Repetition, repetition, repetition

C at the computer, with me giving a hand

Our golden rule has got to be: repetition.

There is no more essential guideline for working with our children. Whether in the area of gross or fine motor skills or cognition, every exercise must be repeated ad infinitum. We can never over-do it.  And if professionals warn otherwise -  ignore them! There are plenty of other experts who endorse repetition as the key to success. A neurologist once warned me that more than 2-3 physiotherapies/week would actually be harmful. He happened to be an employee of the health fund supplying the therapies. Somehow I think that was relevant.

My problem is that C.'s school - like all special education facilities in these parts - is financially strapped. The ratio of staff to children doesn't permit the intensive repetition that would yield progress. Feeding the students, changing them and bringing them to their occasional therapies robs the teacher and his assistants of all their time. I am forced to do their job.

Here is a photo of C. at work on one of our home activities. The goal is for her to move her right hand onto the yellow button to its left in order to activate a computer game.  Each press of the button elicits the sound of a different moving object on the screen - which C. probably does not see. The sounds are varied and riveting.(e.g. birds singing, running footsteps, bouncing ball).

I try to work for about 45 minutes every session. By then C. is moving her hand slightly onto the button, usually with my support of her wrist but sometimes entirely independently.

A stellar performance IMHO. .