I Made It!

Today was the last day of school before we start the Easter holidays, Jono had a half day and Rob and I had a chance to go together to pick him up.

As soon as he got in the car he had one of his pieces of art he had done at school, and... he wanted to tell us about it.

The convo went along these lines.
Me: Jono, what's this?
Jono: I made it!
Me; What's this one
Jono: a Flower... on a Easter egg
Me: And what about this?
Jono: A chick!
Dad: Is it a dog?
Jono: (grin in voice) No Dad.

Too cute!!

Sentence Structure

Jono is coming into his own with language at the moment, we are getting less babble and more real words. He is even thinking about his words, and the way they fit together to make sure they sound right.

A few weeks back, Rob was with Jono in the car heading towards home. There is a large amount of roadworks near our place as they are building a new motorway. As they got the that stretch of road jono turned to Rob and said "They...... they fixing the road". Rob turned around and said "yes Jono, they are fixing the road"


When Rob was explaining it to me, he added "I was so excited, I wanted to talk with Jono about it for hours."

It's amazing what an impact simple things can have on those around us :)

Where's Tv Mum?

Yet another TV Episode, it's part of the furniture, it's 'meant' to be on the cabinet, when you get home form school, you turn it on... then go outside and play... but it's still meant to be there, and if anyone tries to turn it off... well.. then you complain, loudly!

Actually, there's two recent TV tales to tell.

Firstly, with the recent renovations, we have had quite a few power tools and such around the house. We've been laying pavers with much much help from some friends, and one particular weekend was at the stage of cutting the pavers to fit in the little odd sections. The tool we were using was a wet-saw, which had a hose attached at one side and then power one the other side. We had attached a plastic bag over the power cable to protect it form water getting in, but... it wasn't completely water-tight.

After around an hour or so, the power to the entire living area of the house failed.

Jono knew what needed doing, so he grabbed my hand, lead me out to the power box outside and told me to fix the switch (yes, he has seen this before... but only the once or twice) I flicked the switch, and the TV started back up... he was fairly distressed at this stage, but once the power kicked back in he started to settle. Unfortunately... the TV didn't stay on (neither did anything else).

More tears, and grabbing my hand telling me to fix it... I went back to the swicth, tried again... and the same problem. Ok... so I start pulling devices out of the power to try and stabilise the circuit, unplugged the microwave, the kettle, the computer, the amplifier... none of which was helping at all. Then we realized.. the wet-saw! We went out and unplugged that, and a whole heap of water came out of the cable - luckily we had the safety switch built in.

So we turned it all back on and plugged it all back in, and showed Jono that it was now working, in response to which he held on to the top of the TV, gave it a hug and collapsed in a pile of tears - oh the drama and terror was over!

The second tale... again a problem with the TV. Daddy had taken the TV for a work conference, to use for displaying computer software on a large screen. He left the house before Jono was awake, so Jono didn't see it leave, however, when he got up he noticed. After he woke he came downstairs to get ready for school and saw it was missing. He said 'where's TV mum?' and I couldn't explain that it was gone for one day and coming back.. so I said it was missing. His solution? 'RT Edwards Mum!'... Yes honey, we can go get a new TV from RT Edwards.. but we have to wait until Daddy gets home tonight. This was acceptable and we got ready for school.

When we got home in the afternoon, he went to turn the TV on before he headed outside to play, forgetting what we sorted out in the morning, and no matter what I said, he just got upset, more and more upset. So we rang Daddy, we told Daddy 'TV Gone, RT Edwards', and Daddy talked with Jono until he calmed down. After that he was all happy, and when Daddy got home that night with the TV, life was all good again.

Habits, Routine, things have a place to be, and when they aren't there it just doesn't always make sense.

When I grow up....

Jono has been doing a great amount of drawing at night-time again. We leave him in his room at bed time, but are ok for him to wander around a bit and 'do' stuff, he often doesn't settle down for sleep until around 10:00pm or so, but he generally stays happy in his room, prancing, drawing building blocks and the occasional 'yelp' of joy.

So, lately he's been drawing a range of things that 'could' be what he wants to do with his life. over a few nights in succession.

