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We have had a very busy time half term and normal business resumed once the snow and holidays were out of the way!
On the 3/4 March we a had a visit from Sarah Dargue from Newcastle. Like Beth, Sarah is also a Son-Rise trained facilitator and trained in other therapies too. Sarah’s visit was very useful and she was able to give feedback to all our volunteers and myself and Warwick and be there for our team meeting, which really helped us all.
Sarah helped us to review our goals and set new goals which have really helped us to be more specific. (for the new goals please see >>>>).
At the moment we are concentrating on trying to get some routine back into Henry’s eating habits so that he is eating what we want him to have rather than what he wants! This means that there are no snacks on the shelf which has been a bit of a shock to the system and we have all had some challenges in this area, however, although Henry can still get very angry and distressed when we don’t give him what he wants, he is definitely learning to cope with boundaries and limits much more calmly. He will eventually eat what we have for him which is definitely a step in the right direction. Its still not particularly nutritious but one step at a time!
Henry has been having lots more experiences in the playroom recently as we are now all taking activities or props in with us, and although he often says no to lots of things inititally he will join in with later when you have ‘weaved’ them into his motivation! A blue sheet is a particular favourite at the moment which has opened up a peter pan/captain hook and sea theme. Nicky wowed Henry with her wooden pirate ship last week and he has made funny faces and been on bird hunts, and bug hunts and treasure hunts and found dinosaurs in foam, and had sword fights with ostrich feathers (as Peter Pan and Captain Hook), made sea pictures and animal pictures – loads and loads of stuff! He has had great fun and once in an activity he seeming much more flexible its just getting him there!
His speech has also been amazing. Sarah was amazed that he would sit in the lounge and shout through to tell us that there was a ‘pussy cat’. He didn’t need to do that but wanted to which is a massive step for him especially as the television is a huge distraction for any child! His sentences are getting longer and more and more spontaneous adn he is doing it naturally on his own whcih is why we are now going to focus on his speech clarity for the time being.
His number recognition is also still coming on really well, he recognise 1-5 easily and is getting there on the 6-10 symbols. He is also tracing over letters and shapes when he is motivated and understands that you need to lift the pen off the paper to start the next letter. He is also colouring and painting inside a picture now.
We are having fun with Henry although we still have sessions where he is very controlling and rigid and bossy, but we know that these are also good sessions as he has to learn that huge life lesson that you don’t always get what you want and the only way we can teach him that is for him to actually live through it, so we need him to have those moments!
if anyone knows anyone who may be interested in volunteering please let them know, or if you are yourselves again please let us know and we will send you a volunteer pack which explains fully what it means to volunteer on a son-rise program. Take care x
