Measuring Success

How do you measure success? Over four years ago we started our journey in helping our son. We started first with Occupational Therapy (over three years total) and some Speech Therapy (barely one year total). With our last OT, we saw measurable improvement during my ds's two year work with her but it came in as bits and pieces. The biggest accomplishment during that time was learning to ride his bike without training wheels. This was huge! I love the fact that he physically had accomplished many things, but how did this affect other areas that were weak; Socially, Academically, Emotionally? It's hard to measure.
At the start of our Brain Balance journey, I really did not know what kind of results to expect. The doubts that I've read online about the program of course were in the back of my mind but it didn't deter me from giving it a try. My biggest concern was would my ds's change be measurable, noticeable, or concrete? The answer is YES!
Example 1: Art
With my background in art and psychology I have seen a drastic change with my ds's artwork. Before BB, his self directed artwork was basically see through figures that were scattered throughout the page. He did very well in following directions when we did our work step by step for our waldorf inspired work. Towards the end, without any assistance, he started to create wonderful and complete pieces. The characters were complete, grounded and with surroundings. (I know, I have to post his work).
Example 2: Reading
DS always loved books and being read to, but when it came to him reading, it was truly a chore. In three months of BB, he is well on his way to becoming a prolific reader. I have been catching him reading to his sister, reading to himself and he's been volunteering to read to us. He's even said to me the other day that he likes reading!
Example 3: Toe walking
We have been working on his toe walking ever since he could walk. Initially his issues with walking was due to a fallen arch on his right foot (hereditary). Then we noticed his walking didn't get better and the toe walking got worse. The big question was how to resolve it? One train of thought was to not bother with it, but with my little knowledge about muscles, I knew that this was something I couldn't ignore. So came in the stretches and constant reminder/conversations of using his whole foot to walk. This is the one thing that caught me by surprise. My DS has become more grounded.
There are other areas of improvement, but i will leave it up to my guest bloggers to share.
To me, I can honestly say that everything that we have done for my ds in the past four months has been dramatically beneficial. We will continue with the BB program home version (for now) and our waldorf summer experience. We are very excited to see what may come.