New Words...

This week there was an explosion - the good kind.  DS's vocabulary exploded into 2-word sentances!!  It has been a long time coming, and we knew he'd do it, but I was quite shocked when day after day I heard another one and another one.  After the first day, I started writing them down to share with Jen (SLP):

More Puzzle

Careful Sissy

No-No Sissy

Daddy Chair

ByeBye Mommy

Silly Mommy

Juice All Done

No, Too Hot

It's ok Sissy

Here Ya Go Sissy

As you can tell, its all about 'sissy'.  Something about his sister must make him want to talk.

We are SO proud of this achievement & look forward to more spontaneous sentances.

Lost in a Whirlwind

Well, I'm sure I've been takin off everyone's reading lists since I have hit a dead silence for over a month. Well, we are still alive & things are going well. DS is starting to put together some 'spontaneous' 2 word sentences.... Today I heard 'Careful Sissy' in the correct context, 'NoNo Sissy', and 'More Puzzle'. These are breakthroughs since for the most part all 2+ word sentances are prompted. However, at the same time he is struggling to bring his wants/needs/thoughts out in spontaneous speech, he has picked up the pace on reading. I promise we don't beat it in him, he just loves it. I have been treated to 'Are you my Mommy' on several occasions recently. The WHOLE thing. Complete with running all the way to me to point at a word if he doesn't recognize it. He was also sitting behind me eating one day as I was emailing & he was reading my email back to me. LOL Anyway, he's doing great.... our SPL evaluation showed some great improvements. The biggest one I can remember was a question regarding sorting 'foods/clothes'. He did it perfect & we've only been working on it for a few weeks... I didn't even know he was THAT good at it. Hope you are all well. I can't promise life will slow down enough to allow blogging until 2009 is upon us - but in the meantime - if you need a unique gift.... visit my new shop online!! I handpaint glasses, mugs, candy jars, candle holders etc. There's still a few days to ship if you're interested. VineyardGifts.etsy.com

Natalie, OT, DT

Natalie - 'Parents as Teachers' doesn't make it to this blog regularly... but we did have 3 sessions today. DS was acting out already this morning starting at 8:30. He is seeming to have trouble with Sissy being a part of things. She's a part of this (we'll call it an activity since she's not a therapist) activity because it is just a parent session talking about child development, brain development and activities to do with your kids. We usually do a craft and chat and she usually gives me some good tips for things going on this month. We barely cracked open the material because of 3 time-outs, 2 warnings, diaper changes, a bottle, and multiple meltdowns.

OT - Mitzi came in and did her normal thing. I told her how our morning session went, just to warn her. DS didn't really want to participate. He saw an alphabet game in her bag and only wanted it. He let us play cars (a game to encourage pretend play) for about 5 minutes, but continued to say 'All Done Cars'. Good sentance, Good words, but NOT what we were looking for. We finally let him play the alphabet game and he got really fixated on letters and never re-directed to anything else. I'm going to chalk it up to a bad day & he just needed his coping mechanism to help him through his day today.

DT - 'Oh How I love thee... let me count the ways....' Ok, that's a little far, but I DO love Suzanne. She is a breath of fresh air. She knows exactly where I am. She sees him in all his wonderfulness and all of his struggles. I don't quite know how she does it, but at the moment I'm going to call her my 'Superwoman/Supernanny'.

We started the session talking about 'Boardmaker', which is a program that helps make those PECS Picture cards that she and Ron have been talking about. She wanted us to get all the toys up and out of reach so DS would be forced, ok... lets say encouraged to use his words. Play is MOST of what a 2 year old is all about and (unlike food) they are GOING to get those toys somehow. So, I've been MORE than excited to get started with this new change, but didn't really know where to go past moving the toys. I took pictures of everything... bin by bin... so he could have a written word for each toy that he might have a choice of playing with. Her program easily formats a picture and a word label on a small square card. She is going to print them, laminate them, and velcro each one of them for us & next week we will have a 'storyboard schedule for him'. We can use it to show him choices for toys, foods, to tell him what we're going to do today etc... It might seem a bit extreme for our verbal child, but he is kinda stuck in his rut of specific phrases, so I think it'll be great. Eventually it is supposed to turn into him spontaneouly picking the card he wants (so he can visualize it first) and then come ask us for whatever he wants.

