I had sent to Dorothy. Because of that scare, I made a point of sending the document I worked on yesterday to my email. Thank God I did. 

            I also had my computer shut down on me when I used it. What was going on? I called Apple Support. Russell, currently working from home in NYC, Queens, to be specific, ran a diagnostic and told me that my battery was shot. I need a replacement. He could send me one for $129.50 plus a $19 shipping fee, or I could go to a local shop. He asked me for my zip code. I giggled as he searched. “You live in Hawaii?” Yep. I wondered if he would give me an Apple Store in Honolulu or Maui. They’re not far away; it’s just that there is an ocean between the islands. He found Mac Made Easy here in Kona. I knew where they were and called them immediately.

            If I had some contract with Apple, their diagnostic would be free. If not, it would cost me $95. More concerning, he said it would take three days to do the diagnostic. No, I could just bring it in and get a new battery. Russell from Apple support ran a diagnostic which took all of three minutes.  

I still had the problem with the PowerPoint acting up. Russell didn’t think he could help me but gave me the contact information for Microsoft Support. Rather than pursue the Microsoft issue, I lay down for a nap. What a wonderful nap! I was utterly relaxed and completely discomfort-free. I had started with a meditation releasing some pressure on my heart, causing heartache. 

            I texted Judy. Her son Adam had a tenant who works on computers. He worked for Mac Made Easy and quit because he couldn’t stand the boss and thought he could do the work for less. I needed his number. I texted Judy, asking for it.

            I had a phone call with D’s mother today. We were filling out paperwork to get him evaluated. D. isn’t the fastest thinker I’ve worked with, but I hadn’t thought of him as actually slow. Mr. B, his teacher from last year, and I agreed that his problem was confined to a memory problem. Mom said that she saw problems with comprehension. D. is the youngest of four children. She sees him as much slower than the older three. She also said she felt he responded to multi-sensory methods for memorizing the multiplication facts. It came out she had used those methods with him to memorize the same facts I had worked with him. She said he could remember when she used that method. I told her that he hadn’t held the facts she worked on. “Oh!”  I have no idea.

       I only had one tutoring session today with I. On Friday, after our last session, her mom regaled me with all the medical problems she had with her ears. She had many ear infections when she was younger. I have read ear infections are associated with reading problems. Mom asked me outright whether there was any way to overcome such problems. I said yes, I had helped people, but of course, I couldn’t guarantee it. Each person is different. Remember my struggles with D; I feel I have made very little progress with him. 

            Given the information I’s mom gave me, I started right away with the BrainManagementSkills. Her visual memory was on the right-side auditory center. Getting her to shift over was easy. I had her do the Neurolinguistic programming exercise, visualizing a word in her head, her own name in this case, read the letters forward and then backward. You can tell when someone is “reading the letters” versus reconstructing the word. She read them easily. That’s great.

            When I asked her where her auditory center was, she pointed to behind her left ear. In my experience, that spot doesn’t work very well. It’s the point where two pencils would intersect if you could drive them into the head, one from the left temple and the second from slightly to the left of the soft spot. It was easy for her to switch to that point. She said she had a weird sensation in the area, and my voice sounded louder. Both are good signs this is a meaningful change. I read to her from an above-grade-level book (it was the only one I had on hand), having her listen for the sound of my voice from that spot in her brain. This exercise aims to install the brain connections she needs for good auditory processing. 

            I read several pages to her from the book. I told her to lean back in her chair and be completely relaxed, to make no effort to understand, to just allow whatever understanding came to her to wash over her. I assured her I would not ask her for specific information. I would only ask her if what she heard was clearer than usual. She found my voice clearer, as I hoped.

            I called Brian, the friendly computer expert. He will be able to help me with most of my computer problems. As for the help I need with syncing the audio files with a slide show, he knows someone. I told him the problems I was having with the Microsoft Office Word program. I save documents and then can never find them again. He told me everyone is having this problem. Microsoft has forced people into an annual subscription to make more money. Unfortunately, this includes a weird system for saving documents that’s confusing for everyone. Brian said he could help me sort that out. In the meantime, I have to email documents to myself from my Apple Computer when I need them for my tutoring sessions. I use the tablet because it has a touch screen, and my Apple doesn’t. 

            Yvette came up with her throat chakra singing bowl. She has bought a few and is learning to play them with online instruction. I hope it will help me use my voice better for the PowerPoint Presentation I want to make.

            I made General Tao’s chicken tonight from the frozen package. When I followed the directions, I had a disaster on my hands, burnt sauce. I figured out that my stovetop ran too hot for the directions. When I didn’t turn the heat up, it was perfect. See, I am a good cook.

Sunday, February 14, 2021

 Sunday, February 14, 2021

             I woke up in the middle of the night to some strange sound. Was someone's alarm going off? I tried to ignore it, but it persisted. I got up to locate it. Was it coming from my radio? I had tried to set it on sleep mode last night but had given up. Was this a result of that attempt? I pushed the off button on the radio. That didn't stop it. I pushed the on-button. The unmistakable sound of speaking voices came on. Okay, it wasn't my radio. I followed the sound. It was coming from my computer.

            I had downloaded Pandora during the day, but it hadn't been playing when I went to sleep. The computer was sitting closed. Closing the laptop is usually enough to stop the streaming. Besides that, Pandora usually switches itself of, asking, "Are you still listening?" I had no idea what was going on. The easiest solution was to hit the mute button; I went back to bed.

            In my phone call with Dorothy this morning, we spoke about a book I sent her on Judaism. It's part of the Very Short Introduction series that has been my bedtime reading. She knew I was sending it to her. She found the book on her doorstep last night before she went to bed. She was surprised because she thought I would have the book sent to me, and then I would ship it to her. Instead, I had Amazon send it to her directly.

            Needless to say, she got very different things out of the book than I did. I will have to reread the sections we discussed to see it from her point of view. We both see the book as well-written and with a touch of funny. As a practicing Jew, Dorothy knew much more about the history of Judaism than I do. She still got some new information from the book.

            I spent the day catching up on updates and walking, back to the updates and walking. As I sit here now, my ribs hurt.

Saturday, February 13, 2021

 Saturday, February 13, 2021

 

            When I lay on my back during the day to nap, my shoulder and side didn't hurt. However, when I curled up on my side at night, it returned. Also, I couldn't sleep. I was in a wakeful state. I hadn't been able to sleep when I tried to nap during the day. I considered that I had undergone some chemical change, and I would be suffering from sleeplessness as so many people in my age group do. Instead of fighting it, I accepted it. I resigned myself to long nights of meditation, which may be just as good as sleep as long as you're also giving your body a rest. Shortly after I switched my mental state, I must have fallen asleep. 

