Music intervention

Last Monday, I spoke briefly with Austin's music teacher, George. In the weeks leading up to that lesson, Austin had been growing less and less interested in continuing with lessons. He couldn't articulate clearly what he didn't like, but he just didn't want to go anymore.

George had been working on introducing Austin to chords for the left hand, to go along with melodies that he likes. I guess this was getting too technical for Austin, and he was shutting down.

I explained to George that Austin wasn't having fun anymore, and that it was really important to us, that in both music and art, Austin experiences an absence of performance standards. George asked me what Austin thinks of his teaching, and I said, "He thinks you're trying to drive." George admitted that he naturally goes to a classical teaching model, even though he is customizing the lessons for Austin. He also feels an obligation to produce results for parents, who are paying for the lessons. I said, "That's the magic of this approach - you are getting through to him. I see him using chords when he tries to play a piece he likes, by ear. Even though it doesn't look like Austin is learning the theory, some information is definitely going in."

So, George asked me what I would like him to do differently, and I asked him to try "letting Austin drive for a while."

Austin came out of that session, jumping for joy. He described it as one of his favourite lessons, ever. And he has been playing "Pain," by Three Days Grace, all week long.

Audiblox 9

On Thursday, Austin and I had a short session with Audiblox, doing patterns and spelling.

Austin did very well on spelling, only misspelling "nephew" as "nefew." Once we completed the spelling steps, he had it nailed correctly.

On patterns, Austin progressed quickly, got the 8-block pattern correct on the first try, and came very close to getting the 9-block pattern correct on the first try as well! See the photo, where only two blocks (black and white on top) were in the incorrect placement (they were switched around). Austin had 9 seconds (1 second per block) to study this coloured block pattern on a card, then he tried to reproduce it on the table.

He insisted on doing Audiblox with his right hand covered in putty that he uses for Occupational Therapy.

Fun at OT

Austin loves going to his occupational therapy sessions. Sumantha is Austin's therapist, and he is great. Sumantha has easily developed a good relationship with Austin, and keeps the sessions fun and interesting.

As you can see in one of the photos, Austin genuinely enjoys the activities.

In one photo, Austin and Sumantha are standing on inflated innertubes, facing each other. The goal is to knock the opponent off their innertube, by tossing a punching bag (which is hanging by a rope from the ceiling) to them. Austin maintained good balance, and thoroughly enjoyed the session.

In another photo, we see Austin's beautiful smile while he's inside a lycra tunnel. He either climbs through this tunnel, or has to hold on and try to stay standing as Sumantha shakes the tunnel at increasing speed and movement.

Austin played a game of Rush Hour (a puzzle game where you need to find a way to move the vehicles out of the way of the red engine, so it can pass through and off the board), in the "Superman swing." This exercise helps to build Austin's upper body muscles.

Sumantha explained that he is gradually building Austin's muscle strength from his shoulders to his wrist, which will help to make writing easier for Austin. Now, Sumantha has observed that Austin uses some shoulder strength for writing.

This reminded me of our ATV trip about 5 years ago, near Watson Lake, YT. I was driving my own ATV home from an overnight camping trip. During that day, I began pressing the throttle with my thumb, and as my thumb weakened, I was using my wrist muscles, then my lower arm, my upper arm, and by the end of the trip, I could only press that throttle with the little strength I could muster from my shoulder!

Brainstorming design ideas with Caitlin

During the Christmas break, Brett & Caitlin came over for dinner. Austin had a brilliant, engaging and extremely creative conversation with Caitlin about home design.

I joined in towards the end, after Austin had already produced a few sketches to describe the ideas he had. He designed a large entertainment room with two disco balls.

The bathroom was Caitlin's and my favourite - just like an exclusive spa experience! Austin described a wall of rain along the side of the bath, and an outdoor portion of the space. Wow! I was ready to move in!

And Austin designed a gym in the basement of the home. You would have to enter by ladder (both Caitlin and I wondered about how motivated people would be, to work out, knowing they'd have to climb back out at the end ;) However, the gym sounds amazing too, with climbing ropes on one wall, and lots of the latest gym equipment.

Christmas Cookie Creativity

Austin decorated this angel cookie. I liked it so much, I took a picture :)

Almost looks like Santa with a sack of toys on his back.

In his element

Melissa arrived on January 14. She has a lovely nature.

As I was in the kitchen preparing that night's pizza (that's "patsies" to A3), I heard A1 saying to Melissa, "Do you know where the first civilization started?"

