Not so enthusiastic

As excited as I have been about using CogStateTM to independently baseline A-Ones's cognitive functioning, and getting ready to try him out with C8 - Kids Cognitive Cross Training, I don't exactly have an enthusiastic partner in my venture.

Last night A-One went to bed early.  His sleeping patterns have become more erratic lately because he's been playing WOW on and off both day and night. However, after last night I thought 'You beaudy!  He's had a really good night's sleep.  His brain will be fresh. What a golden opportunity to begin the CogStateTM practice tests!'  I had been 'warming' him up to them over the last couple of days. Waking him up mid-morning:

Mum: Hi A-One. Time to get up. After such a good night's sleep, let's get started with your round of practice tests today.  How about you get up, eat, have a shower (it's been several days), and we can get started.

A-One: OK, I'll get up, but we'll see about the practice tests.

Later on as he was having breakfast ...

Mum: When will we get started? This afternoon sometime?

A-One: No! I'm not doing it today!

Mum: A-One, this is a golden opportunity because you had such a good night's sleep! Your brain will be on fire!

A-One: I'm not doing it today! 

Mum: The scientists have proven that you need adequate sleep, nutrition, physical exercise, as well as mental exercise for your brain to be healthy, so it's important that you've had adequate sleep to do the tests.

A-One: How do they know that? I'll prove that I can be fine without even 5 hours sleep!

Mum: Do you see that this brain training work is about helping you be able to have a job, and not just a job, but a good job? What will you do instead today?

A-One: Other things.

Mum: Do you think your WOW friends would be happy for you to spend some time away from them, improving things for yourself?

A-One: Yes.   

Mum: Well, can we do it tomorrow?

A-One: Yes.

Mum: What time?

A-One: I don't know!

Mum: How about 10am?

A-One: OK.

Mum: It may take about 3 hours all up.

A-One: Three hours! How come?

Mum: The practice will take about an hour or more, so that you get used to what you have to do.  Then we do the real baseline test, which will take just as long.

A-One: No, we're doing only the first part.

Mum: So when will we do the second part?

A-One: The next day, Sunday.

Mum: I can't do it Sunday because Dad and I have something on Sunday morning.

A-One: Well, whenever is the next time!

Mum: You do realise, don't you, that improving things for yourself can start right now?

So instead today, I'm blogging ... and he's WOW'ing.

It's all in the timing

A-One came home from work tonight grumbling 'I don't want to talk about it!' as he came through the door.  We hadn't received our usual phone call to come and pick him up at the bus stop, so his dad went out to look for him.

Some time later I asked him if he had been told tonight that he had been too slow.

A-One: Yes, I received some feedback.

Mum: This has happened before hasn't it, in your other job?

A-One: It was a one-off.

Mum: How can we fix this?

A-One: I don't want to talk about it.

Mum: OK. I'll just put one question to you - you don't have to answer me.  Do you want to fix it?

Our long experience of A-One is that even when he knows the job, he has days when his time management is just way off.  He is unwilling to let us record potential factors such as how much sleep he gets because he always insists he gets enough sleep.  I know that he rose earlier than usual today - so did he get less sleep?

Earlier tonight, as he was riding home in the car:

Dad: What if you wrote out a plan of what you have to do at work - to keep you on track?

A-One: I know what I have to do!

I don't doubt that. Yet how do I get him to understand that it's not about knowing what to do, it's about timing what to do.

Several months ago I decided to write out a very detailed plan for preparing a simple evening meal for A-One to follow when he was rostered on to cook. I was tired of coming home at the end of my work day only to push A-One to get started on his job, dealing with his resistance when I was tired too.

Specifically, I thought carefully about the tasks that needed to be done in parallel, and how the oven timer could be used to help A-One follow a time plan, even when he already knew the steps for the job.

After that, I was able to come home to a cooked meal!  I noticed that each time he was rostered on to cook that meal, he always used his meal plan.

In a couple of days I'll ask him if we could write down all the steps for his paid job - he can usually describe really well what he has to do.  If I can work with him to put times against each step - so that he has a 'recipe' to follow when he is at work - he may be able to achieve more consistency.

...

At Scouts, his nick-name was 'Turbo'.  Not.

I don't need to turn the music off!

I noticed that A-One was still up at his computer at 2:37am this morning, and he still had some washing up after dinner to do which would make his going to bed time even later (not an unusual occurrence)!  Again I had no idea what time he went to bed.