            Sometime in the middle of the night, I felt the bed move. It was just Elsa shifting around; my mind knew that, but my heart thought, "Mike!" He was in bed with me, and all was right with the world. 

            I had a brief conversation with a friend. She told me that one of the border gates in Arizona is completely unpatrolled. I have no idea what is going on. She thinks it is part of Biden's new policy. That doesn't make sense to me. All border crossings should be manned. Biden has said nothing about an unlimited entrance. I believe there is an unpatrolled border crossing; I don't know why this has happened. It doesn't sound good. People are stacked up there. If there is an unpatrolled crossing, they could flood through there. I'm all for more generous attitudes toward immigrants, being first-generation myself. (I found NO supporting evidence for an unpatrolled border gate on the Internet. I will check further.)

            My friend spoke about all the people in the USA who are hurting financially. "Why don't we take care of them first?" Here's my problem: I don't see the people who are hard on immigrants generous toward the poor in this country. It doesn't seem to be an either-or choice. My friend got angry at me, commenting about not being as educated. Ow! Those are fighting words today. Let's be clear, I know plenty of highly educated people who hate my open-mindedness just as much as my less educated friend. The difference isn't education; the difference is being willing to consider a point of view that doesn't immediately fit in with existing prejudices. Mike loved the trait in me. I also have people in my life who hate it in me. A highly educated relative actually said to me, "I hate that you always see the other one's point of view." It has nothing to do with the degree of education. Even before I was 'highly' educated, I have always been that way.

            I'm not up to talking much right now. Why? Not quite sure. Some of it has to do with my grief about Mike. The period from January 24 to March 3 represents his time in the hospital. But I suspect there is something else going on too. I'm just about ready to present my PowerPoint on my reading method to a group. I have a little concern about their immediate reaction, but that's not the scary part. The frightening part is that this may be the beginning of people expressing interest in my approach to teaching. Since I'm the only one doing what I do- that I know of, it would make a difference in my life. This is scary. The truth is I am closer to the possibility that some people will be interested and try what I teach. Because the Step Up Tutoring audience is made up of volunteers who are untrained teachers, they won't even have a context for understanding what they see. For them, it will just be a way to help their students – or not. Just another piece of information. I know it is a radically different approach to teaching reading. From the math workshop, I see that it is already being used. The zeitgeist is right for introducing this method.

            Over the years, I have made two other presentations, one to a small group of teachers in a private school program and one to a small room audience at a local New Jersey Reading Conference. I was asked to speak at the statewide or national convention. I said no. I wasn't ready. I may still not be ready. Too bad. My approach can help many people who can't be helped by the currently available methods. This does not mean substituting my method will be better, and the other should be dropped. I hate the radical swings the educational establishment makes, grabbing the brass ring of the next best system for teaching something. 

            I had S at 10:30. Her mother had forgotten. She's working through reading a story a day in a graded reading level program her mother bought. She has to complete every story on a level before proceeding to the next level. She is currently reading on Levell H, which is a little ahead of her first grade. I think she can read better. I don't know how much of this improvement is because she is more comfortable with me or actually improved. Her mother finally told me that the teacher says her problem is she doesn't 'scoop' the words together. I think this refers to reading' fluency,' which is defined as reading the words the way we say them instead of choppily, one word at a time. As I worked on that, she started clicking on distracting items. That is a signal she's scared. I talked to her mother about her fears. She was defensive, arguing given S's medical condition, she has reason to be scared, or she is considered a happy, outgoing child. True, I talked to mom about her being scared because she barked at her, which she did not do today. I finally had to say she can be great in many contexts; none of that means she isn't scared when faced with being corrected, regardless of cause. Does she want that condition improved? Yes.    I will work on that. 

            Then the decision had to be made if we would meet tomorrow too. Mom asked S. She said only one day a week. Mom asked if she should force her. I said no. She was reading on grade level already; she didn't have to be pushed. Then it came out that she was also going to Kumon for tutoring. Really??! Mom showed me a sheathe of sheets of homework she had from them. I thought, Wow! No. We don't want to load this poor child up with more work. I'm surprised the girl didn't say she wanted to stop all the sessions.

            I took a nap after that session. Scott came by to install my solar attic fan. Elsa didn't budge from me. When a stranger goes stomping about my attic, she is in non-stop bark mode. I was ready to get up but didn't want to disturb her. She has been lying on me and next to me more. At night, she has started curling up next to me. It has taken her two years to relate to me as she did to Mike. We both miss him terribly.

            I had a session with A at 2:30 pm. His mother didn't respond; I called her. "Oh, is it 2:30?" She set him up, and we connected. She had things to do today and couldn't sit in on the session. I did have time to ask her if she was doing any work with him. She said yes, but only on his assigned schoolwork. I asked her if she could apply my approaches as she worked with him. I told her it was the approach, not the materials, that counted. 

            A and I worked alone together. He is decoding more rapidly with every session. However, his memory. Oy vey! I taught him to 'press the save button' (his nose) and send the information down to long-term memory. He was able to recall one word he hadn't before. I have to stop him from decoding a word. If he doesn't allow his nervous system to use automatic recall pathways, they will never develop.

            He mispronounced the word 'liked' in a sentence today. I used his pronunciation in several sentences; he could not infer the meaning. Not quite sure what the problem was. 

            In repeating a sentence, it became clear that he couldn't retain sentences in his mind verbatim. We need to work on that. Is it necessary to do this? You better believe it! If you can't retain a sentence verbatim, there are any number of things you can't do. You can't understand what someone is really saying as you change their words to something you're familiar with. You can't write down your own thoughts. To write, you have to compose a sentence, hold that sentence in your mind, drop it for a moment as you spell a word, and then recall that SAME sentence again as you figure out the next word, etc.  

            I started BrainManagementSkills with him. I drew the spin patterns for him. He recognized the one that went from the outer edge, following the right-hand rule at the top of his head on the left side. After carefully explaining that doing the release should feel safe, comfortable, easy, and fun, I directed him to allow the spin to progress down through his body and out through his feet. First, I asked him if the spin slowed down or sped up as he watched it. He said it slowed down. So far, that has been the pattern whenever the spin goes from the outside in. When the spin is from the inside out, it always speeds up. Then I asked him what color was on the inside of his head. He said red. I associate red with anger but never assume what it means for the person. I asked him if it was an ugly or petty red. He said pretty. I asked him if the red could help him remember. He said yes.