He Loooooves cooking, and cooking shows, and the recent Masterchef series has been on a bit at home and he's seen a few shows. around 2-3 nights after the show finished he drew a picture from it... it took a few days to realise what he had drawn, but I asked him a lot of thinhs, finally coming to 'is it clothes?' and got an ecsatic yes. He drew the masterchef apron, with the symbol, and with someone's name on it.


The next night, he drew this...
His fascination with space continues, will he perhaps help building a new colony on another planet? Or maybe this is evidence of aliens building pyramids?

then the next night, he drew this... perhaps he simply wants to be a weatherman.
It's not raining at the top, but yes it's sunny in the middle, and it will be raining down south.


It's interesting to see all this coming out of his head in a way that makes sense to us as well as to him.

Mum, Look et dis!

We,ve been doing some rather major renovations of our house lately.. specifically building a pool in the backyard. I honestly didn't realize just how much mess and dirt and mud there was going to be. We've asked them to do some extra landscaping work while the excavator has been on site so I feel that every single part of the house has been trashed. *hums to self.. it's only temporary*

Co-incidentally Jono has been getting us a lot more involved in his world lately, he will call out for someone to look 'et dis' (at this) and point, sometimes we have no clue what he is looking at sometimes we can guess it, occasionally he will give a description, which often goes along the lines of 'mumble, jumble, gargle, wargle, TRUCK'. ahh... he saw a truck. Then we can ask questions like: What colour was it Jono? and he will answer, it's a white one.

We are up to 4-5 word sentences that are impromptu, structured by him and make sense. It's wonderful! So... back to the pool. This next part I'll be doing in pictures, as I simply cannot describe this.

Firstly, our yard kinda 'before' we started all this.















Next, our yard part way through the leveling of the land.















And... here's a mud puddle that grew in the corner.... Yes, that 'is' Jono walking near it to go to the swingset on the top terrace... no he didn't fall in it, on this day. However...
















One of the morning we were madly running to get out the door to school, all the kids were dressed, and I was getting the last things into their school bags so we could get out the door. Jono was in the backyard on the swing (which he loves) and I thought he would have no problems staying clean.

I told the kids, 2 minutes and we are leaving.. and the next thing I hear is a little voice at the back door "Mum, Look et dis" I can hear a grin in the voice so I go to check it out. I wasn't prepared. He had slipped and fallen in to the mud puddle, and was thrilled!! At first I raced him to the shower, then I stopped grabbed the camera and took photos with him laughing the whole time.


















I marched him back outside quickly for a few more photos. So I didn't have even more mud through the house. Daniel grabbed my phone and took some photos on there as well.
















Amazingly, we still made it to school on time!

Words to do with Renovating

There has been a tonne of renovating going on in Jonathan's life recenelty and more to come yet.
We have taken out half the garage and built a new room - which will start it's life as a gym. While getting the gym done, we decided to get a few last things done to the kitchen... and then after the kitchen looked at the bathroom and started to pull that apart, along with the toilet. Next we are tackling a pool and outdoor stuff.

Meanwhile at school, they are gutting and rebuilding approximately 3/4 of the school buildings as well as putting in new buildings. So he's getting it all over in his life (poor boy). I have to say he has handled it remarkably well, and been very settled throughout, probably a lot less stressed or concerned than what Rob and I have been.

As a result of all the reno's, we have had a few classic moments that I really want to share. The first when we had an electrician here fixing the lighting in the bathroom.

The electrician arrived quite early - around 7am, on a weekend, and Jono was sleeping in. He did all his preparation work, cut new holes in the ceiling for new fixtures and got everything ready to the point he needed the electricity to be turned off. He let us know it was going off, we shut down computers, turned off the telly and let him get on with what he needed to do.

Around 5 minutes later, the electrician came downstairs with a huge grin on his face and a story for us "your little fella is quite funny" he says.

Jono had awoken, and as usual headed for the light switch in the hallway to turn it on (it was 9 o'clock in the morning an broad daylight, it didn't need to be on, but such is his habit). He reached for the switch and 'click'... nothing happened. 'Click', still nothing... 'click, click, click, click, click', pause... then a little voice 'uh-oh'. Another pause... then... 'I can't see, I can't see, I can't see!"

We all cracked up laughing and spent the next few days saying to Jono 'click.. I can't see' and he's been giggling with us. Lovely to see he has a sense of humour about himself.