So this morning when I had some other things to do, I let him sleep - to give him the best chance of working well on brain training after adequate sleep.  (He had done the washing up.)

Late morning my husband called and after a brief conversation I mentioned that I was about to wake A-One.  'Good luck', he said.



A-One rose willingly enough and we talked about his next steps for today: breakfast, shower, dress, brain training.  He came down for breakfast and turned on a James Bond movie while he ate (including last night's uneaten dinner).  When I saw his empty plate, I reminded him about the next step.  He decided he'd shower later at his 'usual' time.  I asked him to give me a hoy when he was dressed.

After about 15 minutes (or so it seemed to me) I called out to him.  'Wait a minute!', he said. Fairly soon though he came downstairs, opting to work in the study today instead of his room.

As we were about to begin, I noticed that he had a YouTube music video playing as he brought up the Lumosity login screen.

Mum: Better turn off the music while you work.     

A-One: I don't need to turn the music off!

Mum: It's important to be free from distractions while you work on your brain training.

A-One: It doesn't distract me.

Mum: How do we know that?

A-One: It doesn't!

Mum: How about we prove that?

A-One: I don't need to turn it off!

Remembering that he had had headphones on for all the other brain training this week, thinking it was to help him hear any sounds related to the brain training, I asked him whether he had had music on the other days.

A-One: Yes.

This revelation put me off balance.  Freedom from distractability is part of being able to stay on task!

Mum: Will you try it without music just for today?

A-One, closing the music clip: There! You happy now?

There were a few more 'stupid' comments today ... the game of course, not A-One!  He did much better on the vowels game now that he knows what they are. He's doing really well with the cafe orders, remembering everyone's name and giving all the correct orders.  The good news is that while some of his scores were not his best, his overall comparative results show no category now in the 1st percentile!  Today, memory and attention showed as his strong areas. 

I Googled for the effect of music on cognitive performance.  Several results came up, a recent one being http://www.usatodayeducate.com/staging/index.php/campuslife/should-you-listen-to-music-while-you-study. 

So should I argue the case again tomorrow?

I might just ask him what music he plans to listen to, and then our negotiation might be on the choice of music instead.  I imagine that calming instrumental music, rather than music with lyrics might be a better choice, especially when doing any language-based exercises.

Analogue clocks

We added a change of scene today to start work on analogue clocks. That's how Barbara Arrowsmith-Young got started on her own exercises, and from the Principal's pack I received from the Arrowsmith school, the description of the brain function improved by this exercise seems to fit A-One.

From what I have read, Barbara put hands on her clocks and drilled herself to tell the time.  Her goal was to improve that part of her brain that understands cause and effect and mathematical relationships.

I'm starting the other way around. I have created pages containing 12 clocks without hands, each with a time underneath represented digitally (A-One knows digital times). The exercise I'm asking A-One to do is to write the hands on the clocks.  In time, we can try it the other way round too i.e. having him read the times represented by the hands.

Page 1: 6 x on-the-hour times, followed by 6 x half-hour times
Page 2: 6 x quarter times, followed by 6 three-quarter hour times
Page 3: 6 x (10 or 20) past-the-hour times, followed by 6 x (10 or 20) to-the-hour times
Page 4: 6 x (5 or 25) past-the-hour times, followed by 6 x (5 or 25) to-the-hour times
Page 5: 6 x (any other number) past-the-hour times mixed with 6 x (any other number) to-the-hour times



A-One was fine with the 6 x o'clock (on-the-hour) times. When we got to the first half-hour time, he was stumped.

I drew diagrams of the large hand travelling round the clock once an hour, and the small hand travelling between two 'numbers' each hour. With assistance he was able to draw the first half-hour time, but his comment was 'Even though it's right, it doesn't seem right.'

By this time, he was slouching in his chair.

Mum: Take three deep breaths - oxygen to your brain helps you stay alert.

A-One: I don't need to do that.

Mum: OK. Stand up and shaaaaaaake yourself about.

A-One: No! I don't need to do that.


Nevertheless, he sat up straighter in his chair. That enabled him to declare that he was doing only as many as he was comfortable with!

As we tried a few more, he would refer back to my diagrams, and ask how many pages there were to go. A couple of times he drew the little hand between the wrong two numbers, but insisted it was between the correct two numbers. I used a ruler to show him where he'd drawn his hands in relation to the numbers, and his retort was 'Even though it looks wrong, it's right!'

We got to the end of the second page ...