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Archives for January 7, 2013
An Update on My Kids: William, Age 8
Thanks to everyone who voted in my poll! As I think ahead to addressing more daily life issues, I thought it would be helpful to update you on my kids. Today, it’s all about my oldest, William. He turned 8 years old in August, and he’s currently in second grade.
School
You may notice that William is slightly older for his grade. He made the school cut-off date by two weeks, so we decided to wait and have him be one of the oldest in his grade, rather than the youngest. Maturity was a main factor. School continues to be William’s primary focus. Since we’re homeschooling this year, I get to control everything he’s learning. A naturally bright child, William has a pretty easy time with school. I rarely have to teach something twice. Because of this, I tend to expect a lot from him when it comes to school. I don’t want to let his great mind go to waste, nor do I want him to go through life thinking everything is easy.
Every day, he spends about 45-60 minutes each on his daily writing journal and Math. And throughout the week, we alternate History, grammar, more writing, Spanish, Art, test prep, and other subjects. I have him doing third grade material in almost every subject, and I like to push him a bit even more when I think he can handle it. For example, in his Writing with Ease book (level 3), the authors provide a passage to be read, and the child is supposed to verbally narrate the story, and the parent writes down the summary that the child provided. Well, William is perfectly capable of writing his own summary.
My school plans for next year remain a mystery since we may be moving. I’m going to have him tested for our school district’s gifted program, partly because I’m curious to know whether he would get in, and partly because I want to keep my options open if we end up staying here. William is a very social child, so public and private school for next year are in the back of my mind. We will see.
Therapy
Beyond school, occupational therapy takes up a significant chunk of William’s time. He was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) when he was 5, and we’ve been getting occupational therapy ever since. He currently goes twice a week, and we use his Integrated Listening System (for auditory processing, his biggest challenge) at home once a week. He’s had the same therapist for about a year now, and he’s making great strides. The work they’re doing on reflex integration seems to be working well. When he’s overexcited and having a hard time settling down, I can do his reflex exercises and it relaxes him instantly.
Sleep
William needs about 10-11 hours of sleep every night. He seems to have a deficit of natural melatonin, so we aided his sleep with melatonin (a tiny dose) for a couple years. During the summer, I decided to see if he could go without it. He had really developed a psychological dependence on it. He still struggles with sleep, but since we’re homeschooling, I can let him sleep late in the morning if he falls asleep late at night. And we figured out a trick to keep his pesky brother from waking him up at the crack of dawn. :)
Meals
William continues to be my better eater, which is lucky because his diet is complicated! When he was 4, we started modifying his diet with the help of a naturopath. (We hadn’t yet figured out the SPD and I’d heard of behavior modification through diet.) William’s restricted diet means he can’t have wheat, dairy, soy, other gluten, eggs, bananas, avocados. Food dyes also cause behavior problems. It’s tough, but we’ve got it all figured out now.
On top of his diet limitations, we have to monitor his blood sugar for (undiagnosed) hypoglycemia. Before I figured this one out, our day was a total roller coaster ride. He’d go from bouncing off the walls one minute to crying on the floor for no reason the next. We manage it with frequent meals and snacks, a balance of sugar, fat, and protein, and a strict policy of him starting every day and every meal with protein. His favorite snack is a homemade trail mix that includes almonds and dried mangos. And we eat peanut butter like it’s going out of style!
Behavior
Because of everything we’ve got going on with William (possible giftedness, sleep deficits, sensory/auditory processing issues, food intolerances and blood sugar fluctuations), behavior continues to be a focus. At age 8, any other child would stay near the parent at the store, know what volume is appropriate for his voice, immediately respond with “yes, mommy” when the parent calls from the other room, and more. He’s three years older than his brother, yet he is very much my more challenging child. He aims to please in most situations, so we just have to be on top of our game and recognize when he’s having an auditory processing issue or whether he’s choosing to ignore us. It’s never an easy task!
My work on first-time obedience with William has paid off. For the most part, when I call his name, he will respond with “yes, mommy.” But there are times when I need to make sure I’m near him and he can sense my presence. Sometimes I have to put my hand on his shoulder when I call his name. Calling his name and getting a “yes, mommy” and eye contact is huge with William. Without it, I would never know if he was disobeying by choice or whether he just didn’t hear me. There are times when I get a “yes, mommy” without eye contact, so I will wait or simply say “eyes” before I give him an instruction. I make sure I’m holding his eye contact the whole time I’m giving an instruction.
Play
I continue to place a high premium on play for my boys. I make sure there is plenty of time in their day for free play. Legos tend to consume his free play time. We also make time to play outside and take walks or go for bike rides.
Interests
William is a very creative, artistically inclined child. I require a drawing in his daily writing journal, and they are always very detailed. He draws for fun, and likes to create his own comic strips. His illustrations are quite impressive!