SLP

This morning he slept until 15 Min's before our therapist walked in the door & I really didn't want to wake him up since he's been sick recently, but I woke him up anyway. He definitely needs that time to wake up and eat before she comes because he didn't participate nearly as well as he usually does. First thing, she asked if he wanted to play with 'Trucks' or 'Pet Shop'. The Pet Shop she brought was new to him, so he picked that. This is a little magnet board that has a background scene with all kinds of beds and homes for animals at the shop. Then there are magnetic animals, people, food, dishes, etc... So, she began by asking him 'Do you want Bird or Dog?'. They worked on choices for a few minutes to get him comfortable with this new toy before moving on. He is great at choices now. It only takes him a minute to pick up and he's on his way. So, after he picked a few animals and put them on the board where he wanted them, she began to bring out some more unfamiliar animals (hamster, turtle, rat). She asked 'Who is this?' (wait.... he doesn't answer...looks up for approval and help) 'This is Hamster.' 'Who does Hamster want to play with?' She places Hamster down next to the bunny and acts like they are playing together. Well, this game went on for a while. He has not yet grasped the 'WHO' question, so it was not successful. After seeing this, she backed off and went in another direction. He will need to see this played out several more times before he will begin to grasp WHO. Then she pulled out the people. 'Who is this?' (wait.... no answer..... looks for help....) 'This is Boy,' 'What does Boy want?' Well, he is great at the 'I want....' carrier phrase... so he picked right up on this. 'I want ball please' - he makes the little boy say. 'I want bunny please' - he makes the girl say. Today he was very successful at choices with a new game, and worked very well with WHat, but needs some more work on WHo. Then we played with cars, creating a pretend play scenario for him. We drove them around, talked about what tractors, wagons, and trucks do. We attached them together, let little bears ride and crashed into each other. The therapist said that we need to encourage that as much as possible. When we play enough with one game, he will pick up an interest in these new play scripts and will begin to realize that he can make up his own games as well. We have already seen this with his BUS, CARS, and PEOPLE. He used to only choose coloring, letters, books, and numbers when we let him have free play, but NOW he goes for those Cars and People almost every time. He's still more interested in putting people in and out than driving them around and pretending with them...but it's a step in the right direction.