Eric Summer Updates In Words

There is plenty of great news to share. The summer schedule of therapy is intense, but so very worth it. He had a great time with summer school. That ended last week, he has this week off and next week, camp!

His progress verbally and with language is very impressive. He can request almost anything, politely. I've seen him use sign too, especially at the table when eating. He will say "I want to eat" and sign drink, close enough :-b He also signs me and more quite frequently. When he wants cheerios he points to the box and says "cheerios". If baby brother has one of his toys or is in the way he says "go Jon Jon". Andy's name is a little harder. Maybe because it is mostly Jon that tries to interact with Eric that he can more easily remember. He will call me mom on prompt or repeat, but not on his own yet. I'm in the process of making PECS with pictures I have taken of our family members, favorite toys, everyday used objects, ect and making picture schedules. All the boys respond very well to pictures. I have all the pictures taken, now if I could get my computer and technical issues straightened out I can print and finish them. Once they are done I will post pictures of the final product. We ask Eric how he is, he says good, then asks how are you. I will say good, then he says good. All that just came out as of a week ago. Last week we had his appointment with the psychologist. While we were waiting for our turn the child who had his appointment before us came up and said "Hi I am (his name) I am 6 years old. I heard him saying a lot more as he was leaving with his mom. I said to Eric, someday you will talk just like him. The senior therapist heard me say that to him. The next day they taught him how to say what that little boy said to him. They prompt him with "what do you say" and he says "Hi, I'm Eric, I'm 7 years old". It's so cool! Just this morning he said to me "How are you mommy" I said "good, how are you Eric" he said good. That is a first for calling me mommy on his own! He has to have the same sequence of words to prompt and he always uses the same words, the same way all the time. Yes, it does sound a bit robotic, but I can live with all of that. Just hearing him talk more means so much to me. At school and during therapy they are bringing out the Vantage to try to unlock more language. He really is not that interested in the machine so there is no concern of him getting dependant on it like some had concerns about. He tends to pick up more from hearing people talk and the therapy.

While we still have issues with him blocking a sippy cup with his tonuge. On the suggestion of Jon's OT I tried a straw cup with him. I bought a pack of the take and toss ones with Lightning McQueen on them. He will now drink water from the cup. His CIB and milk mixtures, not so much yet. We will get there. This will be better in the long run than the sippy considering his age. He will also take dry cheerios off a spoon. This meets some resistance at first,but once he gets the first bite in it is easier from there. Of course he does all this so wonderfully for the therapists. He gives me lip, in his own way of course. I just have to be persistant with him. He had a feeding clinic appointment for next Thursday. He will be at camp then so I called them to cancel and just do his full team appointment in September. I told them of his progress and they were happy with it and we are good to go to see them in Sept. Hopefully if we can take off on this we can avoid the hospital. Him taking the spoon is a big key to getting more of a variety of foods into him.

His sensory tolerance is increasing, especially on his head. He is willing to wear hats now, where he never would before. I was able to cut his hair a few days ago as seen below. That was not pretty to watch, but the job was done, and nobody was hurt. It actually went much better than I expected, and better than it is at the salon. Once he gets used to it he will be fine. I'm sure the comfort of being in his own home helps too. He is now going into the bathroom and sitting on the toilet again. It happened after a very long fight and tantrum one day. He just decided to do it to get us off his case and has without much fight from there. He now has to be retrained in knowing when to go, but that's OK. I'm happy he is willing to go in there again.

This is getting long so I will add the pictures that I was going to put on this post to a new one. Yes, there is a lot to say here. But when it's good news, writing it and reading it is much more fun :-D