The other incident that's kept us laughing has to do with shoes. We've had a shoe rack near the front door for years, and with the renos have opened another space in a cupboard under the stairs with heaps of room for schoolbags, lunchboxes, iceskates, and the shoerack.

I moved it in one night when he was in bed, so he wasn't aware it had happened. The next morning when he woke, he came down the stairs and noticed it straight away. "Where's my shoes??"... on top of "I can't see" it's been a great week, both for his intiating conversation, and for the family funny bone :)

Today, I feel it

This weekend has been fairly big in a few ways, and today's not going that great so far... Bedsides the fact that it is Monday. We are working on Jono wearing his proper school shirt, and it was going ok last week, but today he's completely against it.

Back to the weekend though. On Friday I took the kids all shopping to get groceries at Coles to help the bushfire appeal. We walked past a games shop and Jono just wanted to stay and watch, I let him for a little while, then we needed to get going. I cajoled, demanded, dragged, insisted and ended up smacking him to try and get him moving past the shop. He dropped to the floor in tears, I realized we weren't getting anywhere so I stopped and hugged him till he calmed down enough for us to be able to move. 10 minutes later we were in Coles.

While there all three kids were being mischievous as the lines were so long and some old guy who doesn't know us from a bar of soap mutters under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear, something about smacking children. Thankyou random stranger for the input. Grrrrrr

Then we went to a new church on Sunday, and a few people 'noticed' the noise emanating from our corner, not pushy or nosy, and not many of them but on top of Friday, I felt it.

I started to think, we will never be 'accepted' as a family, we will always be people who are different. As a child I strove to be different, but on my terms... Being goofy, funny, silly... This is not on my terms and I don't like that.

So today, He can't wear the school shirt, I don't know why, He can't tell us what's wrong with it, and is totally overwhelmed about the whole idea of wearing it... Both of us.
Today, I'm feeling it.

When No, Means No!!.. and Yes.. and...

Lately Jono is expressing himself with the word No. He is using it all all kinds of situations.

Are you hungry? No! Put some food in front of him and he will eat
Do you want to go for a drive? No! Tell him to get his shoes on and get ready and he gets into the car happily.
Pass me the drink/remote/phone..etc. No! Then he will hand it over.

I 'think' he is just testing boundaries a little, but it's really hard to tell.. it's hard enough to tell with the other two! Ah well, as long as he eats, wears clothes in public and gets in the car when we need to get going, it's all good.

www.mcds.com.au

Does this site exist? Highly doubtful, but I am sure we all know what it means. Advertising is so powerful, even a child with limited vocabulary and social interaction is not only aware of it but also capable of writing it... In permanent pen, on the kitchen clock. So the clock has a new look and we went to mcds for dinner the other night .com.au

As early as 3 months...

I've been reading a lot of forums from other families with autistic kids lately and a common thing is the 18 month old needles... that their kids were bright, blooming and blossoming, learning to talk, socially interacting, some even have video of it, before the needles and then afterwards, they are... not. (I even remember Jono waving goodbye to people of his own accord at 10 months.. I also remember at 14 months seeing he was 'different')

Now I've been firm in my individual belief that it's genetic, whether the needles accelerate the traits or not.. I don't know; but the other night I was astounded. We were as a family sitting and watching some videos of the kids - it started as me and Sarah watching a bit of Mummy and Daddy's wedding, and then we all came to watch.

In amongst the videos was some footage of Jono at 3 months old in a bouncer, I'm clicking my fingers and calling his name and trying to get him to respond so I can film him - as all parents do with kids that age I am sure :)... and there is a moment, just before he caught the camera and smiled the biggest cheesiest grin.

This moment, and it's really brief, is of him looking from the corner of his eyes. He does it a lot these days, it's as though he is looking at you safely.. if he doesn't look at you or the object directly, then you don't know he is looking at you, and he can decide if it's safe/he wants to get involved... and he still takes everything in.

So I see this moment, of his corner looking at the camera, then he lets out this big grin... at the age of 3 MONTHS! Corner looking (for want of another term) from that age! I didn't notice it before, and sometimes you only see things in hindsight, but this helps me so much with the idea that the 18 month needles had something to do with it.. because from this, I really don't think they do and it helps me to be settled in the idea that it's genetic... and it really is completely beyond my control.

