Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Why Behind the Wii

I had finished my Christmas shopping for the kids by Thanksgiving. Done. Not doing any more.

...Until Elise's 3-year IEP re-evaluation, which was scheduled for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

At that meeting, she was released from PT services, which is FANTASTIC news for Elise. It means she's made so much progress that she's considered at the same ability level as her peers. YEAH...go Elise!

But, she does need to still work on eye-hand coordination (not enough to warrant extra services through the district). Her PT, with whom she's worked for the past 3 years and is just wonderful, seriously suggested getting a Wii for home.

I politely laughed but thought, "Nope, that would bust the Christmas budget!" Perry's reaction was more along the lines of "should I stop by and get one on the way home?" (Can you tell who does the budget in our family!)

After giving it some thought and talking with other families who have one, we decided to bite the bullet and get one for Christmas. I was fortunate to hit Amazon on a day when they had hourly deals on many popular Wii games for 60-70% off.

Since "Santa" brought the Wii to help with Elise's eye-hand coordination, she really hadn't been too interested in the games that would encourage those skills, preferring instead to do the Disney Sing Along game.

But the tide turned just a few days ago when she decided she really wanted to do the tennis and bowling games (games her PT strongly suggested!).

So, while the gift has been fun for the whole family, it's a constant reminder of how far Elise has come in her physical development. She's such an amazing and strong little girl, I'm confident she will continue to overcome the difficulties life has placed in front of her.



I hope you enjoy the sight of her bowling just as much I do.

4 comments:

Super Mommy said...

Okay - you are going to have to get Mario Cart - it's really fun too and will help Elise with her eye-hand coordination (and future driving skills as well)!

Rock on Elise!

Karen said...

Terrific news on Elise-
We also are enjoying Wii...I had previously been staunchly against all forms of video games- before...but that has changed...whee! (or is that wii?!)

Vivian M said...

Hubby wants one of these too, and I kept saying no. But after reading your post, I think I will give in and see if it helps Kerri with her hand/eye coordination. Thanks for the post!

Tammie said...

Wow! Great news on Elise's progress. She deserves a Wii just for that.

Love the pics.