I haven't posted in a while. Big brother has been out of school and our routine has been rocked a little. Blogging was one of the things that got pushed aside.
We're cruising along here. B is still doing really well with all of his programs. I continue to be impressed by him. Whenever we've decided to try to correct a negative behavior, he seems to catch on really fast. For example, he had gotten really bad about pulling on me to get my help or attention. It was his primary way of getting his needs met but it reached a point where it was causing a problem. I could never sit down to eat or do much of anything without him trying to pull me away. If I didn't respond, he quickly escalated to crying and pushing. We put a plan into place to consciously block him and limit how often he could pull me around (for lack of a better term). There has been a remarkable change in a very short time period. We just finished a 4 day weekend without a single meal being interrupted. He catches on quick. We're now targeting a new habit that has developed where he is sucking on his hands & fingers. I am confident that we can nip this one pretty quickly too. And we're trying to curtail some of the aimless running he does at the end of the day by giving him a scheduled "free time" outside in the evening to run to his heart's content without anyone placing any demands on him.
He's also continuing to progress with all of his other programs. He is now matching letters and colors and learning lots of receptive labels for things. He can play independently through a sequence of 5 toys (we started with 1 step on 1 toy). He is pointing to pictures in books, using his PECS book to make requests, learning prepositions (on, next to, above, etc. etc.) and lots more. I think he has something like 15 programs at the moment.
Still, talking continues to be a challenge and frustration for me. He continues to progress at a slow and steady pace. The goal now is 24 words or phrases during each 3-hour session which he is meeting. We started at 1. Our attempts to get him to use language are still not clicking though. We recently put all of his Thomas trains in a clear bin. He used to say Thomas multiple times every day. All he has to do to get access to this huge treasure chest is say the word and yet he won't say it. I don't get it. We'll keep trying and exploring and hopefully that magical lightbulb will go on one of these days.
On the subject of talking, he just did do something very funny and awesome. I was holding him because I hadn't seen him much today and over my shoulder, he spotted and started pointing to our family picture. In perfectly clear words, he pointed and said mama, his brother's name and then his dad's first name. Not Daddy (though we've heard him say it many times) but his first name. He repeated it several times. Pretty funny. I'm pretty sure there is so much more awareness and knowledge in there - he just hasn't quite figured out how to get it out. I'm working on my patience in this area and reminding myself how much progress he is making overall and how hard he is working.
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