Transitioning is hard

Well, I'm at the point I'm actually labeling some of Jono's behaviors with Autistic terms. Is this another level of acceptance? Who knows.. it's just where we are at.

Yesterday on school holidays, we went out to a local park, Jono had trouble sitting in the car seat properly and preferred to be on the floor (as he had the other day). He's been horribly sick, with a vomiting flu thing and its really sapped him, and has seemed to cause some regression - he went through two days of no talking at all, and even now his babbling isn't as bright and cheery as normal.

So anyway, yesterday we went to the park, and then we wanted to go to the shops to buy something for Daniel, I spoke to Daniel about the chance we wouldn't get it today, depending on whether Jono could sit in his chair or not... How does an 8 year old take that you may ask? Well... it was difficult for him to understand he may miss out because Jono was having a 'moment'... but after he understood that I would not drive for 15 minutes to the shop we needed to go to because Jonothan's safety was more important, he seemed to be ok.


We got back in the car after the park, and I swapped their seats putting Jono directly behind me.. again he couldn't sit in his chair, he wanted to be on the floor. So I put the seatbelt across him the best I could and thought - perhaps I could bribe him, and we drove the few hundred meters to the petrol station and I got everyone an Iceblock. That worked! He sat up for that. So we had 1 boy ok with driving and in his chair properly, and one boy who was happy because we could now go to the shops. So off we went.

At the shops we got a game for Daniel, and some stuff at the chemist, then got back in the car... I bought everyone some drinks on the way out so Jono would 'have' to sit up again and he traveled fine. We got home and started baths, the idea was to have Jono in the shower while the game got installed so that the computers weren't doing something that was too odd. I got Sarah in the bath, and was upstairs when I heard Jono crying and wailing, genuinely distraught.. I came back to see he had picked up the game case and opened it, and I could not see the CD... so.. I start thinking - oh great he's tossed it somewhere, and start searching the front yard, the lounge, the stairs, the back yard.. to no avail. In the meantime Daniel is getting distressed coz the cd is gone, and Sarah is needing to get out of the bath to go to the toilet (never rains!)

So I sort Sarah, help Jono to calm, and then ring the shop... and they messed up, the disc is still there... let me express how I now feel in syllables... GRRRAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!

So, I explain to Daniel that it will have to be tomorrow, the shops close in an hour and I don't think Jono will make another trip today... and Daniel is in tears. I get Sarah through the bath.. and it's half an hour before the shops close.. so I thought.. let's try. I ask Jono if he wants to go for a drive, and he said yes... so we pack up again and head off.

The drive there was fine although busy, they gave us some money back as an apology, and were nice about it... then Jono wanted to stay in the shop, I explained it was time to go.. but he just couldn't. So I drag a screaming boy out of the shops to the car.. in the car he couldn't sit again... I coerced him, and even smacked him a few times to get him to his chair... he ended up standing at the front of his seat and I got the seatbelt on, but he just couldn't sit down. So I got some chips from a drive through and headed off... the 20 min home with a screaming, overwhelmed, scared boy clinging on to my head rest for any comfort he could obtain from holding something familiar was not the most pleasant trip of my life.

The choices are hard some days... I can't hold my other kids back from things they enjoy because one is having a hard day, but we all need to be compassionate and give room where its needed.

And after everything, he slept very well that night.

So sad, I want to pat the fish

At School they have a little fish tank with a goldfish in it. This morning they told me how the kids have all done really well with it, they take turns feeding it, and they have all gotten past the stage of trying to get the fish out of the tank to hold/look at it.

This afternoon... I turned up to a boy in angst and tears, they said he was upset coz he wasn't allowed to have the fish. He couldn't cope with leaving so we tried to forcibly carry him to the car, he dropped to the ground and lay on the path for a while, then we did pick him up and carry him. We got him to the car but then he couldn't sit in the seat.

After about 3-4 minutes with him collapsed on the floor wringing his fingers and mine, and completely unable to listen, I dragged a seatbelt across him as best I could and went for home. After all it's only 700metres from school.


We got home and he couldn't get out of the car, so I had to forcibly carry him again, though he didn't struggle quite so badly this time. After getting in the gate he wandered around the yard with his hands over his ears for a few moments, then came to the gate and cried "Open, open, open." He really really wanted the fish.

