BounceAbility – Seat Drop

We go through good and bad stages with Ethan and his BounceAbility sessions. We have weeks when he does as he is told and follows instructions and then we have weeks where he is making us chase after him for the full fifteen minutes.

We have been going through a bad phase at the moment and during his sessions Ethan is practically being held in place on the trampoline by his trainer. We have been trying lots of encouragement during his sessions and I spend my time standing at the edge of the trampoline clapping and cheering when Ethan is doing well. I’m also ready to run when Ethan decides to play games and wants to test all of the other trampolines in the building. This is a lot easier now I’m no longer pregnant!

I wasn’t very confident about how yesterdays session was going to turn out, as when we tried to get Ethan out of the car, asking him if he wants to go bouncing he said ‘No!’ At that point I expected the worst.

I don’t know how it happened but somehow yesterdays session went from Ethan being held in place on the trampoline to him showing us he knows the seat drop manoeuvre!

Ethan has been going to BounceAbility for nearly a year now and his trainer has tried to teach him how to jump and touch his knees at the same time. A very simple task you may think but when Ethan barley gives his trainer any eye contact it is near impossible.

As we know Ethan also learns at his own pace and whilst he has been ignoring his trainer he has been watching the other people in the room. They are older and more advanced than Ethan, so they can do lots of the manoeuvres.

I always said that one day he will show us what he has learnt from his observations and yesterday was the day.

By the end of Ethan’s fifteen minute session Ethan was on his trampoline, his trainer was on the one opposite because Ethan had shown us that he knew how to do a seat drop. His trainer then wanted to see if Ethan could touch his knees or jump like a star shape. Ethan did try to put his legs in the suggested positions. He didn’t really move his arms but then Ethan has never really know how to use his hand or his arms, it is something we really have to work on with him.      

Ethan also had great fun showing us lots of seat drops, we had to clap and cheer each and everyone of them.

Now this session may have been a complete one off, but I really hope it’s the turning point. The start of Ethan paying attention to his trainer. Only time will tell..