            All right, let's go for it. As we progressed, A repeated more short sentences from the text we worked on more quickly. In the end, he could repeat two sentences from memory. I had shown him the beat of the sentences. I heard someone accurately beating out the rhythm of the sentence. I didn't have him on video at the time. When his mother had come into the room, I asked her who was beating it out. It was him. He has a very good sense of rhythm. That makes sense. I think he is overly right brain dependent. I told him his ability to accurately beat the rhythm of a spoken sentence was excellent, and he should use it to help him understand what people said to him.

            Sandor called to update me on his mother-in-law, who is in Queen's hospital in Honolulu because of a heart problem. The doctors there were ready to discharge her. Her daughter, Meali'inani, a Doctor of Optometry, said," Absolutely not!" You don't mess with Meali'inani.  Both Sandor and Meali'inani believe she should have a significant procedure to help her heart. One possibility was a stint. That was passed up. Open heart surgery is too invasive for her. There is a new procedure, the DaVinci. There is one machine here for doing it and one trained doctor. He refused to take on Meali'inani's mother because she wasn't bad enough. He prioritized people who were closer to death first.

            Sandor contacted friends in Miami who were heart surgeons. They consulted with the doctors at Queens. Apparently, the DaVinci procedure is pretty commonplace there. They would be happy to treat her. Off to Miami. Never a dull moment.

Friday, February 12, 2021

 Friday, February 12, 2021

 

            Ow! When I curled up to sleep, I discovered a sleeping-preventing shoulder pain.  I knew this was a sign of a torn rotator cuff since I had one.  I knew what unleashed the current pain; it was a shoulder raise I did in yoga this morning.  If something as minor as a raised shoulder could retear a surgically repaired rotator cuff, I was in trouble. The more likely case was that the shoulder lift stretched muscles that haven't been moved in eight years since I had the surgery.   Besides the shoulder pain, I had a reoccurrence of a terrible pain at the bottom of my left rib cage.  I had that pain full-blown many years ago. Assuming Yvette would someday be in a position to make medical decisions for me, I told her to make sure no one ever left me lying on my left side. I would die of the pain.  It was bad. Fortunately, it resolved. This was a reprieve. I spent the night rolling around on a tennis ball all night, dozing when I could.

            When the rib pain started years ago, I assumed it had something to do with an accident I had when I was ten when I tripped and landed on top of one of those old fashioned wooden tent stakes.  But last night, I realized that the problems I was having with my shoulder, neck, and rib cage were all a result of an accident I had when I was 35. I fell down a flight of stairs headfirst- and what fall it was.

            I was in a building in NYC built in the early 1900s, the original building for Hunter College in midtown Manhattan.  The ceilings must be between 15 and 20 feet high.  I was coming down one of the staircases when this adorable young boy greeted this equally adorable young girl. I had to turn to look.  I was wearing slacks and sandals; my left big toe got caught in my right pant leg. I couldn't get it free. As I struggled, I pitched forward. When I got to a 30-degree angle. I blacked out. I woke up at the bottom of a 20 to 25 foot fall up against the marble wall at the far end of the 8' to 10' landing. The adorable young man was standing above me. He said, "Are you okay?" I felt fine and told him so. He warily said, "Try and move." I knew he thought I must be paralyzed. I got up and went to my class. I had a small bruise on my left knee, which I treated with Vit. E oil that night before I went to bed. The next morning as I showered, I discovered I couldn't raise my left arm high enough to wash my hair. I had a torn rotator cuff.

            I reconstructed what I must have done when I fell.  I was probably the least traumatized by the event.  Since my legs were bound together. I couldn't step forward.  If things had followed due course, I would have pivoted, hit the steps immediately below me with my full body, and then tumbled head of heels the rest of the way. There is no way I could have survived that.  So what happened? The only thing that makes sense is that I dove for the wall at the bottom of the staircase. Yes, dove. How else could I have made it all the way there without hitting the intervening steps?  I pushed off with my feet, held my body rigidly, as a diver would, with my left arm outstretched, and rolled on to my right fat pad as I came down. Dance training!! God bless my dance training.  I had been taught how to fall to the ground without hurting myself.  Admittedly, this was no dance fall. What I pulled off rivaled a fall a highly trained stuntwoman might have had trouble with.  As you can imagine, the whole left side of my body was impacted by that fall. It wasn't just my rotator cuff that was damaged. Now, I'm being given an opportunity to heal from those wounds.

            I got up and felt ragged. Lack of sleep and pain were part of it, but grief about Mike is hitting full bore.  It is making me less tolerant of everything. I have been feeling irritated with my students, impatient.  For me to respond that way is a clear indication that something is wrong. It's like me not wanting chocolate indicates something is wrong with me physically.

            I walked with plans of speaking to no one. Few people can send love to me in a way I can receive it.  Interestingly, Jean, my hanai sister and Mike's ex, is one of them. I called her, reporting my distress.  I asked her to call me each day just briefly to say she loves me.  I know others might be willing to do it, but my ability to receive it is in a narrow frequency.  Jean happens to function on the one I can receive. Thank God I have someone. 

            I had a lesson with D. this morning. Again, he couldn't remember what 9x4= was, not a clue. We have worked on the same multiplication fact twice a week for at least six months. I have tried everything in my wheelhouse to help him fix his memory problems. Nothing I did has worked. Nothing. I'm pushing to have him classified. I don't think the special ed teachers can do anything; I just want to buy him protection from the school's academic demands. I have told him repeatedly that he will be fine as an adult.  He will be a good worker, a good husband, and a good father.  He is a sweet, decent human being. 

            The problem now is getting the application forms into the school and then getting the school to evaluate him. I'm concerned they will ignore my feedback and say that he has to study more if he doesn't know his multiplication facts. After all, who am I?  The other problem is with his mother.  While she wants him to receive a classification, it is hard to get her to do anything. She sounds overwhelmed? Depressed? I'm trying to figure out how to help her without making her feel put down.

            The other day, I did a single step second grade word problem with D. He did well with it. He figured out what he had to do quickly. He asked for more of this. Today, I picked a multiple-step 3rd-grade problem involving division.  He was engaged. He thought it was fun. He didn't want to stop even though we had gone well over our usual half an hour.  He also didn't get a lot of it. He is functioning well on a second-grade level, but he is in fourth grade. While he had fun, what he couldn't do was impressive.  The 'correct' algorithm for the problem was division. He approached it by figuring out the addends if you know the answer.  What number can you add together five times to get 50?  I can't begin to tell you how off he was. I think he couldn't keep in mind that he was working on an addition problem. To his credit, it was a complicated problem. I'll pick something it little less complex in the future.