I got him upstairs and into the shower for a bit of relax and desensitize. He's stopped crying, and seems a bit calmer.. I'll see how he is after I get him out, I'm sure he'll be ok in a bit of time, it's just heart-wrenching when he's so upset and there really is not a thing I can do.

This is the biggest meltdown he's had all year, he is tired, he did eat wrong foods on the weekend with the Birthday party he went to, but this is the first time in 6 months where he's lost it so completely. Poor boy, if only he could express what it is that is causing the pain, we could do more about it.

Well... we got busy...

We went away to Cairns (the top end of Australia) for a holiday in September, and I had no Internet access... so the blog got put on hold :)

We had a great 3 wks, Jono was very forthcoming to people in the swimming pool, and jumped wholeheartedly onto complete strangers backs, fortunately they were very relaxed up there and it didn't cause issues. There was also a moment where some kids were running races and tried to get Jono to join in, I explained he was Autistic and didn't understand but thanked them for trying to include him, two minutes later they were getting him to do high fives with them.

Sarah and Daniel also enjoyed being away from home, and loved Grandpa's dog. We all had a really good time, and I think Jono only melted down once or twice. We drove the whole way there and back 1700km's, with the three kids, and they all coped really well... Rob and I were quite amazed.

Towards the end of the year, Jono plateaued, he didn't really progress in speech or school, and I think he knew school was finishing as he got more difficult to direct. The last two weeks of school, I had lots of concerns and dramas about where he should go for this year, as I wanted him in special school, and he had to be intellectually impaired to be able to go. More 'labels', stress, choices, decisions, questions... it was hard, but we got through it, and he is now in Grade one at special school.. and he is doing wonderfully! More on that later.

We also had an very interesting summer holiday, it was too long and not long enough, but we all did very well... and more on that later too. Nice to start blogging again, he is my special man, and life is busy, but good :)

Pack up Time

He has recently (for about a week now) taken a great liking to this phrase. He uses it a LOT, at some times it seems reasonable for the use.. at other times, just plain out of sorts.. I'm not sure if he just likes the sound of the words, or has a hidden meaning to them.

I took a video of him the other day in this mode, he is doing pacing on a trail in the front yard, while his brother and sister play in the background... he gets distracted by our cat 'Abby', at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnJSUAsw36I

Come into my world

Today I took the boys to a playground near Jonathan's school, and it has a fantastic flying fox in it... I can vouch for it being fantastic as it can handle adults :)

So Daniel took first turn, and had about 4 goes, then I said it was Mummy's turn, so I had a few goes then called Jonathan over saying it was his turn. He had a few goes, then I said it was Daniel's turn again - so Jonathan, in sensory mode, goes to the middle of the path and waits for the flying fox to come careering at him so he can then fall down in a pile of jelly as soon as it touches him.

He loves doing this, if we have marbles or a powered toy car, he will go to the end of the hall and lay with his head on the floor waiting for you to throw it directly at him, giggling madly as he gets out of the way at the last minute.

So.. after Daniel had a few more turns, I said it was Jono's turn again, and Danile said that it was his turn to stand in the middle and wait for the flying fox to come at him and he would fall down. Jono loved this. Not only was his big brother sharing, but he was doing what Jono likes to do.

After a while they they went to the helicopter (that you climb into and have to pedal to make it turn), they couldn't get it working at first even though both had a go. Then Jono went elsewhere and Daniel managed to get it going... so he Called to Jono "Come, come"... Jono wasn't ready just yet and kept saying "No!". A little while longer and Jono did go to his brother, and climb all over the helicopter, when he was slipping Daniel held him and helped him up on top, then made the copter turn in circles with his brother sitting on top of it.

It was very special to see them really enjoying each other's company (tho they usually do) and more so that they were taking turns, and Daniel helping Jono, and being involved in the things that he likes, even if they do seem a little strange.

Any response is a good response.

The other day Jonathan was in the backyard (his favourite place) and I needed to get him ready to go out, So I called for him, saying 'Jono come... time to go in the car', usually, I just call a few times until he starts coming to me to get ready to go, and he will often echo back 'come' or 'car'.

This time.. after a few calls.. he practicially yelled.. WHAT!!?!?!?!

