Do you remember I was trying to find an activity that ds1 could actually do?

[gess]

Well, bit of a shock this one, I'm still beaming.

I decided I had to work on his sprinting off and dragging us all over the place this summer. Growing Minds gave me a program to try (which required 2 other people- luckily my direct payment girl's fiance was happy to help). So we spent about an hour and a half doing the GM stuff. And to my surprise- that was ll he needed. I don't dare let him go near roads, and he does dart off a bit, and we occasionally have disagreements about which direction we're walking in (I end up bruised then!) but his behaviour is so much better. I can tell him to wak with me, or at my speed or to stop and he does 99 times out of 100.

Feeling more confident in his behaviour I've started taking him on Dartmoor. Not on the low paths and things we've stuck to before but up onto the proper moor. He has to behave well up there, and so far he has & he absolutely loves it. A lot of the Tors are used by the army and have metal flagposts on them, which he likes to walk towards, then climb up to examine. So he now has a pair of walking boots, I've dusted off my map and compass. We'll be gaiter and waterproof shopping before the weather gets bad and stocking up on kendal mint cake Fingers crossed his behaviour will remain good. I've been itching to get back up onto the moors since moving back down here.

This was unthinkable even 6 weeks ago. He was unmanamageable out and about at Easter. (Remember I was looking at Major buggies as a way of containing him to improve access). If ds1 can mamage it, I think there's hope for all really (of course I know in posting this I risk all going pear shaped..... )

Pixel- we had years of that before the running off. DS1 wouldn;t walk on grass, or wouldn;t leave the car park, or would scream when we tried to get him out of the car.For a while he was scared of big open spaces and wouldn't go anywhere near one! I read a book by a non-verbal adult- Lucy Blackman- where I realised that a lot of the grass problems etc were from problems with depth perception. We didn't really do anything extra, but as that's improved (with age) so has the walking on uneven ground.

Mmm well when he was younger he did seem to have a funny way of walking as if he wasn't quite sure where the ground was but he's been walking much more 'normally' for about a year now. I've noticed a marked improvement in how he copes with uneven ground since he started horseriding and put it down to better strength and balance, and as I say he coped very well at half-term with walks through woods with loads of tree-roots, steep cobbled streets etc. He doesn't seem to have any particular problems with grass either although he still doesn't run about the place as a seven year old would normally do. He still walks up and down stairs in that toddler way too, one step at a time, both feet together. I don't know, I just feel disheartened. All that time and effort (and patience!) for nothing, except I'm now worse off than ever because he's become such a lump! Today it took me 10 mins just to put him in the car .
Anyway, I don't want to rain on your otherwise brillian thread! After all, your DS1 is a year older so there's every chance that in a year's time I could be in the same position as you .

something that was really useful at Growing Minds (for me) was the talk they gave about children who for years do not progress, despite putting in work above and beyond everyone else. They said that often it was because of problems with dyspraxia and/or executive function. For ds1 a bit of both. It was reassuring to get an explanation and some help with that.

We had time for a short walk this morning whilst ds3 was at a practice morning at his new nursery.

I've added some pics from this morning to my profile.

Great news. It's lovely to get out for a walk rather than a tussle over direction and speed. Hope the walks on the moors continue and that in time you can transfer the skills to busier environments.

AHH he looks like he's loving it.

ha ha - I'm hoping it will transfer too joggeroo- I got punched shoe shopping last week (waiting)

He does mymate - I'm really pleased for him- finally something, one thing (which is all I've ever asked for!) that he can access.

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Lovely pictures. Doesn't he look purposeful carrying his rucksack? .

Fab pics, he looks very happy and wind swept. Good to hear you can both enjoy the moors. Look out for unicyclists...

er unicyclists???