            I's mother called asking if we could have the session earlier than planned. Sure.  Today, I had her determine the sounds in the words. I wrote the word, she read it, and then she figured out how many syllables were in the word, where to divide it, and then what the sounds in the word were and which letters represented those sounds.  She had trouble with the sounds.  She sometimes gave me the wrong sound, and, more seriously, she couldn't remember a sound even after she had correctly identified it even though she had just heard it and said it a few minutes ago in another word. She has a pretty serious auditory processing problem. However, she did say she saw some improvement in her reading just from our one session. We'll see.

            I spoke to mom afterward. I told her to play the audio files I have on bandcamp for her at night as she goes to sleep.  Mom does acknowledge there is a bad problem here. She also read me the school report. I. is reading on grade level. This means that her visual recall is off the charts.  She would have done well in China learning all the ideograms. Mom told me that I. had several ear infections and had other ear problems.  This means we will have to focus heavily on mouth formation to determine the sounds rather than hearing. 

            K's father, D, called to tell me there had been a change in the writing prompt for the entrance exam for the private school she was trying to get into. I was surprised myself when D told me he knew what the prompt was before the test. I assumed the school had sent it out. It didn't make sense to me, but her dad was so sure about what it would be. Now, he found out that the prompt would just be a picture. He had K sit down to write in response to two pictures. After just four sessions, she correctly used the structure I gave her. Introduction Paragraph #1, #2 and #3 and conclusion. She actually labeled each paragraph. She was also able to stick to the same topic in each paragraph. Not bad for two hours of work. She was easy, and yes, I'm the best. I told dad she had done a great job. Yes, there were errors in spelling and grammar, but from what I've seen from third grade writing rubrics, that's still to be expected at her grade level. Her biggest limitation is her vocabulary. It's kind of ordinary, with no luscious adjectives, no metaphors, or even similes. She didn't seem ready for that leap.  I told dad to make sure he told her he loved her regardless of the exam outcome. 

            

______ --_____ -_____

Musings:

 

Wherever there is a choice, selfishness is involved as well as sacrifice.  Is it possible to have no choice? In terms of behavior, yes. One's life choices can be limited by enslavement.  Even in such circumstances, there is a choice, limited but present. Some of the choices require greater sacrifices than others. 

            When selecting an ice cream and being of two minds, our choice is dictated by self-interest, and we  sacrifice one. Can we have both? Yes, but only half as much of each. If we choose the full quantity of both, then we are making a different sacrifice- our health, our weight.

            Then there are the sacrifices we make for those we love, our children. But there too, it's a choice. Would a parent choose to have their child suffer in some way? Choosing that would be a sacrifice for most parents.  Of course, there's always the lucky child who has a sociopath for a parent who really is indifferent to their child's pain.

            If making a choice puts our lives at risk in a situation, those choices are harrowing ones. We may have to choose to follow our hearts and suffer the punishment of those who oppress us or may choose to take a path of least resistance for our own safety and make a different sacrifice- our very souls.           

Thursday, February 11, 2021

 Thursday, February 11, 2021

 

            I had Shelly this morning. The topic was grief; it has hit me hard. My deepest grief is over Mike's suffering. Not only how he suffered those last five weeks before his death, but how in suffered because of the impact of his family of origin. His work life was also intense. For most of it, he carried a heavy load. When he left his last job, they replaced him with four people. He was very competent but not always fully appreciated. I thought he was amazing.  

            Shelly said she never had anyone grieve over someone else's suffering. I guess she doesn't have people stick around long enough for that to come up. They're too preoccupied with their problems. I don't have many big problems anymore. I continue working with Shelly because I find exploring the human psyche fascinating. Also, I can apply what I learn to those I work with. While what applies to me isn't always applicable to others, experiencing something in myself opens me to see something different. 

            I spoke to K's dad, D. I've had four sessions with her prepping her for writing an essay about wishing she had one more day with her mom, who died two years ago. I told dad to have her write the essay independently without thinking of the exact words she wrote with me. I don't want her to memorize the text we co-wrote. She could be in the exam, forget them, and then panic. She should be thinking about the topic rather than the exact words. Dad was telling me he has a two-hour commute each day. You can walk from one end of the island of Oahu to another in a day. Traffic in Honolulu is unbelievable. There is no way to expand. They tried to put in a rail system. The whole project is a mess—lots of mistakes and possible corruption. I'm not so worried about K anymore. I saw reasonable skill in writing mechanics.   

            With J. I started with the phonemic analysis. I had him divide the word. He requested we work on a math problem and do more phonemic analysis at the end of the class. He said he was not copying the word problems perfectly, but it was good enough for him to know what the problem was about. We did a one-word problem. He still did not go back to the story, the concrete, to figure out the problem.

            His English sounded better, and I told him so. It's a change in his intonation pattern. He said he thought so too. I asked if his Spanish was also better. He didn't know. I talked about the power of speaking to people using their way of speaking.  

            Trevor Noah tells great stories about this power. A group of thugs in South Africa once approached him with hostile intent. He spoke to them in their dialect; their attitude changed immediately. He was one of them. I talked about the importance of using language appropriately in a context if your goal is communication. One language is not better than another. I asked J if he wouldn't have trusted me more if I could have spoken Spanish when we started. It took him longer to trust me. All that is based on language alone. I asked whether his mom would be more comfortable if I spoke Spanish. He said he didn't know. Of course, now I could enter the house with some pretty outrageous behavior. I have proven myself trustworthy. I would get a free pass.

            I worked with E today. God, he sounded good. The level of energy in his voice was stunning. Confident. Wonderful. He said his schoolwork was going much better. He had already finished everything he had to do for the rest of the week. Our new goal was finding schoolwork fun. He said he had nothing to work on. I told him to find something that annoyed him, anything- something in the room he was in – anything. He said the top of his head was itching.

            I led the releases on that, releasing anything negative about his hatred of the sensation, etc. I remember I had done an energy release on the hatred statement but not the love. I had no idea what was going on. I don't know how I realized that he was starting to inhabit his body energetically. The energy moved down into his chest and then continued down to the bottom of his feet. I asked how he felt. He said heavy. It took me a while after the session to realize what had happened. When we don't feel good about ourselves, our life circumstances, we leave our bodies. He was reinhabiting his. This is exciting.  