The Beach

Compliments of the Grandparents, we took the kids to the beach this weekend. We had a great time, and although out of his element DS had a hard time during parts, he really did have a great time. We'll never forget 10,000 requests for a ride in the elevator....but he also enjoyed rides in the wagon, holding hands up and down the hall, rides on Papa's belly in the lazy river, playing in the sand with Memaw, and the pool.

TEACCH

I asked Ron today about moving the toy bins out of reach (as Suzanne suggested). I wanted his take on it so we can make sure everyone is on the same page (since he uses picture exchange & Suzanne suggested using picture cards). What he explained to me was that to get someone to communicate, the conversation needs to be relevant. If we are at a table full of people talking about nuclear physics, we won't be nearly as MOVTIVATED to speak up, direct our conversation toward others, and participate. This is what he wants me to think about when we choose what to put away and what to keep down. He said that DS will need SOME stuff down in his reach, but the things he loves most and talks about most will encourage that spontaneous speech that we're looking for faster than anything else. I think that TEACCH may focus a bit too much on his likes because there are plenty of things we need him to talk about that have nothing to do with things he likes. However, I think it's a great suggestion - especially to get DS to understand this new system & what we are expecting of him. I am excited to get the toys re-organized tonight and get some amateur-picture cards made. Daddy will be home tomorrow, so we can both work on DS's understanding of where his toys have gone and how to get them. More on TEACCH later!! There is a lesson plan for each week, and I want to share the big points of each lesson... but I'll have to do it when I find more time.

DT

So - THATS what a good DT is like.

Suzanne asked me about 15 min's in what my biggest concern that the other DT wasn't working on was and I said 'You've already done more than she did in 4 weeks'.

She came in and asked DS to sit under a little lap table. Game #1 was a peg board. His job was to choose which color peg he wanted, say 'Push In' as he puts the peg in, say 'On Top' as he puts the peg on top, and then follow her directions for 'in' and 'on top' as directed. She got a good feel of his hesitancy to answer choice questions with new objects. He also struggled to say the phrases and required prompting each time. When she asked him to 'push in right here' in a specific hole, it took a LONG time for him to follow the direction, but he finally got it. He was very good to look at her each time he knew he wanted help, but never asked for help. He reverted back to echolalia in his speech as she asked various questions today, but it seemed more as a coping skill to the hesitancy of doing something wrong for the new person. She said part of her strategy (this is different than the way we do speech) is to NOT repeat a task over and over and over. She wants him to LEARN not to REPEAT when possible. She said once he got the in and ontop correct she would stop, play something else for a minute, let the brain rest, and then do it again. She said this would facilitate her knowing when he actually learned something instead of him just repeating what she was doing. Second, we did a puzzle with firetrucks and dump trucks. What she did with this goes so far past anything I've ever tried, I was impressed!! She really got a good feel for where he struggles today. She said she wanted to see him match up the puzzle, but more importantly she wanted him to identify with different parts by her prompting. So, she let him assemble the puzzle and then asked him to hand her different pieces. 'Can I have the dump truck? What color is it? What kind of sound does a truck make?' 'May I have the yellow truck? No, the other one.' 'May I have the truck with blue windows, the ladder' She really pushed him to LOOK at what he was doing before just jumping at the first command. She allowed him to take his time and think. She allowed him to make a mistake and then corrected him. She was very graceful with him, and at the same time VERY firm and didn't back down once she asked him for something. We let him play free play while we chatted a bit. She noticed that he had taken the piggy bank toy over to the side. She engaged with him and told me that she sees that he is at risk to isolate himself while playing. At his developmental age, she wants to see him coming in between our conversation to interrupt us because he wants to play WITH us. She wants to see him improve on choice questions - yes/no for accuracy - more abstract choices with more language. She wants us to move the toy bins up out of his reach so he has to ask for them SPONTANEOUSLY. I think that is a KEY for him. Jen has gotten him to the point where he can say 'Mommy, I want juice please.', but he does it VERY choppy and it is 90% prompted - 100% prompted when the object is out of site. Suzanne wants to take him the step further where he KNOWS he wants something and he finds his OWN language to get it. This is another example of taking his language from 'repeated' to 'learned'. THIS is what he needs!!!! She said that our major challenge with a High Functioning child is to help him to NOT stand out in a crowd. She said that already, he fits in very well... but she NEVER made me feel like that meant he DOESN'T have a form of autism. She said that he will do really well in a classroom, she doesn't see any real behavioral issues, and he is very social. She caught onto him really quick. Before she left, her observation had told her that his eye contact was great, but not used the same way as typical children. She knew that his jumping/gross motor skills are lagging some. She knew that he is very social but he needs to learn more appropriate communication. She even knew that the little 'marching dance' that he sings to in the same pattern around the house was one of his coping skills... she said 'awwww' when she saw it and immediately knew... Every single motion, word, etc.. that she made was for a purpose. She made me feel like a great mom. She made me feel like we're going to get A LOT of work done. This is an awesome day!!!

