So what's the problem?

No brain training yesterday.  I woke up late, had some other things to attend to, and then A-One received a phone call from his work to come in earlier.  He handled the phone call very well, saying that he needed to look up the bus information to work out how to get there by that time. He couldn't remember the address of where he worked, so I suggested he look at Google Maps to see if he can recognise it from the map, which he did.  I saw him call up the transport website ('I know, Mum') and enter the 'to' address (checking with me), and figured out which bus he had to catch and when.

A year ago, he hadn't able to do that, or perhaps had been unwilling to.

This morning he resumed his Lumosity training - resplendent in his PJs (I didn't have time to argue the point today).  Again he showed the same steady improvement since he started, gaining a couple of PBs and dropping his score a little in others.  He is now in the 12.7th percentile for his age group, and is almost at the 30th percentile for speed!  So how does that correlate to his feedback that he was too slow at work the other night?

His lowest area is still problem solving, at 2.6th percentile, while all the others are over the 10th percentile.  The problem solving game is all mental arithmetic, and for a generation used to using calculators, I'm not sure that this really tests out problem solving ability in real life. 

I do the Lumosity training too and my problem solving score is much higher, but I think that's because when I was at primary school we were drilled and drilled in our times tables and number facts, so I'm not 'working it out'; instead remembered facts simply pop into my mind.

The neuropsychologist suggested we try mind mapping with him. Is that a compensatory strategy, or does it exercise the problem solving part of the brain?


He zoomed through another page of 3-handed clocks, but would not do another page. 'Only one page a day, that's all!'  He was about to leave, when:

Mum: Wait a minute.  There's something else today.  I want you to read this paragraph and tell me what you think the central point of it is; what it's about.

A-One: This isn't necessary.

Mum: How about we see that?

Perhaps he was too keen to get on to other things too, because he didn't argue the point much either, and proceeded to read the paragraph.  He took longer than I did (reading it upside down) and reached the end of the page which was mid-sentence, showing all the signs of having finished.

Mum: It goes over the page. The paragraph ends here, see?

A-One: I'm reading to the end of the sentence, not the paragraph.  That's all!

Being obvious that he would proceed no further, I asked him what he thought it was about.  He was able to tell me very well, and when I asked a specific question, he answered that very well too.

I'm starting to wonder whether his impairments are more to do with attitude and motivation.  My next thought is to have him sit with me while we peruse accommodation advertisements and household bills, so that he gains some sense of what independent living requires.  We're not trying to turf him out, but we won't be around forever either.