I have never been so excited to hear a child talk back to me. I've told a few friends, and we all agreed, any other child would get some discusion about the right way to respond, for Jono, it was just exciting that he responded at all.

Writing

Today I found in Jonathan's school bag 3 pieces of paper with his name on them... one was tracing over dots in the right shape, the others freehand.. they were very child-like.. I'm not sure if he did them himself, or if he had someone holding his hand and directing him - I shall find out. [Edit: he had help to write them.. but he really understands that a 'J' with some scribble after it is how to write his name ]

But.. I showed them to him and praised him on writing his name.. he was well pleased.

I get amazed at times by his progression, it seems to 'normal' and at other times it seems so restricted. Some areas he functions exactly like any other boy or girl his age... and there are some kids in his class whose language is almost as restricted as his, yet have no special needs.

It's so hard to gauge just what he is learning and understanding.. at times it seems like he knows everything around him, he just doesn't want to tell us about it. Other times he is waaay in his own little world and its hard to break in... is he simply daydreaming...? I honestly couldn't tell you.

Oh, and this winter's big news.. he is actually staying under his doona, last winter it was not something he wanted and we just dressed him extra warm and hoped for the best.

With his often restless nights it seems to be getting harder and harder to get him out of bed now in the mornings... especially when the doona gets ripped off him, and he fumbles around for it then drags it back over his entire body like a cocoon.... toooo cute!

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.

LOOK !!!!!

With a flourish of a finger, and a joyous phrase, we enter a new phase for Jonathan.

In the past few days, he has started pointing, with his finger at various things that excite him. Tonight it was the 'Wombles' (old BBC tv show) Dvd playing on the TV. He ran up to the TV, pointed at it and almost shouted in excitement.

"Erm... most children point at things" I hear you say. "True", I reply... "most children do, usually from as early as 15 months". [By 15 months most children: Walk without support, say a few words in addition to mama and dada, move arms and legs to assist in dressing, wave bye bye, communicate by gesturing and pointing, finger feed self, and begin using a spoon. http://www.laxfamilyresources.org/child_development.htm]

We are at 5 and a half years and just now seeing some consistency with some of the basic developmental abilities for most children - of course, it delayed due to it's relation to the social aspect of life.. the constant 'boundary' for autistic people.

And just looking at that list I linked, he walked at around 14 mnths, had maybe one other word than mama and dada, rarely assisted with dressing (from fuzzy memory here.. never really took notice on when that changed.. perhaps at 3 yrs-ish), he was waving bye-bye occassionally, which inadverntandly stopped at around 18mnths for perhaps around 2 yrs, and he had no problems feeding himself :) .

Also... another delight, I have yet again to thank the makers of 'Toy Story'. I purchased a CD for the car, basically a script from the movie with a narrator over movie voices. A month later... I had tried a few times to change the CD, but he always refused... only that one would do.

This morning, as we arrived at school... he held his hand over the on/off swicth so I couldn't turn it off, I waited for him (while his sister also got her shoes on) and after around a minute the bit he wanted came on... he then proceeded to amaze me by repeating 'word-for-word' around 6 sentences from the script, in time with the recording. Not just a few words, but almost a full paragraph. (of course... it's echolalia, it's not him saying a paragraph himself... but that definately will be coming!)

Things like this just give me hope for him for the future.. I have no real gauge to measure him by. He is his own man and developing in his way, I don't know how much language he will aquire, how well he will read, how he goes with maths... I see high school being especially difficult for him - let alone the adult world, and besides, we have grade one yet to tackle. {Moderate sigh}

It's too far ahead to be looking in some ways, but it also helps us to be better parents to our other kids. Be YOUR best, do all YOU can, excel with the gifts YOU have... fair advice I should be taking for myself too ;)

"Mum, look at this"

About a week ago now, we were at the computers... The two boys on one computer, and me on another... when Jonathan says, clear as a bell "Mum, look at this".

He was holding up a piece of dirty paper.. and wanted to show it to me.

The amazing things about this were:
HE initiated... he chose that he wanted to tell someone something - and in this case it was me he wanted to tell.

He had an objective.. for me to look at the paper.. and HE chose the right words to achieve that.

He spoke a sentence... with no prompting, modelling, initiating, he just ... spoke.

Wow!