            E. has a weight problem. We started working on it in one of our first seasons, but it got dropped. Now I think his weight may be compensation for his 'weightlessness. If he can be grounded with his own weight, maybe he can drop all those extra pounds. Wouldn't that be great?

            I had a session with A today. His decoding skills are improving rapidly. I pointed out to his mom that in two sentences in this elementary text, there were 21 sound-letter relationships covered. Actually, there were two for a, as in lad and was. I still have to remind A to use cross-body blending when decoding. His more serious problem is his memory. For that, I worked on holding the visual image, which he seems to be good at, with the accompanying auditory image. I haven't had him push the save button yet. I didn't seem right yet. 

_____-_____-_____

Musings.

            Dorothy said something about free drawing for 3- and 4-year-olds helps them identify who they are in the world. That's an interesting theory. I thought, you know, I don't think I ever did that. She couldn't conceive of such a thing. Our mom let her do it. But my circumstances were her were different because my mom's circumstances with me were different.

            I wonder if her parents allowed her to draw freely. She was born in 1903; the paper would have been more expensive than now. We go through reams of it daily now. That wasn't true back then. She wouldn't have had a role model.

            She was older than any of the other mothers in our neighborhood. She wasn't a particularly social person. She wouldn't have observed another mother allowing their children to draw freely, assuming that was a norm in the early forties.

            Also, I think my mom wouldn't have wanted the chaos of loose pieces of paper. I do remember clearly drawing in coloring books. I don't know how old I was.

            I also remember that I did painting in kindergarten. How do I remember? Well, some boy who was back-to-back with me as we each painted on our easels threw a container of red paint on my blue dress with white polka dots. One doesn't forget moments like that.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

 Wednesday, February 10, 2021

 

            I went over the PP with Dorothy. She didn't have too many comments. However, I'm sounding bumpy through the whole first half. Need to write out more of the script and rehearse.

            I had D today at 11:30. We tried to get onto Google Meet without success again. He didn't know his Hawaiian DOE email address, which he needed for me to add him to the Meet.

            He said, why don't we try Zoom. I thought, why not? We got on with his computer. After all, I've gone through, how did this happen? He was using his Fire Tablet, not his Chrome computer from the school. I asked him how long he's had it. Since he's been five, and he's nine now. It never occurred to anyone in that family to try it. Well, finally, our problem is solved. We can do Zoom on the tablet and not worry about his school computer access. Done!

            I suggested we work on reading. Before we did, I discussed D's memory problem. It is fierce. He cannot remember a math fact we worked on forever from one minute to the next. He told me a story, illustrating his difficulty with his memory.  

            He had an argument with one of his sisters. His mom called her into her room and asked him how he was doing. He couldn't remember what either of them said, what the argument was about, or even which room it occurred in. It was all a blank except for the memory that something did happen. And, as I think of it, he remembered his conversation with his mom. Hmm! What does that suggest?

            He is still going to have a tough time in school. His mom and I wanted him classified to get some protection from the academic demands. I told him that he could build a life for himself when he's an adult. He is a wonderful person, kind, gentle, considerate.   He should make a great employee and a good husband and father. Those are the things that count in life. I told him to hold on to those goals as he goes through school. I wondered today if he is so sweet and untroubled because he can't remember challenging moments. 

            We did some work on reading. While his word recognition skills are somewhat better, he still skips words. I went back to the old standby to name the letters in the words before saying them. I could feel him wrestle with his brain, forcing it to do the work. He was working with a concentration and determination I hadn't seen before. Let's see if it makes a difference.

            I napped after the session with D. I had M at 2 pm. We're working on 3rd-grade inferencing exercises from Barnell & Loft. She makes the strangest errors. She considers too much background information or too little. Nonetheless, we made it through nine passages today. I had to type some up as we were working. I have to make sure I have enough to work on in a session.

            I didn't make an effort to reach out to J today. I enjoyed working with him but felt I needed a break. I spent the afternoon reviewing Chapter 3 of the book. I started on my reading method because Laura from Step-Up Tutoring asked to see it. I treated her to way more than she asked for. She got the Table of Contents, the Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 3, and my 50 pages appendix. Hope she speaks to me again.

            I spoke to Judy while on my evening walk with Elsa. She is doing very well. Sandor's wife, Meali'inani, was in Honolulu at the Queen's hospital because her mother was there. She visited Judy. I have no idea why she was allowed to, but Judy appreciated the visit. They took a picture together. Judy looked great. Amazing, after the surgery she has been through. Judy said the food at the hospital is fantastic. She told me her dinner menu last night- gourmet. 

            I have been spending my evenings in the living room rather than going to the library to watch tv. The chair is more comfortable. Mike preferred furniture which accommodated his need to slouch. I like furniture that helps me sit up straight. I tried to fix the library furniture with pillows, but I was never successful. The pillows slipped against the leather.

            I'd like to say that I spend the evening being productive now, but I spend a lot of time playing FreeCell rather than writing. Tomorrow, I have to write a new script for the first section of the PP presentation.

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

 Tuesday, February 9, 2021

 

            Before I went to bed last night, I got Judy’s surgery schedule. She was in Honolulu to get a tumor on her spinal cord removed. They were sure it was benign, but its removal was urgent because it was growing in an enclosed space within the spinal column.

            Judy has been a source of medical entertainment. She was diagnosed with colon cancer while Mike was still around. Then she had Covid, but that was only recognized because she lost her sense of taste for six months. The virus itself was just a bad cold in her case. Then there was the kidney stone attack. And can we forget the incident that nearly killed her? She had a small mole removed because it was annoying. She went to the beach within a few days, sat in the shallow water in the sand, and   . . . . an infection set in. Did she go to the emergency room immediately as her sister wanted her to? No. She made it there the next morning. The doctors said one more hour, and they didn’t think they could have saved her. She had full-blown sepsis. We nearly lost her on that one. And now we have this tumor. 

            As I walked, my concern for Judy triggered memories of Mike. I remembered deciding to let him go. At the time, it was a joyous decision. He was suffering so, and I was so out of touch with reality, well, long-term reality. I made plans to let everyone know about my plans to take  him off life support and let him die. We were going to ‘pray him out.”  I was excited. Today, I felt the grief for sending my beloved husband off to another plane and out of my life. I wept as I walked, those racking sobs that sound as much as laughter as tears. It felt like yoga for my heart. 

            I planned to present my revised version of the PowerPoint I had prepared for the Step-Up program to Laura this morning at 8 am after yoga. I texted her I had to cancel because I would spend all my time praying and meditating until Judy’s operation was complete. 

