Whenever Zach come to grandma & grandpa’s house, he will go for the LEGO blocks.
Each time he will construct something different. The theme currently is being influenced
by the TV programs he viewed – Transformers.
Zach has an eye for details, symmetry and balance.
All these are done through his imagination, without any plan.
Posted in Occupational Therapy.
– February 6, 2010
Zack's Toys
Zachary has taken a liking to the camera, and takes photos whenever he has a chance. I would say they are mostly random and not really planned, but this particular one taken today, made me think otherwise. Its a simple photo of his toys.
I think if there is a photography course for kids, I would surely send him for one, given his interest in it.
Self-Portrait
Posted in Musings.
– January 10, 2010
A drawing of his Super Yo-Yo
There was a time when Zack was crazy about Super Yo-Yo, and this was a drawing that I stumbled upon in his file recently. It shows fairly good fine-motor control, as he could colour different colours within a confined space. I can’t otherwise describe it, but I believe an Occupational therapist would be able to tell me that it is a good indicator of Zack’s progress.
Posted in Occupational Therapy.
– January 1, 2010
Patterning
Part of having good handwriting skills is the ability to control your wrist position, fingers, placement of paper, and basically good fine motor development. You never realise that handwriting skills is something challenging and more so for Zack since he is also left-handed. Drawing patterns like this help to finetune his handwriting skills.
Here is a sample of what he did for homework recently. I left him to do it on his own and the result is actually quite encouraging. He got some of the concepts but still there is room for improvement. I believe if I had guided his hand, it would have been a better outcome, but then again, I wanted to know what he could do so I could address the issues with his OT therapists.
I also think that the squares on this piece of paper didn’t help much, so I have to look for smaller squared paper, as it should help him focus better. Great job Zack!
Posted in Occupational Therapy.
– October 27, 2009
When I was driving home after OT this week, I started coughing as I was having an itchy cough spell, and its the kind that you can’t stop coughing until your phelgm comes out.
Anyway, Zack was sitting beside me, and he said, “Mummy, why are you coughing?”. I couldn’t reply him because I was coughing still, but the sympathetic reply startled me, and I was very touched amidst the coughing. Before I could answer, he said, “Are you sick?”. When I gathered myself together, I said, “Yes, Zack. I’m sick. Thank you for asking”.
I feel like Zack has grown up so much.
Posted in Speech Development.
– October 22, 2009
This is a common question that I ask the teachers in his school, and today, I asked that again.
He is now in a class of 22 kids with 4 teachers. His class has a mix of mainstream kids and kids with some special needs (what we call an integrated class).
Zack has favourite pals that he sits with, and usually they are seated in front or right at the back. They are 2 Japanese boys (who tend to stay the whole day in school becos they are also on full day program), and another girl who only stays half day, and are mainstream kids.
According to the teacher, Zack is paying attention and focuses well during class. He only gets distracted when other kids misbehave, and he is the first to tell them to sit still, or ask them to behave. “Behave” is a new word that I realised that Zack can use spontaneously. He would tell me “Mummy, I will behave”, when he wants to sit at the back seat of the car (I usually want him in front so that I can control him better and he doesn’t get out of the seat).
When Zack is doing table tasks, he is always eager, and in fact, he doesn’t need any ‘treats’ to be motivated to do work like some other kids in the class. The teacher said that in fact, if he doesn’t behave, they said that he would not be able to do work, and he would immediately react and want to do work. So it is a very positive and happy feedback for me.
Posted in Musings.
– October 6, 2009
At some stage, children start having an interest in drawing when they are able to hold a pencil in their hands. I can say Zack is a late developer but beware! he is catching up!
On Sunday, we had a BBQ with friends in our place, and my friend’s daughter found a piece of paper, and she started drawing on it. When she was done, Ethan continued drawing on the other side of it, and when Ethan was done, I was surprised that Zack started drawing on it. The surprise was not only that Zack had a desire to draw, but I was also surprised because the TV was on, and though Zack was watching, he somehow was able to realise something was going on, and decided that he also wanted to join in.
I observed him from a distance, and the funny thing is, in the noisy environment of TV, friends chatting, and children moving around, he could focus on getting a piece of artwork done! It was a great achievement to me, in terms of SPD, as I might say that someone with SPD would normally not be able to focus in such a multi-sensory environment around him.
So, I realised that Zack was drawing his super-yo-yo, and he was able to colour the roundness of the yo-yo and draw a string attached to it. After he was done with this, he found a colouring worksheet of a train, and continued to colour the train (within the lines), and write his name on top of the worksheet (to declare it belongs to him!).
Colouring within the lines is a sign of good control of his pen, and I know that he has been having lots of practice since the beginning of this year. In school, they actually start off by giving physcial barriers (eg. bumpy glue along the lines, so kids hit the bump and know they cannot colour outside the lines) as a way of colouring within the lines and I see it in the artwork that Zack brought home from school. Now, I know for sure that he has gone past the ‘physical’ barriers, and is able to do it by himself.
Posted in Musings, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).
– October 5, 2009
Zack had his usual OT session today, and at the end of the session, he was doing quite a bit of handwriting on the blackboard using chalk.
He was asked to write A to Z, and he inverted a few alphabets like ‘S’ and ‘P’ and when you ask him whether it was written correctly, he would immediately realise his mistake, but at the point of writing it from beginning to the end (with little prompting), it was fantastic that he managed to write all the alphabets. Even the therapist was impressed and I gave the credit to the school who probably had been ‘drilling’ him quite a bit. He could also write his own name and surname without any spelling error or writing errors. Just to watch out for spacing in between letters, and straightness (he was writing on blackboard, so no lines to guide him….)
It was really cute that at the end of the session, I left Zack on his own to play at the blackboard while waiting for the OT to give us some print-outs, I saw that Zack was drawing a picture on the board! It was a picture of himself, with a face, eyes, mouth, hair, hands and legs. No ‘body’, as it was more of a stick picture, you know, the sort that kids draw when they are young - a big head, and stick hands and legs…..really cute. I insisted that the therapist see it before Zack erased it, as I liked it so much. Only wished I had a camera to take a picture of it there and then. Will do it next time when I get him to give us more drawings.
Posted in Musings, Occupational Therapy.
– September 29, 2009
One of the days, Thad had fallen down with a big bruise on his face. We came home and it was the usual frenzy to get the kids to eat dinner. Zack waited for everything to calm down, and he quietly asked Daddy, “Why Thaddeus face pain”?
Daddy: because he fell down
Zack: oh so pain.
Daddy: go sayang baby
Zack went to give baby a hug and said: ‘oh poor thing!’
Posted in Musings, Speech Development.
– September 23, 2009
