Scott we learned from the accident with our son what a head injury was and how it effected his fine motor skills. It started out with finding a base line from which to work from. He had two stacks of pennies and two cups and was timed on how fast he could fill each cup picking up one penny at a time. The head injury was above the right ear and he literally cracked his skull in half so the left side of his body was effected. He had seizures at the accident site and I have never seen anything like it, his eyes were locked to the side and the left side of his face and body shook and I can still remember his face twitched and one side of nose was twitching and the other side did not move at all. I can not touch one side of my nose without the other side moving. So the left cup always had less pennies...his balance was effected so badly that he could not walk in a straight line by putting one foot in front of the other without loosing his balance. By going to his PT sessions I learned a great deal watching them work with him and the other kids and the one thing that I installed very quickly was mirrors, full length 36 x 74 inches and I learned to say see it, feel it and then fix it. We bought a computer so he could do eye hand coordination games. Contra I think was one we could play together so he had to depend on me and I had to depend on him to win in the game. Another one was top gun. We played checkers every night and on the back of the board was the best 10 opening moves and I would not let him win so he would try harder however we learned to not let him become frustrated to the point he would shut down and not become interested in the activity. When teaching him how to throw I borrowed books from the library and watched videos. My wife was an RN so I started reading her books to learn more and over three years we started to see improvements and the neurologist was amazed at his progress. When we went anywhere we were training him to do something. If it was eating pizza how many pieces are there? 10 so give mom one how many are left 9? OK so we have 9/10 left yes or no? Everything was a learning experience or I felt like I was wasting time and running out of time. We were contacted by Ohio State University through our doctors as they wanted to do a home study of exactly what we did with him everyday and how we were teaching him how to throw and how to hit. So they filmed him for a week. They said some of our techniques had changed how they were testing for head trauma cases. So they revised their testing protocol and retested him at Miami University in Ohio which is about 30 minutes from home.
We had a parent ask us who was working with him on hitting and throwing and I said me as I was not happy with his coaches or instructors and they were do, do and if he would ask why they could not answer him and he would shut down. They wanted me to work with their kid and at first I refused as I had enough to do. Finally the wife talked me into it! The parents never told me he was LD however I could see the signs, a little bit of a lisp in their voice, they try to speak with their lips and repeat each word as I was talking. Short attention span and becoming frustrated quickly! When you teach/ coach how does the student see what you are doing in their mind? Lets take tying shoes, traditionally you stand in front of them and tie the shoe. How did they see it? Usually backwards! So I took off my shoe and placed it on the table and had him stand over my shoulder behind me so he can see it his way and he got it. How to I teach how to grip the bat? They stand behind me and I open my hand and place the bat where I want them to hold it in their bottom hand and then in their top hand. They see it like they are doing it them self. Balance is taught by bending at the waist first and softening the knees next in that sequence. Then I push on their back and chest alternately until they can feel how powerful they can be. Then I have them soften the knees first and then bend at the waist and you can push them over. Everything we have taught had to incorporate a feeling so they know why we do it a certain way and how it should feel to them. When they can hear the difference in a good swing and feel the difference and it is a light bulb moment for them and we have had moms and dads cry when it happens. I try not to be too technical however they must understand it well enough to see it in a mirror and feel it when it is right or wrong. We teach them leverage and I ask if I could pick them up with one hand? No way coach! I get out my 2x4 and block of wood and ask them to stand on the wood and I spit on my hand and say this will be tough however lets give it a try and up they go! Then I have the mom or dad stand on it and they do it! I ask them what is that laying on the ground? A bat! No a lever and how we hold or grip that lever makes a difference. I will not go into all the detail however they get it! Then I show them how to actually use a hammer both vertically and horizontally and then they use it to hit a ball on a stick.
I hope this gives you some ideas as to how we try to communicate and teach.
Howard
We had a parent ask us who was working with him on hitting and throwing and I said me as I was not happy with his coaches or instructors and they were do, do and if he would ask why they could not answer him and he would shut down. They wanted me to work with their kid and at first I refused as I had enough to do. Finally the wife talked me into it! The parents never told me he was LD however I could see the signs, a little bit of a lisp in their voice, they try to speak with their lips and repeat each word as I was talking. Short attention span and becoming frustrated quickly! When you teach/ coach how does the student see what you are doing in their mind? Lets take tying shoes, traditionally you stand in front of them and tie the shoe. How did they see it? Usually backwards! So I took off my shoe and placed it on the table and had him stand over my shoulder behind me so he can see it his way and he got it. How to I teach how to grip the bat? They stand behind me and I open my hand and place the bat where I want them to hold it in their bottom hand and then in their top hand. They see it like they are doing it them self. Balance is taught by bending at the waist first and softening the knees next in that sequence. Then I push on their back and chest alternately until they can feel how powerful they can be. Then I have them soften the knees first and then bend at the waist and you can push them over. Everything we have taught had to incorporate a feeling so they know why we do it a certain way and how it should feel to them. When they can hear the difference in a good swing and feel the difference and it is a light bulb moment for them and we have had moms and dads cry when it happens. I try not to be too technical however they must understand it well enough to see it in a mirror and feel it when it is right or wrong. We teach them leverage and I ask if I could pick them up with one hand? No way coach! I get out my 2x4 and block of wood and ask them to stand on the wood and I spit on my hand and say this will be tough however lets give it a try and up they go! Then I have the mom or dad stand on it and they do it! I ask them what is that laying on the ground? A bat! No a lever and how we hold or grip that lever makes a difference. I will not go into all the detail however they get it! Then I show them how to actually use a hammer both vertically and horizontally and then they use it to hit a ball on a stick.
I hope this gives you some ideas as to how we try to communicate and teach.
Howard
