Diary of my new life !!!

spud30

Benben, my DS has difficulty writing. He finds holding a pen/pencil quite uncomfortable.

School have suggested a few things for him that might help your DS - threading beads, colouring in etc to improve fine motor skills. They also said using a stress ball would increase the strength in his hand.

benbenandme

Thanks Spud, he's fine with threading and stuff, we thread those hama beads onto a piece of elastic and he's fine with that, but he really doesn't enjoy drawing / colouring and never has done. He will do painting for a short while but he isn't fussed about that either His school also suggested practising putting clothes pegs onto something to practise the grip, and he can do that fine too, he just isn't interested at all in anything to do with pens and pencils lol

We went round to Mums tonight after school and he scribbled on her drive for a bit with some chalks which was okay. I will be on a mission every day in the summer to do some sort of activity to encourage writing / drawing etc ... hopefully lots of days drawing in the sand down the beach

Keeping_Motivated

Also seen as you live by the sea I am sure you could collect some stones and let him draw on them with felt tips? Does he have a chalk board? We used to have one on the kitchen wall and everytime my son wrote his name on it he was allowed a sweet.Just throwing ideas around.

My son was slow with swimming too he used to be in his own little world while all the other children were listening etc But I must say that eventually they all catch up to a muchness unless any particular problems are diagnosed so all you can do is your best to build his confidence and be patient but you already know all that.

KM x

benbenandme

Yep, the more ideas the better They're all very much appreciated !! I want to try and do activities like that where it won't feel like "work" to him, things like drawing on the stones are a great idea, as it is helping his motor skills but is nice for him to do I am going to let him choose some new felt tip pens and stuff when we go to Tesco too, even though he has loads , so hopefully he night feel a bit keener if he has chosen them??

benbenandme

I'm not so worried about the swimming, we're going to have loads of swimming time at Butlins and I want that to be fun too. The writing/drawing thing worries me because it affects his behaviour at school

dangers

What about writing in shaving foam? not something I have done myself, but one of our reception teachers has done this activity in the past.
You put the shaving foam in a tray and get the child to write/draw with their fingers. Apparently they love it - suppose because it is messy!!!

benbenandme

Sounds like a bathtime activity or an activity for my mums garden on a nice day Will give it a shot though, thankyou :T

Keeping_Motivated

Also I know they cost money but the Aqua Draws are good, incase you don't know its a mat and you get pen type things you fill up with water and then you draw and the mat drys the drawing disappears. We used to take ours with us when we visited people (it can be folded small) to keep the little one entertained.

Might also be good to go back to basics with him for example give yourself and him a piece of paper and have a competition on who can do the messiest picture ie scribble. Even this will help his skill with a pen but put him under no pressure at all.

KM x

benbenandme

Right, ds is in bed, kettles on and its time for a quick plan for this weekend ...

Tonight I will have a lazy night as I'm shattered tonight ... only one more week at school ... tomorrow ds has a birthday party from 3-5, then he's going to his dads. I'm going out with poorly mate in the evening and again on sunday, we're going to a country fair type thing I think, not too sure as she's arranged it with another mate

I have my usual list of jobs to get done but its not as bad as usual as I've just got to get through till friday then I get 6 weeks off to catch up with housework and stuff :j :j But, it wouldn't be me without a list so here it is ...

• Clean out guinea pigs
• Speak to pet shop re. Button and possibly take him there
• Update Julys finances
• Ironing
• Buy a card / wrap parcel for ds party tomorrow
• Empty out the car (service/mot booked for monday)
• Sort out car insurance
• Cancel old contents insurance
• Send off mobile bill for cashback
• Food shopping
• Attempt all the surveys in my inbox

Think thats about it at the moment

benbenandme

KM ... he had one of those aqua draw things at his dads house but he says they never use it :rolleyes: I will dig out his etch-a-sketch type thing though for the car, its one of those with a pen thing on it

Right, all the surveys from my inbox have been attempted, I only qualified for 2 out of about 10 :rolleyes: but its a few more pennies / points earned and something done off my list