Thursday

First day of Brainwave at home. A bit worried as to whether we can fit it into our schedule but we will have to wait and see. Not worried about the exercises themselves as they are very prescriptive. Did Elise’s programme this morning and it went really well. Thought it would as Elise loves one to one attention! Good sign as Michael did not want to go to school as he wanted to do his exercises. Came home and would not take his hated splints off as he wanted to keep them on for Brainwave! Went really well and he tried really hard. Seems to enjoy the physio ball the best. The only issue was who was in charge of the timer but we worked that one out after a bit of negotiation! So hyped up he did not want to go to bed!

Friday

Elise had really good session today and really seems to be enjoying the one to one attention. What was really nice was that even when the timer went off she wanted to carry on the table top tasks. Remarkable from the girl who has the attention span of a gold fish!

Saturday

One of the surprising consequences of Brainwave is that Elise seems to suddenly accept that she has her time and Michael can in turn have his own special time. Before she would have wanted to join in but now seems to accept that he has our attention. Hope this will permeate into other areas!

Sunday

I was really pleased today as Michael got upset when the timer went off as he wanted to carry on with the colouring in task. He usually tries to resist any attempts to get him to sit at the table so I was quite impressed!

Monday

Today was the first time that we had to do both of the children after school as both are at school all day on Mondays. We managed it fine but it did mean that they went to bed a bit later than normal, not that they minded! Together it took just short of an hour which is a big chunk of the evening so think that we need to rethink this a little bit.

Tuesday

Think that the novelty has worn off!! Managed to get Michael to do his exercises but he was so tired after school and it was a bit of an effort. Brainwave say to do the programme six times a week but we are determined to do it every day otherwise he will not be so accepting that this is what you have to do. Elise is doing really well although she does not like the wobble board.

Wednesday

We managed to do the two children’s programmes simultaneously today which worked better than I expected. It needed a bit of organisation before but managed to get them both done in half an hour which was good. Michael did some fantastic colouring today and actually managed to keep more or less in the lines. He really concentrated well and thought that he was going to chew his tongue off he was concentrating so much!

Thursday

We have only been doing the programme for just over a week but have already noticed some real changes. Both of the children are enjoying table based tasks even outside the programme. Elise is getting more steady standing on one leg holding onto the wall and seems to be managing steps a little easier. Michael definitely seems to be finding the exercises a bit easier so hopefully we will achieve the objective of increasing his stamina. Overall, although the programme does take commitment and is time consuming, it is only half an hour each a day so is not all pervasive. Above all, because each exercise lasts no more than two minutes and is so varied, the programme is fun and pacey and I can honestly say that, despite having inevitable tired days, all of us have really enjoyed doing the programme.

Will keep you posted…!