I had to check that out! Here's (see photo above) what I found :)

Austin has been the perfect host. Melissa has commented on several occasions, how kind and considerate Austin is. And he is helping her with English too. He loves to be the teacher!!

Peoples of Europe and North Africa

Over Tuesday's lunch hour this week I decided to stop in and visit Austin at his Academie Duello sword play and history class and see how his day was going. When I got there they were busily pouring over a "map" of Europe and North Africa trying to put it back together again. One of the teachers had traced out a map of Europe where the various regions were based on the various "peoples" or cultures onto different colored bristol board then cut out the individual pieces. The students were then busily putting them back together kind of like a puzzle (without the picture to guide them).

Feedback from the teacher was that Austin really nailed this game and really demonstrated a great sense of geographical awareness.

And for those who are curious. I found the image for this post here: http://www.eupedia.com/europe/maps_of_europe.shtml. Lots of interesting geographical statistics visualized.

The Dark Force Rising

Each night I've been reading a chapter of Dark Force Rising to Austin for the past couple months. As we neared the final chapters this week the story really started to get exciting so Austin read ahead during the day the past couple days and today finished the book. Now we'll start the 3rd and final book in the series.

Austin correctly identified the double meaning in the book's title when done the book. The Dark Force was the name of a fleet of star ships that were thought to have been lost and the evil and dark forces of the Empire are growing stronger in this book.

The Canadian Arctic

Austin and I watched a couple very different shows today that took place in the Canadian arctic. The first was an episode of Licence to Drill - The Big Freeze - Part 1, a Discovery Channel show about oil and gas drilling in the North. The second was another Discovery Channel show this time about the Hunt for the Mad Trapper, a story that I grew up hearing about as a child in the Yukon.

Austin's first major observation is that the arctic is not a place that he'd like to live. It's incredibly harsh and unforgiving. This lead to a discussion of how people could have survived in this climate for 1000's of years.

We touched a little on the high protein diet that is required in those climates but we spent most of our time talking about heat and the difference between convection and conduction (we didn't get into radiation yet). The conversation started out talking about igloos and why a cold substance like snow (frozen water) could possibly keep you warm when the outside temperature was -40C or colder. We talked about how heat moves through air (convection and conduction) and how trapping air into many little pockets forces the heat energy to use conduction as the main method for energy transfer (and air is a poor conductor). We used the blankets around us as an example and also talked about the difference between basic coolers and well made coolers (the foam insulation in the better cooler works in the same way).

We then got up and pretended to be air molecules bouncing around. I had Austin stand on the opposite side of the room and be "cold". I was a hot molecule that was being moved to the other side of the room by convection and bumped into him with noticeable force. The next time I used "conduction" to transfer the energy to him and simulated bumping into each air molecule next to me, loosing some energy each time. By the time I got to him I had very little energy left and so he only "warmed up" a little.

We finally touched a little on different fabrics and how they help keep us warm (or cool). We talked about how cotton can be deadly in the North or Temperate climates as it keeps the cool water close to your skin but doesn't trap it in place like Neoprene. This results in the water (a good conductor of heat) essentially sucking the heat off your body. However, this is probably what you want if you are in a hot or tropical climate. Synthetic fabrics like "dry-fit" moves moisture away from your body before it can draw off the heat. And wool will retain heat wet or dry in a similar way that Neoprene works (heat gets trapped against the body).

Occupational Therapy

Today, Austin had his first occupational therapy session, and he really enjoyed it. Fun gym and equipment, and awesome, engaging, therapist.

The OT told me that he suspects SPD (sensory processing disorder). Yet, another acronym to chew on!!

Now, the difference here is, the treatment for SPD is actually treating the cause, whereas, in his opinion, the treatment of ADHD is treating the behaviour. According to the OT, SPD manifests behaviourally similarly to ADHD.

Austin completed a few drawings on a special paper where he etched his sketches to reveal colours beneath a coating on the paper.

Austin will have his second appointment this Thursday.

Artifacts of Ancient Mesopotamia: Iraq Museum

This morning, Austin and I watched the first lecture of a series called, "Between the Rivers: The History of Ancient Mesopotamia."

Austin wasn't that keen to sit down for the 30-minute lecture, but since I stayed with him, and showed an interest, he stuck it out. The subject matter was quite interesting, though the lecturer isn't particularly engaging. Fortunately, some images were displayed during the lecture.

