How is academic long-term memory built?

A bit every day. Consistently.

So that is what we do in the summer.

So we don’t academically slide backwards.

To keep track of the bits:

Daily: The Value of the List.

We practice academics wherever we find ourselves.

In the car. At the library. In the restaurant.

(Before the food comes. Much easier to concentrate and things don’t get messy.)

Sometimes we are still in the driveway or elsewhere parked.

It is quiet in the car, and I got him where I want him.

Contained.

So important to be consistent. So easy to let it slide.

Don’t tell him, but he secretly likes that consistency.

And minimal distraction is his friend.

I give him the choice of “in the car” or “at the table”.

Table hardly ever wins.

Developmental delay means we take longer than other kids to learn the same stuff.

Daily we have some kind of explicit instruction toward reading.

Some days with the professionals.

Or it’s just us.

At home, in the car, when we eat in a restaurant, during the day’s errands.

It wouldn’t be summer without behavior redirects.

So, here’s a new one, wickedly effective, from taekwondo.

Planking.

If Hard Way wins, John earns a time out for bad choice(s).

We plank.

The time varies, and further bad choices increases the time.

Mom sets the timer, and if he breaks form,

“pause”.

When he does it right,

“resume”

He can rotate through planking, Superman, pushups, sit-ups and cross crunch.

We got permission from our occupational therapist for that medley.

The less Mom talks, the better. (I let the timer do my talking for me.)

So, may I encourage you to keep at academics somehow over the summer?

It will give you valuable leverage when you are negotiating with the school.

That you kept trying over the summer.

Much love, peace be with us,

Gayle