TEACCH

I understood more about TEACCH this week. Ron really 'got his number' last week - watching him master the cognitive skills tasks. This week he brought alphabet matching, spelling, and the MORE important pretend play skill tasks. So, rather than this be a progressive learning experience (like speech where we do relatively the same stuff each week and I learn from that), this is more like an actual CLASS. Each week we have a lesson and I have homework. This week I am supposed to create a learning area and some stations for DS. The only thing I really need to BUY for this week is a collapsible bookcase or shelving unit. I forgot to blog just after Ron left, so I am forgetting major things..... DS did a great job transitioning, but already showed a preference for wanting to do the 'work' instead of play part of the routine... and I had warned Ron about that. We are also supposed to start thinking what kinds of choices we are needed him to make on a daily basis so we can get some picture cards made to facilitate him in more SPONTANEOUS speech.

WOW! One word says it all...

Yes, Mommy was in charge of dinner last night. Had Daddy been home, this game would not have carried this far, guaranteed. However, it was QUITE entertaining. He spelled multiple words and then ate them letter by letter. This is the only one I got a picture of: 2+2=4 (that's what he told us it said anyway). I can imagine 2's would be quite hard to make out of Lo Mein for anyone...... WOW!

SLP - Beaten Down

I'm glad I didn't have time to blog this morning after Speech. I felt so beaten down. I feel like Jen spends more energy trying to defend why everything DS does is normal than she does on working to figure out what challenges he DOES have. I feel like we've been doing the same games and activities forever because she doesn't branch out to find something new. Why is it necessary for me to focus on his strengths and NOT talk about autism with a therapist? It's as if she thinks that I don't recognize his strengths. I've done my best to point out how well he is doing, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't still need help. Sometimes I feel like I need someone who better understands ASD - especially High Functioning kids. Sure, she has plenty of cases (I'm assuming) with kids who are non-verbal, or don't pick up skills as fast as my DS, or maybe they have difficulties that will never improve. I'm not trying to compare my DS to everyone else. I'm just trying to do what's best for MY SON & making me feel like I'm barking up a dead tree isn't going to help. NORMAL 2 year old? I dare to say there is No such thing. She tells me that her little boy won't eat Strawberries either (this is in response to a comment that no, he doesn't eat strawberries.. just strawberry flavored things). Well, that's fine. I DIDNT say that DS won't eat strawberries b/c he has autism. I just answered a question. When you add 1+1+1, does it NOT equal 3? Autism is defined by the COMBINATION of factors. Well, if you have 1 factor... it doesnt add up to 3 now does it? So, his difficulties will ALWAYS be in combination with the normal behaviors as well. Geez. Give me a break!! Anyway.... after she left, I realized I am totally out of formula for DD. OOPS! Our 2nd therapy of the day starts in a littlewhile. So, I run up to Food Lion and think on this on the way there. I held back my tears as best I could..... geez....why am I so emotional today? On the way home I am harping in my head over and over about 'why is she against me'....which brings to mind Romans 8:31.... 'If God is for us, who can be against us?' So, my harp time, my vent time, my beaten down feeling leads me to prayer. Thank you Jesus for being for me. Thank you Jesus for covering all my sins. Thank you Jesus for the chance to be made whole and perfect in you. That's all that really matters. Again, I am comforted that one day my son will have that same chance to choose Jesus.

Convinced?!

I'm laughing at myself today. I question the diagnosis, still to this day. Why? I don't know. However, all it takes is the task of filling out a questionnaire to bring me back to Earth. Does this help YOU at all?? (these are from a questionnaire I need to fill out for TEACCH) Q: What are some of your child's favorite toys or activities? A: Numbers, Letters, Reading, Spelling, Singing Songs, Dancing, Writing/Painting Q: What is comforting to your child? A: Spelling words, PDA, Cellphone, Calculator, Superwhy/Elmo Q: How does your child presently communicate to you and/or to others? A: Prompted verbal language ('I want...') via carrier phrases or single word labels.