            Yvette texted me to say that she felt well enough to conduct the yoga class and participate. Yesterday, her back went out so bad it took her fifteen minutes to cover six feet from one spot to another. I don’t think she has ever had it that bad. From what she was reporting, she was on the mend.

            My phone binged a few times during yoga. When I checked, it was a video from Judy, all suited up for surgery on the gurney. She detailed her prep. She had to be wiped down from head to toe with something, iodine? She had her ‘party hat’ on already. It was shortly after 7, and she was due to be wheeled in at 7:30. She said the procedure would take between 3 and 5 hours. At 10:30, I called Paulette, her sister, on the off chance. No, no word yet. She called me back within minutes. Howard, Judy’s husband, had gotten the call minutes ago. It all went very smoothly. The tumor was easy to dislodge. She should have relatively little pain. Yay!!!!

            I was going to call Laura to get started on the PowerPoint presentation when Houston from Provision Solar stopped by to get the lay of the land and figure out where all the new solar equipment was going to be placed. Everything was easy and obvious except the placement of the batteries. No, they could not be placed against the side of the house facing the driveway behind my mother’s cabinet. Because there were cars in the driveway, a barrier had to be installed. I envisioned a wire grate placed over the batteries. No, cement pillars were legally required, you know, the kind blocking cars from driving up and into government buildings. Houston recommended that I get the propane gas ducts reconfigured to make the side of the building accessible. There are all these rules about where the batteries can be placed. Better safe than sorry.

            Finally, I was free; I called Laura. Yes, she was available. She said my current presentation was much better, clearer, and less dense. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

            She had told me last time that she was using my method with her student and had already seen some change. She also told me of a problem her student was having; she gave me a word she had a problem pronouncing. I showed her cross-body blending, backward build-up, and she needs to beat out the rhythm. This little girl was Latinx, and her Spanish was tripping her up. People don’t appreciate the difference in the rhythm pattern of English versus just about any other language. Carolyn Graham, a jazz pianist at night and an ESL teacher during the day, identified the rhythm of English as a jazz beat. Such a great observation. 

            In response to Laura’s questions about how to help her student, I sent her chapter 2 of my book. She asked me to send Chapter 3 as well. Even I am impressed by how much knowledge I have accrued over the years.

            I had my third session with A today at 3. I sent the link and heard nothing. I called the mom. It took two calls to get through. Oh, I was supposed to send it to her husband’s email. She hadn’t given it to me. When I finally got it, I sent it to him and called to tell him. I was expecting an immediate hookup. I called again. He was just getting A settled. Huh? It was already 10 after; he didn’t have him in place yet. I think we need to talk. I had someone else scheduled for 3:30. I usually have mom sitting at A’s side as I work with him; I hope she will learn from watching me. I wouldn’t consider asking dad. He just does the minimal amount and walks away. It may be he feels helpless. It may also be that he wants nothing to do with his son’s learning problem- and he does have problems.   I saw some progress with his word attack skills today, but his memory Oy Vey!.  Here’s another one with serious memory problems. He remembers some words: the, was, but can’t remember others: he, they, or for that matter a word he has seen two minutes before. As I wrote, I thought  I had to check a) if he remembered he had seen the word, b) if he had what did he remember about the word. 

    I had J next. He wanted to work on a math problem. We have fun working on them together. I started with some phonemic awareness exercises. I was a little confused about what I was doing. I got phases one and two of the procedure mixed up. He decoded one word. I should do one session to keep his audio processing juices flowing. 

            When we went to the math, I remembered to ask him if he was having more success copying the math problems. He said a little, but not really. What??!! Why didn’t he tell me? It took me a while to figure out why he was having problems. You’re not going to believe it. He was writing too slowly because he was making neatness a priority. The teacher isn’t going to see it. Just write it neatly enough for you to read your own handwriting. That did it. Teasing that one apart took time, but it was worth it. 

            We then worked on the problem we had been copying. J got part of it, but not the trick. He was just looking at numbers and guessing how to solve the problem. He didn’t think of “the story.” The story anchors the numbers in the concrete instead of the abstract. I showed him how to solve it using the story presented in the problem by illustrating the story, using people’s names instead of boos. I revised it again, using him as one of the characters. Then he got what I had to be done to solve the problem.

   I pushed the need to envision the concrete objects in a word problem. When doing math word problems, you have to move back and forth between the concrete and the abstract. So many people stay in one realm or the other. The key to my intelligence is my ability to move back and forth between the two realms with ease. It took practice, but I got good at it.

            I called the contractor we used when we had our house renovated to compliment him again on the fantastic job he did remodeling our house. When Houston was here, he admired the library. I had to show him the bathroom and kitchen, all done by Ken. He did a fantastic job. With other contractors, there was always some disappointment. With Ken, the work was always beyond expectations. We were so lucky!

     Because I was thinking of putting in a new bathroom in the library area, I asked Ken if he knew where the cesspools were on the property. He said you have to hire someone to find them; $400 a pop. I think we have two on this property. I heard that all cesspools need to be converted to septic tanks by 2050. That’s not so far away. Ken told me that you must convert to a septic system whenever a bathroom is added. 

     Well, right now, I need a plumber to reroute the propane gas line and tanks to the other side of the house, so the back wall is free for the solar batteries. Ken said finding a plumber to come work is hard these days. He can’t even get someone to come out. This is going to be a problem. 

            I called B later that evening to ask him if he knew someone. Now, I have two names. I will start calling tomorrow. Tomorrow, I also have plans to go over the PowerPoint Presentation with Dorothy and review chapter 3 of my book in preparation for sending it to Laura. 

             I finally made it out to the shed today to clean up some of the fertilizers the rats had gotten into and spilled. I got some of it done. I would have to wait till Scott gets the wood he stored in there out before I finish the job.

Monday, February 8, 2021

 Monday, February 8, 2021

 

            I slept so deeply after going to bed that I woke up several times thinking I must have slept through to morning instead of just 2 or 3 hours. I do love a good sleep. 

            I have been incorporating the acupuncturist's exercises for my lower body. She offered without my prompting that my spinal curvature caused most of the problems with my body in my old age. The asymmetry has caused my prolapse, my hernia, and my arthritis. She is the first to say that the muscles in my left leg are atrophied. I remember thinking how much I preferred the slender look of my left thigh versus the beefy look of my right one in my twenties. Be careful what you wish for.

            I did more work on the PowerPoint Presentation. I will be going through it again with Laura of Step-Up. This is the new reduced version. Each time I reduce the amount of information, I learn something new about the topic. 