It was a good introduction to the subject, I feel. She outlined the impact of looting on the Iraq Museum during the time of the fall of Saddam Hussein. More than 14,000 objects were looted, and more than half of these were still unaccounted for in 2006. This dealt a considerable blow to historians and archaeologists. Many objects were destroyed forever during the war.

Austin was able to explain some of what he's learned in the history lessons at Academie Duello, related to the geography of ancient Mesopotamia, features of rulers, and societal structure. I drew a comparison between the characteristic band around the forehead of a ruler's likeness, to the bands on Lego Commander clones. Austin agreed, but pointed out the difference that the bands on the clones run vertical instead of horizontal.

The lecturer raised a question about an archaeological discovery of evidence of a flock of several hundred sheep - did these sheep belong to a communal group, a king, or someone of great wealth and stature?

An ancient vase (the Uruk Vase) was analysed by its parts, showing the base depicting water of the river, grains, then a procession of domesticated animals, and above that, a procession of happy individuals delivering "taxes" to their king.

Cleaning the house

Today, Austin and I prepared for a home inspection from a youth homestay company. Jacob (business owner) was due to arrive at our place by 3:30.

At 11:15, Austin asked if he could go to Jill's (Aaron's daycare, three doors up our street) house to "help out," and Jill agreed. So, Austin went there for about half an hour.

Around noon, we began tidying. Austin cleared Lego off his dresser (with the primary goal of proving to me that he CAN fit more Lego in his room), picked up his toys from around the house, emptied and filled the dishwasher, mopped three floors and washed the big bathtub, without incident!

Aside from a couple re-do's on the kitchen floor, Austin did an excellent job the first try. The tub was spotless and sparkling clean.

I speculate that one reason Austin was so cooperative, was because I invited him to get "into character" as Jacob. I suggested that one of the best ways to know if you've done a good job of cleaning for a guest, is to step outside, then step across the threshold using the perspective of your guest.

First, as I was grilling cheese sandwiches for the two of us at noon, I explained to Austin that, since I am in the house and have been for several hours, I can't make an objective assessment on how the house smells. I asked him if he noticed how our house smelled after being away at Jill's place. He said he hadn't noticed, but he was curious and offered to step outside and come back in. I told him he might need to stand on the doorstep for about a minute (which he did). He returned and confirmed that the house smelled "fine." Check.

Second, around 1:30, I had gone downstairs to cycle some laundry and complete a work project. Austin rang the doorbell. I came to the door, thinking perhaps it was a bit sticky and he needed help to open it. The moment I opened the door, I could tell he was in character as Jacob (body language gave it away). I said, "Hello sir. Welcome. Please excuse the mess." Austin nodded and said, "ok," then proceeded to look around the living room with an "inspecting" eye from his spot in the entryway. Then, I broke out of character and said, "Maybe we should try this again in about half an hour, because I think we can make this place look a whole lot better than it does now." Austin also came out of character and agreed. We set the timer on the stove a few times, to see how much we could accomplish in 7 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes ...

Admittedly, Austin was distracted by toys a few times, but I don't expect a 10-year-old boy to have the staying power to do household chores for 2-3 hours straight. He removed and replaced the batteries from a Robo Raptor toy, undoing the battery cover with his Leatherman (he loves his Leatherman). He modified a few Lego projects. And yet, his willing attitude and the contributions he did make, enabled us to present a pretty presentable home to Jacob when he did arrive at 3:45.

Bravo, Austin!

Immediate and Local Weather Forecasting

Yesterday we were talking about taking a walk down to the park. The sky was overcast and while it wasn't raining, the roads were still damp. Before heading out I asked Austin if he should bring a rain coat and that lead to a discussion about how to tell what the weather was likely to do (short term forecasting).

To start we took a look a the clouds. They were not high but not low either and were closer to white in colour than black. The clouds were also fairly featureless. Austin searched through our book on instant weather forecasting looking for cloud pictures that match what we were seeing. The closest we could find the page that describes Altostratus ahead of a warm front (though after more research when writing this post we discovered that we were probably actually looking at Nimbostratus). That page predicted deteriorating conditions in 2 - 4 hours if the clouds darkened and backed to the South or East (backing means to swing counter clockwise).

Austin also observed that there wasn't any observable wind over a 5 minute period.

We decided to eat a snack and wait a bit before making our final decision.

When it was time to go (about an hour later), Austin took a look at the clouds, felt for wind and decided that it was likely to rain while out because the clouds were darker (needed to turn on lights in the house) and there was now some wind and it was from the South-East (and he was right, it started to rain within the hour).