Inspired Art

Thanks to blogger 'Laura' I was inspired to post some of DS's work. The cat is out of the bag on this post - as DS likes to write his name *wink*. No translation needed for 2 of the names here, but the one at the bottom is 'Daddy'.

The cat's name is 'Patches'.

I asked him to DRAW Patches.

This is what I got.

...and this is what he did for me when I asked for a picture of a 'Cat' and a 'Dog'. ;-)

...and this was what HE wanted to do. Circles, Hearts, Rectangles, and Triangles.

Before he drew circles all over top of his picture, there were about 6 different tries at his name. When he gets to the edge of the paper and runs out of room to write, he moves over and starts over again. It is quite amazing to watch a 2 year old writing his name. As wonderful as that is, I am sad that he doesn't draw beautiful squiggly line pictures anymore - so today our project will be working on drawing PICTURES instead of names. Maybe he'll enjoy that.

TEACCH

Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped CHildren

Ok, so I'll do my best to explain what TEACCH is - or at least the part as it relates to us.

What we are enrolled in is a 12 week parent instruction course using the TEACCH intervention approach called “Structured Teaching.”

A specific routine is established between 'work' and 'play'. The child is prompted to 'work' in a chair at a table for a specific number of tasks. At the end of each task, we say 'all done' and put it into a bucket. When all the tasks are done, a visual cue is given to let the child know that 'play' has begun. The child is prompted to 'play' on a carpet (to denote the play space) for a specific number of minutes. Then, there is a visual prompt to come back to the work space. This is repeated 3 times in one session, each rotation lasting between 10-15 minutes.

Work = A table + chair, bookcase to the left with all the tasks, and a bucket to the right for 'all-done' tasks. The tasks are either 'shoebox tasks' or 'folder tasks'. Basically, each shoebox has a specific job that has to be done. In my example picture, the child must remove the papers from the clips, drop the papers in the paper slot and drop the clips into the can. Then, the child is all-done. The folder tasks are very similar, the ones I have seen have velcro and require some sort of matching.

Play = A carpet and a basket of toys. If we need to use toys from our home, they must go in the basket first. The playtime is prompted to start, but is not structured outside of the fact that the child is supposed to sit on the carpet. The adult can engage and play with the child if they want to.

The visual cue we used today for going from Play to Work was a piece of play food that you feed to a little group of animals. I guess it was just something to grab his attention and make him want to come back over to the table. The visual cue we used for going from Work to Play was a noisy little ring stacker piece - that again grabbed his attention and he was interested to go after.

From what I understand, this structured learning is supposed to facilitate a very concrete way to learn new things (be it colors, labels, numbers, emotions) AND allow children who aren't great at picking up on cues the ability (eventually) to use their environment to figure out the rules of what is required AND facilitate an environment that will involve lots of transitions and change. The hope is to get them to look for cues and generalize what they learn.

Our visit: Ron comes in today - we chat for a few minutes - DS decides that Ron's name is 'Charlotte Bobcats' (because that's what was on his sweatshirt). It was quite hillarious. DS is going C-H-A-R-L-O-T-T-E-B-O-B-C-A-T-S, RON!!!! As if he is spelling RON. Then, he calls him 'John' several times, and then finally understands. ;-)

He totes in an amount of stuff that fills my entire livingroom - complete with a plastic bookcase, a table, a chair, 4 large totes, and a laundry basket all filled to the brim with exciting new things for BOTH of my children.

DS and DD are both immediately interested. It was really neat to sit and watch DS master each of today's 'age appropriate' tasks. He had no problem transitioning back and forth from play to work and work to play - as he LOVES new things. We'll see how great that goes the first time he is bored of the toys and he'd rather sit at the table and read words.

Ron had to go back out to the car to get new more challenging games 3 different times. He said not to worry - today was just an evaluation day and he had PLENTY of games that would engage and challenge DS (on future visits). He just needed to get a bottom and top level idea so future sessions would be challenging enough to get some real work done.

Well, that is my amateur version of TEACCH for today. I'm sure I will learn plenty over the course of the next 12 weeks - and I know more than I did yesterday. I never knew anything about TEACCH except the fact that they use picture cards to communicate. Not so.