            I learned something incredible today. It's obvious. I could hear someone saying, "English phonics is so irregular, it's impossible to learn." English is not the one-to-one correspondence between letter and sound of Italian or traditional Hawaiian. Any literate person could learn how to pronounce Italian words from the written form well enough for an Italian to understand what they're saying even if they didn't speak Italian. The Italian might be laughing at the accent and reading rate, but they would understand it. Italian is a transparent orthography. English, not so much. Can you believe there are six regular pronunciations for the letter a. That does not count the letter appearing in digraphs like ea or ay.  

            Readers have to learn that English phonics is heavily dependent on contexts. The a in an makes a different sound than the a in ane, etc., etc. English is context-dependent in phonics and in vocabulary. I don't know enough about other languages to know how much this distinguishes English from other languages. For example, the word cook can be a noun (The cook burnt the soup.), a verb (They cook dinner.), or an adjective (cookware, cooktop). The word look has about twenty-five different usages. It's all context-dependent, and yet we never miss a beat.

            Of course, English has nothing on Hebrew, which can't be bothered to include vowels. My next-door neighbor is Israeli. If I were to write the previous sentence in Hebrew, it would look like this: "M  nxt dr nghbr s srl." It takes one year to learn to read Italian, 3 to learn English, and six to learn Hebrew. 

            I was supposed to have four students today. One bailed on me. The first was H. He's hard work, mostly because I have no idea what I'm doing. My job is to get him to respond to me. He gets to choose the activity. Getting him to take me into account is hard for him. He's autistic. Getting me to stay focused and feel good about what I'm doing is hard for me. However, his parents see a difference. That's what it's all about.

            Next, I had J. I sent him the link, no response. I called twice- no answer. I finally texted him, saying I'd given up. I took a nap. I might be concerned with some other student, but not with him. When we first started, he would be texting me a few minutes before the class, asking for the link. He asked for a make-up class if I had to cut a session short. I think this is great. I think he feels a little more relaxed, independent- less in need of help. It's not that he can't use more, but it may be time for a break, let what we've done so far percolate.

            I had a new student I at 4. She's attending a high-powered private school that says she needs help because she is only on grade level!! I had her read to me. I heard the problem right away. There was a bumper car feeling to her reading. I started with the BrainManagementSkills right away. Her visual working memory was in the right spot. Her auditory working memory was in the same location as her visual but a little more to the left. I showed her the right place. She said it felt weird- a sign that this was unfamiliar to her. This means we may have found part of the problem. Her reading rate improved immediately, but she missed some of the words. I took her through the letter naming activity. She did pretty well. I stumbled when I first did it. It is always an adjustment to use the conscious mind for something you do automatically, but doing it is the best way to improve a skill. I also did some of the phonemic awareness activities.

            I spoke to her mom when we got off the phone. She told me that she had a report from the school. They said she needed some phonics instruction. It would have been nice if she had told me this beforehand. 

            Next, I had M, whose mom died two years ago. When I looked at the copy of the essay she dictated yesterday, I found grammatical errors. I ran it through Grammarly and sent her the corrected version today. She dictated a version each night because I didn't want her memorizing the exact words and finding herself stuck. If she kept the categories in mind, she could go back to the image of the situation she was describing and write something original. The organization is 

            Introduction

            Para#1 Surfing

            Para#2 Slime

            Para #3 TV

            Conclusion.

            For paragraphs #1-3, she had to write about anything she could think of about her mom and her and the main topic. 

            For dinner, I had the leftover kalua pork from the ordination luncheon. OMG! It tasted like salt with some food mixed in. Into the trash it goes.

____-_____-______

Musings:

             A friend called to say that she heard that the Federal Government was mandating a 13 Point Black Lives Matter educational plan including 'indoctrination' on transgender issues. She was distressed about having her grandson be taught who had a penis or a vagina. I thought, "Wait a minute!" Before we go into a complete panic, have you heard this news from more than one source. She responded that she and her husband both heard it on one of the network news shows. 

            I checked this information online. The federal government is not involved, no less imposing this program on all public schools. A group of DC educators had put together a suggested curriculum. No one was imposing anything. Not that the folks wouldn't want it imposed; it just wasn't happening.

            I have to wonder how this newscaster presented the news. "New out of DC, a 13-point education problem to teach our children about how black people are important and transgender people." Instead of, "A group of interested educators living in DC has put together a 13 point educational curriculum to foster tolerance for people of color and the transgender." The first one is designed to inflame. If he did that, he should be marked as an unreliable newscaster, one who either had a bias so profound that he is prepared to enrage people to violence, or he is a real little shit, promoting his career at the cost of civil unrest. Mark that newscaster!!! They are an unreliable source of information!!!!

 

Sunday, February 7, 2021

 Sunday, February 7, 2021

 

            I had to get up in the middle of the night, go out into the living room, get in my chair, and meditate. I was so upset about what was happening with one of my students.

            She's K, a third-grader whose mother died a year and a half ago. Her father hired me to help her write an essay for her entrance exam for a local private school, The Kamehameha school. It will only admit children who have some Hawaiian blood. I believe the school is for free, supported by the Trust. 

            The dad should have hired me a month ago. Then he made four appointments with me, all of which he canceled for one trivial reason or another. I didn't know what her skill level was yet. Saturday morning, I had my first session with her. I asked her if she wanted to write about her mom? She said yes. The essay choice was to write about someone you would like to spend a day with. Since one of the Trust's commitments is to care for orphaned children, dad felt that writing about her mom was important. 

            Then I asked whether she had thought about what she wanted to write. Yes. Great! Good start. I asked her to dictate me her thoughts. She produced two sentences, "I would want to spend the day with my mom. She loves me, and she died."  Let's see. As I checked the rubrics, that would put her at a low kindergarten level- not exactly entrance level writing.

            I asked dad to arrange for a second session later in the day. The other three sessions had been canceled because of gymnastics. This one was put off because of a party. They would be home by seven. There was no call at seven. Shortly before 9, I went to write an email and found one from dad. They had gotten home around 8:30. I was furious.

            I called dad in the morning; I told him that I was quitting if he didn't cooperate with the schedule. He wasn't paying me enough for me to be up worrying about his daughter's performance on this entrance exam. I thought he might fire me. I really had had it. Instead, he snapped to.

            I think dad's a little over his head. He looks like he's a little ADD. Then he lost his wife, leaving him to raise a 6 and an 8-year-old. OMG! No easy chore. He seems to be doing well. I can appreciate his conflict. However, he did snap to. 

