Mark update

[Guest guest]

So, we made the transition to high school! Hurray! Right now, Mark has just

under an 80 average so he's doing pretty well.

Trigonometry continues to be a problem. Yes....anything to do with space and

spatial relationships is hard for him. The other math is ok because Mark does

the Kumon Math program. For those of you with younger kids, I highly recommend

Kumon Math for children with dyspraxia. Start them in grade school and keep

your dyspraxic kid in the program until they have finished school! Because

Kumon is " rote " driven, dyspraxic kids find it doable. I have tried many, many

programs and this is the only one we've been able to make work. The difference

to the grades is astounding! I pulled Mark from Kumon math when he was in grade

school and regret it..... I should have kept him in the whole way through!

Socially, everything is fabulous. Somehow, some way along this journey, Mark

learned how to read people and now is fairly popular with others. The teachers

like him and the kids like him. What a difference from his past! WOW! I had a

'tender' issue to deal with this past week. My daughter, who has been in

singing lessons for an eon, dancing and acting did not make the school play this

year. It is very competitive esp for the girls. Mark, however, DID make the

school play! OMG! What a family controversy! I felt sad for my girl because

theatre is her passion but pointed out that Mark only made the chorus (and he is

pretty tone deaf) only because they needed more boys. He is hyped out about it

though! Mark also made the school improv team and was the only kid in grade 10

to do so. (high school here starts in grade 10). Now, I love improv because

Mark is truly funny and improv works his wit and helps him in the friend making

department.

Girls like Mark very much! Though he doesn't have a girlfriend, he has a few

" stalkers " as he likes to call them! Of course, it is the normal teenage story

of the person you like doesn't even notice you and the people you don't care for

are chronically chasing you. Normal, normal, normal.... and that is just fine

by me!

Hand writing is improving! We continue to chelate and I am seeing improvements

in this area at last!!!!! It is taking forever but he is getting more and more

proficient. He doesn't use his laptop at all in class anymore and his sister

has absconded away that lovely high performance lightweight $750 laptop I

specifically invested for Mark at the beginning of the school year. We also

started fencing this fall. Fencing is great for fine motor skills and I do

believe that in conjunction with chelation, the two work together fabulously. I

wish I had done fencing with Mark when he was much, much younger because after

we started, the hand writing improvements became vastly noticeable.

Health.

We had stopped pretty much all of the supplements because Mark didn't need them

anymore. We stopped all of the diets but continued to avoid chemicals and

limited processed foods. We were just continuing to chelate and exercise. All

was going extremely well for about a year. Last May, Mark had a very nasty

recurrence with constipation that lasted a " painful " few days. He had another

bout at the end of the summer. DARN IT ALL! I got it under control though and

life resumed.

This September, he got an injury cross country running and had to quit. His

feet are becoming a problem because it is now November and it still hurts him to

run. Now, Mark's feet are as flat as a board and there was a time when his

ankles suffered from inward pronation which we corrected via months and months

of toe raises. I was hoping that the injury would correct itself but it hasn't.

I've bought specialized running shoes for flat-footed people and he finds them

painful to wear. I'll look into orthotics next but suspect we will have the

same issue. It HURTS.

Running keeps Mark strong and healthy in a way that is integral to his being.

It boosts his immune system and keeps the nasty bugs at bay. Since he has

stopped running, he has been suffering from reflux. It's coming back.... At

first, he didn't tell me about it. It finally got to a point where he felt like

he was kind of throwing up with every single meal and he was afraid to eat.

That was when he stepped up. I dug out the Tri Enza and the Betaine/DMG as well

as the glutamine and now he is taking these (all but the glutamine which we just

do at breakfast and at bedtime) at every meal. It's really disheartening to see

that " it " will come back. He has not been affected neurologically but you know

how it is with this stuff.....continued illness eventually affects your ability

to think.

We do have " it " under control now but this frightens me. Will we always be on

high alert? Will we never truly beat the monster? Mark will go to University

soon and I have already decided that he will not live anywhere but with me. But

what about after that? Will the issues of his tummy someday turn into crones or

some other nasty bowel disease? What about stomach cancer or esophageal cancer?

How do we completely eradicate this? For once and for all? Can we?

Janice

Mother of Mark, 15, 95% recovered???