DT & OT

Suzanne called this morning to double check on our time. She didn't feel comfortable introducing too many new things in one day, so we're going to wait until next Thursday to start. I'm excited to get started!! Mitzi is on vacation this week, so we are DONE with therapy for the week. That's good considering the surgery and just life business in general.

SLP

We played with the little chubby cars & DS was much more independant today. He usually needs a bit of prompting to ask for 'help' popping them together, but today he seemed to want to do it himself. We did the same stuff - just helping him use his language in play & had a good time. Then, we did 'spin art'. Look at his beautiful painting!

Awesome Week - Part Two

And...thats not all. This week started awesome, but has also continued that way. Do explain...... OT Wednesday, Mitzi came, all went well. She had 'game day'. We played a fishing game (working on noises and pincer grasp), Memory (Sorting animals, foods, etc..), and 'Don't spill the beans (Fine motor and turn taking). DS had a great visit. Nothing ground breaking, but progress is not bad, so I have no problem with that. It was pretty low key, so we had more time for general questions and conversation, which is good every now and then. Later that afternoon, I got a call from Suzanne. She can pick up DS on her caseload for DT. We work out our schedules, and decide on Thursdays at 915. Next week we're starting on Monday due to DS surgery next Thursday. She also wants me to email her his likes, dislikes, issues, and any other concerns that will help her get to know him faster. That's my cup of tea. Then Thursday I got a call from TEACCH. I've been waiting on this call since mid-July. Ron can start coming out to the house immediately. He has an open slot on Monday's at 11ish, which works in our schedule. I'm super excited about this one. The two options were we either get in with Ron (12, 90 min sessions at our house) or we go to the TEACCH center (8 sessions, 60 miles round trip). I have heard awesome things about Ron & if nothing else, it'll be SO great to have one therapist who ONLY deals with autism and the spectrum. The sessions will be for DS, but will also be more parent based than OT,DT,SLP. He is only here for 12 sessions, so we will work on what routines and techniques work well for DS, set those up, and make sure I understand how it all works. TEACCH uses some techniques regardless of the child, but most of it will depend on DS specific needs. And next week I will be attending my first HFA/AS meeting. They will have a speaker from TEACCH & I have already submitted a question about what to expect with DS surgery coming up with regards to behaviors and how I can try to prepare him. If I haven't previously posted about DS surgery, we are having his 'Bilateral Preauricular' Ear tags removed next Thursday. Yep, that's right... 2 on each side. Or, as we refer to them his 'Wingdings'. For whatever reason, an 'oral surgeon' will be removing them in a fairly 'simple' procedure that should take about 45 minutes. I am going to miss them, but we know it's the best for him later in life.

Awesome week - Part One

One more post that will be more about ME than about DS, but its another notable week for us... At the beginning of the week, I prayed for some clarity on finances. It's always a strain to stay at home, but we knew that God was calling me home to stay with our children and so I quit working nights after our daughter was born. Sunday, I just layed the issue at Jesus' feet and said... 'here, you have it... I really and truely understand why you already knew I can't handle this alone'. Monday comes. It's a good day... Jen comes, we play, DS is actively involved, enjoys the games, participates well, uses his words well. DS and I are searching for a bit of downtime as DD naps, and so I sneak over to a website devoted to Stay-at-home-moms and chatted for a bit. Everyone is talking about 'ChaCha'... what in the world is ChaCha, if it's not a dance? Evidently, it is an answer to prayer...that's what it is. So, I'm now an employed SAHM who has a job - based on her home computer - in her jammies if need be - with her cup of coffee.... I can log on and work when i can, log off when I can't. The work comes to me (quite fast I must say... can't even scratch my nose between questions) Simple as that. It is legit, there is no money going to this company from me, and the questions can be quite hillarious. The BASIC premise is that people text or call in ANY question they want to know the answer to. It comes to me.. I use my 'googlePhd' to answer them. And, Voila, they pay me per answer. (If you would like a more detailed description because you are interested, please just leave me a comment & I'll email you a more professional description and links) I signed up, took my training, took my testing, and waited about 36 hours to be accepted and hired. All the while, I was a bit worried about the TYPES of questions that people would send in. This is probably majority teenagers we're talking about.... so, as I am contemplating my moral delimma and deciding what I'll do if I get a vulgar question... I start to think that maybe this isn't the right job for me and maybe this really wasn't an answer to prayer. Think no more. I logged on. Got my FIRST question within less than a millisecond and my FIRST question was 'Do you believe in God'. BAM! An opportunity to share the gospel. I couldn't have said it better myself. 'Our God is an awesome God.' No, He doesn't speak to me with a human voice... but it couldn't ring any clearer than that. What an awesome week!!!

