Modelling with Meccano

Keeping things interesting for J whilst trying to improve his manual dexterity and co-ordination is a daily task.  Finding items and activities that appeal to him is all important (we have used therapy putty many time in the past, blogged about his Hama beading and he is keen to Lego whenever he can).

We were lucky enough to be sent some meccano for J to review.  He had looked on the meccano UK website and chosen a Gears of War Helicopter - King Raven which was the model he was keen to assemble as soon as he set eyes on it.  Meccano was a good choice as it has small parts to deal with, over 300 in this set, and clear instructions to follow which help J with his planning skills.

True to form, J laid out all the pieces and inspected the manual to start with.  Then building commenced.  This was a task which took us a few days to complete and was a collaboration where J was project managing me when his dexterity let him down.  I am pleased to report, however, that towards the end of the build, J was able to complete most of the "structural assembly" himself.

J opened the plastic bags containing the parts with scissors and what follows is a montage of the build... and the comments are from J.

That's looking like it should...

These are a bit fiddly but the slots are good.

Nearly got the front wheel attached.

What's the next step?

It's looking good.

This is easy to follow...

...this is a bit more challenging!

It's looking like we're nearly done.

Ta dah!

This is bigger than I expected.

J loved working, over a number of days, on the model building and is looking forward to assembling the Space Chaos Heart of Darkness when he gets the chance!  He's particularly keen as it has "real life, working lights".   This set looked rather a challenge at the outset (having many pieces and almost 70 instructions) but J said of the whole undertaking "It was amazing and all my pals will be shocked at the size of the model!"

Disclosure - We were sent the meccano for free but these are our own views and pictures.  No fee has been paid for this blogpost.  Many thanks to Liz and Meccano UK.

Reasonable Adjustments - Part One

Over the years, we have made numerous attempts to find things that work for J in a variety of settings.  This first post on this matter, which we are calling 'adjustments', covers clothing... it is not an exhaustive list but details a few of the things we do/have done over the years.  Hopefully some will help you/yours.

Clothing ideas:-

• Poppered trousers - if possible we buy trousers with popper instead of buttons.  Where these aren't available, the trousers are altered to add a press fastener/ popper closure.
• Elasticated waists - where we can, we source trousers with adjustable elastic waistbands.  This allows J to pull the garment down/ up more easily without the need for help.  He is a thin lad so we also use the elastication to ensure he has the right leg length by pulling in the waist to fit.  The TU range at Sainsbury's is good for this, as are some GAP and Next clothing lines.  
• Lined trousers - J is somewhat picky about the feel of clothing (understatement).  He likes Boden lined trousers but they are quite pricey.  We try to buy in the sale when we can as he does particularly like their jersey lined skate pants... even though the waist size appears quite generous on him.  Pumpkin Patch also do lined trousers that he will wear.
• Velcro fastenings - these are really useful on all sorts of clothing and footwear. Particularly good for outdoor wear.  When J's hands become cold or if he is in a hurry he becomes less dextrous and velcro allows him to be self sufficient (most of the time).
• Over-the-head outerwear - this was a real life saver at school as J rarely had the time/ability to sort out zip closures for himself.  The combination of jostling, dark changing rooms and the need for speed meant J was usually outside at playtime in all weathers whilst wearing a gaping coat.  When we needed it, Boden had some fab half zip waterproof tops which were fleece lined so met J's need for 'something soft' too. Not sure they have them now though.
• Ski mittens - far easier to put on when your hands are cold or dexterity is limited.  Many also come with 'little hooky things' which means J has less chance of losing one (mind you, they don't stop him losing the pair!!)
• Contrast colour toe and heel socks - these allow J to see which way the socks should go on his feet.  However, they are only an assistant, he will still wear socks with the heel bit at the front.

Watch this space (well, blog) for more Reasonable Adjustments.... we have quite a few we use!

Meandering through Motor 'skills'

Where to start with this post?  First of all, this is not a comprehensive guide into motor skills, as the title suggests, it will be a meandering account of things we've tried/are trying with J.  We embarked on the wanderings in the knowledge that with strong gross motor skills, fine motor skills follow and with that the seemingly all important handwriting will emerge.  The trouble for us is that with J his gross motor skills, at 12, remain poor (although they have improved greatly and he has worked long, and hard, to master things.)  There is so much to say and cover that bite-sized posts may be the only way to go.   We have tried/employed/practised many, many, many items/programmes/techniques in the hope of finding out what works for J.

J has struggled all of his life with handedness (this was touched on in an earlier post - What about Writing)... he showed no preference as a youngster so, given his other difficulties, it was agreed to encourage him to use his right hand.  Now, this has made little difference.  Being brutally frank, he is the opposite of ambidextrous, that is he is equally poor with both hands!  We now know this is called being 'ambisinistrous'.
As said in the aforementioned earlier post, J has had access to all types of pens, grips, writing slopes, white boards, therapy putty, paints, brushes, gross and fine motor games and exercises.  All to very little avail.  However, the facts remain that he has little stamina, holds implements at odd angles, cannot align his physical output with his mind's eye picture of what he wants to deliver... so you can imagine the frustration he feels.  In the family, we call this his frustration gap and we try to encourage him to keep putting pen to paper with simple dot-to-dots, line games, letter formation games and so on.

Some of the pens we have in our arsenal of handwriting tempters... he tends towards those with fatter grips and that can be corrected.  So, the frixion pen was a real find - it writes like a roller ball yet rubs out like a pencil.  The Stabilo s'move range are brilliant for reminding him where his fingers need to be to hold the pen/pencil.  And the selection of felt tipped pens he has used is vast.

Over the years, although he has poor hand eye co-ordination J has adored Hama beads and is a still a keen beader.  There has been the odd disaster when his masterpiece hasn't made it to the ironing board for fusing before a tremor has jerked the beads all over the floor.  He loves telling the story of when he was trying to open a packet of beads (5000 of them) and was tugging at the packaging whilst saying "Mum, can you help me open - oooooops!"  and lo!, there were 5000 beads spread far and wide across the floor. Whoops.  We both had to laugh but my goodness they can't half travel.

Naturally, he's also been very much into Lego and Meccano and comes up with some massively complex creations.  All of which have added to his fine motor skills and co-ordination/planning.  He has a huge collection of Lego... dreams of the stuff and talks about 'improvements' to the current range of models he's working on.  Lego is great for him... he gets to express himself, can (usually) do all his Legoing by himself and the models are quite sturdy so withstand any unexpected tremors.  Of course, sometimes a 'disastrous' failure happens and it will require immediate re-building of the model 'just the way it was'. Meccano is a bit more structured, the instruction leaflets great for planning and the skill required to use the bolt/nuts in situ is one he's starting to master.

Work on gross motor skills happens throughout every day.  J will catch and throw (socks usually) and can even bounce a mid-sized ball and walk with it a few steps now.  He will jump off steps (only up to 4) to get feedback and 'ground' himself.  He balances on a gym ball or physio roll (peanut) when he watches television so he knows where his body is... He's on the move all the time. In summer he will bounce on the trampoline. He has a swing seat indoors and loves to use that to calm down - but it also lets him know where his 'bits and bobs' are.  More to follow on this in a later post...