Hi hun, the type of excersises she means are brain gym type activities I think. You would be looking at things like crawling, cross body movements and midline work.
Think of crawls: Down on the floor, moving forward with first left leg and left arm, the right leg right arm. Practice moving forwards and backwards. Could all get involved and make it as much fun as possible,LOL. Make sure the bum is in the air and feet on the floor, not knees.
Cross crawl, left leg right arm, right leg right arm. Establish the co-ordination of one excersise over a few days or a week before adding another.
Cross crawl sit ups. Lay on his back, left elbow to right knee, right elbow to left knee.
Lizard crawl. Body flat on the floor, move along the floor army style. Left leg and arm, right leg and right arm, once established move up to left leg right arm, right leg left arm.
Mid line written work. Stick a sheet of wall lining paper on the wall and as big as possible using his whole reach and crossing his midline get him to draw 8 side ways. This is also a good way to establish Alphabet shapes and writting confidence. Practice also with, the eyes shut and open and with alternative hands.
Double writing on the wall lining paper, left and right hand trying to draw the same shape at the same time. Can be fun, use different coloured pens.
Allow him to do painting and drawing on the wall lining paper, making his pictures as big as he wants. These encourage crossing the midline co-ordination which we all need for reading and writing.
Sequential memory activities, start with two colours. Show the colours in a row, get him to say out loud. Mix the colours back in the larger pile and ask him to pick them out. Take it slowly and build up gradually as he feels more confident,
Find the letter. Give a cutting from a newspaper or a sheet of writing and ask him to poke a whole through all the letter O's. As he becomes more confident, change the letter to p then b then d and so on.
Rather than reading a line of writing ask him to find a particular word on the page, build up untill he sequentially finding the chosen words.
Crumbs does this make any sense to you, LOL. Hope it helps, these are all used for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Specific learning difficulties. More and more schools are begining to incorporate them in to early education.
Ruth has done all these and more and continues to do them, but at a more advanced level, in school and at home. They have really helped all the kids doing them at school.
They were given to us by the Behavioural Optometerist and the school Physio. There are tons of them, but these are all the ones used by the infants, 4-7yrs.
Best Wishes,Luv Winnie.xxxx
