What a day

A lot happened yesterday but as I went to bed at close to midnight, blogging was one of the things that didn't make the cut.

The day started with an early blow. I learned in our parent meeting that our beloved senior therapist is moving to Australia in early December. I was a little surprised by how sad this made me as my eyes welled up immediately. In a short time, she has become an important member of our family. I have joked that she lives with us. She is here something like 30 hours a week (maybe more) and she is really shaping B's programs, supporting our family and creating a lot of FUN for both boys. She has had a huge impact on all of our lives and will be sorely missed.

Later on, I had a couple of really interesting glimpses into B's learning challenges. I was working with him on matching but the things I was using were a few steps back from what he's currently working on with the therapists. The current technique uses the items by themselves but we used to put a blank piece of paper underneath them. I did it without the paper (not realizing that he didn't learn it that way). He was a bit stumped. When we corrected it and put the paper out, he had no problem. He is completely literal - no substitutions. That's another reason that the intensity is so high. He can't naturally generalize the learning the way the rest of us can.  Another time, the senior therapist was trying out a new instruction (Stand). After focusing on sit for 2 months, he was really confused. He'd stand up out of the chair but then try to sit on the ground because he assumed she wanted him to sit. It's really fascinating. This disorder is very real and he has to work SO hard to learn. So hard already and he still isn't even 3.

But he is learning. I was sitting at the kitchen table last night and big brother was watching Caillou. B had been watching his favorite, Thomas earlier. B came over, took my hand and led me to the TV. When I didn't do anything, he handed me the remote and then said "Thomas". I quickly switched the show and thankfully big brother didn't mind.  Look out - my kids may soon be arguing over what to watch like typical siblings.