Pointing : Stage 2

Well, the pointing has given Jonathan such a new lease on life.

Wanting to take full advantage of this stage I ask him to direct us when we are going in the car to and from the Special Ed unit. He points and I ask "Which way?", and he now actually replies with "This way" rather than just echoing me.

Unfortunatly, we also had a meltdown about the car not going the direction he was pointing.

He Goes to Special Ed 2 afternoons a week atm, and on a day he wasn't meant to go, he really, really, wanted to. So as I turned the car towards home, he started crying out "this way, this way, this way!!" and pointed in the opposite direction. I said a few times " Home today" but it didn't get through... after all, he had the power of the finger!!

Being only 700 metres to school it wasn't a long trip, and once I got home he continued in his frantic requests. I unbuckled his seatbelt, and he didn't want to get out. I kept trying to coax him, but he just wanted to go... he even crawled up on top of the dash board pressed himself into the windshield and kept trying to point and say "this waaaay!!!!"

After quite a while he got out of the car, but was very distressed. He went to the side of the house and sat amongst the path with the pebbles and started putting them into a container and out again. He just needed soemthing tactile. He then had a few other things happen that also distressed him and it ended up being about an hour before he calmed down. :( poor boy.

The next day was a day for special school, so that seemed to make things a bit better.. the power had returned! I think he's just testing his boundaries again.

Today tho, his older brother (who is 7 1/2) asked me "when is Jonathan going to be unautistic?". That was a big conversation, with a few tears on both sides, mine mostly when Daniel cried saying " but I want to talk to him." Ahhhh we are all growing through this experience.