            He drove home from work, got his daughter organized on the internet, and then drove back to work. Today went much better. Yesterday, I formatted her writing and showed her how to organize four paragraphs about things she did with her mom. I may have to modify it slightly, just a line to clarify that she wants to do the things they always did. It's implicit now; we might have to make it a tad more explicit.

            I still had no idea how her manual writing skills were. How was her handwriting? Did she use capitals and periods appropriately? I dictated two sentences to her. She could write them without having me repeat the words —a very good sign.  

            While it had taken her over 30 minutes to dictate the story in the morning, it took about half that time in the afternoon. She added some more details. I had to remind her to stick to the paragraph's main topic once. She used complex sentences. She repeated dependent clauses when she didn't have to, but I figured it showed her comfort with complex sentence structures.

            I spent most of the day working on the shortened PowerPoint presentation for the Step-Up Tutors. I had a blast. Each time I went through it, I made some revisions. I broke down the steps for Aspect Two into three slides from one. This allows me to give more details as I demonstrate the process.

Saturday, February 6, 2021

 Saturday, February 6, 2021

 

            My God, it was cold this morning. At the end of the day, I learned that it was only 61 degrees this morning. I thought it was colder than that. There was snow on Mauna Loa, and arctic air was blowing down the mountain. 

            Despite the cold, we had yoga. I raised my left leg higher than I have in the past. Hmmm? Is this just standard progress or because of the stem cells? It's only been a week. I doubt that the new cells grow that fast.

            At 9 am, I had an appointment with an eight-year-old girl, K., who lost her mother two years ago. She is applying to get into a private school for children of Hawaiian descent. Her sister already attends the school. Her last name is hyphenated; her mother's name is Japanese, and her dad's English. She had to have enough Hawaiian DNA to qualify. She had to write an essay as part of her entrance requirement. I wanted to work with her for half an hour a day, but each weekday session was canceled because of a conflict with gymnastics.

            I finally met with her today. Yes, she had thought about the essay. One sentence said she wanted to write about her mother, and a second said why she missed her. That's it. That's way below the minimal standard for 3rd grade. On a positive note, it didn't take that long to pull a substantial amount of information out of her. There were some grammatical errors, but she also produced some complex sentences. This all took half an hour. They had a party to go to today. Dad was going to call me when they got home. It's eight pm, and still no call. On his behalf, he is stuck raising two girls on his own. He works on the docks for Matson. He must be confused.

            After K, I had an appointment with S, a seven-year-old in first grade. She allowed me to give her more feedback today. I try to give more positive than negative or corrective feedback. The latter wears one down. Again, I watched the mom snap orders at her. After our class, I asked the mom if we could have a telephone conversation. 

            OMG! Here I thought the mom was acting out some self-hatred on the little girl. That's some of what my mom did to me, accusing me of all her own failings. I am so glad I worked on my reaction to the station with my therapist before speaking to the mom. 

            When S was three, she was diagnosed with genetically chronic pancreatitis. This is the very thing that killed Mike. Her mom told me that she was in the hospital for 6 weeks being deprived of food. That may sound cruel, but food passes through the pancreas and worsens the suffering. Sadly, they have no idea how to treat it. It's all still very primitive. S has had only one attack since then. Mom is vigilant about her diet. Sweets can trigger an attack and ultimately kill her. She is her only child. It's a terrifying situation. 

            I do a lot of work with parents on fear-driven responses built into our nervous systems. Those fears can be resolved. This did not apply to the situation of 2021 with Covid. But the fears this woman is living with are current and real. However, her continually snapping at her daughter doesn't remedy anything. The woman detailed several other challenges in her life. She clearly carries more than her fair share of grief.

            While we were on the phone, S. made a racket and made our conversation difficult. Mom snapped at her. I suggested that she say it gently. She changed her tone; she whined, begging her daughter to behave. I got it. Mom's in a power struggle. One has to be dominant. That's something we can change. I offered to work with her. I also suggested she see a family therapist to work on her issues and behavior. 

            Since nothing she did quieted the girl, I asked to speak to her. I said, "You think your mom and I are talking about you." I told her I had nothing bad to say about her and, "You're safe. You're safe. You're safe." She quieted down.

            I told mom S was afraid of her. Mom insisted that she wasn't. I told her that her acting out was an expression of her fear. I told her S overheard her saying her name with annoyance. She admitted that she would be frightened if she heard her boss saying her name that way. I told her that's how we all work. We're wired that way. It's not a choice. 

            I have to say this much for mom; she will listen while I say the hard things. Hopefully, she will also let me help her. She says she doesn't have the money. Okay, so don't pay me. That power issue should be relatively easy to resolve through healing.

            After I got off the phone with mom, I had enough time to take a shower before I had to leave for my 1 pm acupuncture appointment. I had worked with this woman before. I wasn't impressed. But so far, I have never had a good experience with acupuncture. I probably wouldn't have gone if I didn't have three free sessions as part of the stem cell package. 

            I had a very different experience. The acupuncturist carefully examined my body with her hands before inserting the needles. She had good insight. She observed things that no one else had, or at least no one else shared with me. In the end, she gave me some interesting simple exercises which I think I can incorporate.

            This woman once responded to my ad for tutoring. I assumed she hadn't called because she had found someone else. But no. She just didn't follow up. Her fourteen-year-old son is reading at a first-grade level. I would love to work with him, but she showed no interest. That's not much I can do about that. Of course, I can never promise to be successful. Some people I can help in a few minutes, some in a few sessions, and some not after a year. Think of D. 

            At 3 pm, I had an appointment with A, a seven-year-old in 2nd grade who is reading at a low kindergarten level. This was our second session. I had worked with the material he introduced in the first session. Today I introduced the Carpenter materials. It's based on word families. The stories are simple with limited vocabulary but more extensive than what he had been reading.

            Mom sits with him through each session. I want her there because I want her to learn how to work with him. He was able to read the material using careful decoding. Mom saw there was already a difference.

            However, he missed the word several times. I asked mom if he had difficulty with memory. She said sometimes. I said that means he has a problem with memory. I initiated the BrainManagementSkills. His visual working memory seemed to be in good order. His auditory working memory seemed to be working oka too. The problem was that he didn't connect the visual image to the auditory one. "What fires together wires together." He wasn't simultaneously firing the two sensory images. They weren't going into long-term memory together. He was able to say that doing felt different. That's a good sign. It means we're on to something that may resolve his problem. 

            When I did my evening walk, I wondered if I had ever checked this out with D. I would have to the next time I saw him.