A breath......

Finally... I give my brain a rest A rest from the chaos of thinking about Autism A rest from the constant of Autism A rest from the nagging what if's of autism As you can see, I didn't blog about any therapies last week. I will continue - this has been my sounding board, outlet, and record - but I have had a breakthrough this week that I would like to share with you. After 4 months of daily - hourly - and sometimes minute by minute searching for WHYS, HOWS, WHERES, WHOS, etc and so on.... I finally just rest in the comfort of God's peace. Not to mention, i'm pretty sure I found the end of the internet ;-) I'm at peace with who my son is. How God created him. What HIS plans are. That the outcome of his life has purpose - meaning - no matter if he's different or the same as everyone else. As Christians, we're to look different anyway. We're to let our light shine - be IN the world, but not OF the world. God has CREATED my sweet boy just like He created your son or daughter or you or me. So, He must have had a reason. I'm going to try to just be the mom I'm called to be - to help him as best I can - to train him up the way he should go so he might not depart from it. I won't be perfect. I'll certainly go backwards and falter. But I want to choose to see this in God's eyes. Certainly ANY child of God is made in his image, why would I doubt that? I have been humbled this week - as a fellow blogger dealt with heartwrenching circumstances. All the while, she chose to look on toward God's purpose and God's will. It broke me - when she said as she went through the most difficult of circumstances - she would be praying through Psalm 121 over and over.... I will lift up my eyes to the hills - From where comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore. The WHYS, HOWS, WHERES, WHOS are all questions of selfishness - not of faithfulness. God, WHAT now? What do You ask of me now? Unlike sweet Isaac (who was born and passed this week) - I have held my child for 2 years already. I get to hear him tell me he loves his mommy. I get to kiss his precious face. I get to see him learn and grow. I get to celebrate huge accomplishments. I get to hold his hand across the street. I get to be proud. I get to help him learn. Has he made me a better mommy? Have I stopped to pay better attention? Have I spent more time? Will he have the capacity to accept Jesus when the time comes? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. This week I taught my 1 year old Sunday School class about Noah. A classic truth of the Bible - Noah's ark. Most of us know the story. But I was caught off guard by one simple line - (Gen 6:22) Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. It doesn't say that Noah asked why. It doesn't say that he logged onto the internet in search of flood statistics. It doesn't say that he questioned the odd requests and specificity of the instructions at all. It says NOAH DID, According to all that God had commanded him... How often do I stray from the simplicity of just DOing? Lord, help me to find your way...... it is ALL joy if it is in you....James 1:2-5

Genetics Testing

Amino Acids: Normal Fragile X: Normal Chromosome Study: Normal Microray: Normal Everything came back without anything alarming. However, I still really couldn't even BEGIN to tell you what any of this means & I'm disappointed, b/c I was hoping to gain a better understanding of our genes through this. Not So, but good news nevertheless. Off to get us well - OJ, R&R, and maybe some TV

OT - Cancelled Today

We are cruddy with either the after effects of a bad allergen season, or something else we picked up. More Next week.

SLP

So, last week, I met with Tammy (coordinator) and we worked on updating some of DS goals. One goal we added to Speech was to begin working on 'function' questions. I will post all the new goals for SLP and OT once I have them in my hand.

Q: 'What do I need to open the door?'

A: 'A key.'

So, in order for him to learn the function of something (what opens a door? what cuts the banana? what do I need to call someone with?) we need to start using more complex questions -instead of just looking for a response to a question - we need to prompt him to answer these types of questions.

This morning, Jen used the 'Parents Animal Hospital' (one of my all-time favorites) to show us how to tap into this new concept. She would ask him 'What do we need', because he already knew he wanted the animals out. Then we would say 'We need the key. The key opens the door.'

Seems simple enough. We'll just try to add these questions to our vocabulary so that we're prompting him to answer the questions before we just give him a handout.

Reallife examples:

If he wants a drink.... 'What do we need to put the drink in?' 'A cup'

If he wants to brush his teeth... 'what cleans your teeth?' 'A toothbrush'

Still brainstorming...