Stuff

First of all, I realize that I should have sent another tape by now. However, with the hustle and bustle of Christmas, I haven't done much taping and have been less mindful of our objectives. I'm not sure if I'll get another tape done before your visit, but since it is still 3 weeks away, I might.

Secondly, Jake's language has taken off over the past 9 months since starting some language therapy. We made the switch to the new SLP b/c Teresa left for China. Well, the new/old SLP...she was our First Steps SLP from 16 mos to 3y2m. Anyway, after a discussion with her she said she didn't really feel he needed her assistance anymore and that he just needed some guidance in typical situations and practice. We left it at we would stop therapy for now, but she would stick around after your talk on the 19th and we could have a little pow-wow about Jake and see if you thought he needed to continue with language therapy. I love it that Cari wants to totally function as a team even though she really has little knowledge of RDI and has never met you. She is just awesome like that! So, we'll look forward to your input regarding that.

Thirdly, a few little tidbits about new things I see Jake doing. I forgot to mention that while at T-Rex, Lauren told Jake a knock-knock joke and Jake started in on telling her knock-knock jokes back. They went back and forth with this several times. I had to help a little bit as the place was really loud and crazy distracting but he did very well. He laughed at her jokes and had the best time telling his jokes. Also, he, Lydia, and my nephew Jude (2 1/2) and niece Addie (15 mos) were playing in our basement yesterday. Usually my sis and I are down there to watch Addie but we were doing something upstairs. So, Sarah told Jake to watch Addie and not let her put anything in her mouth. He totally kept an eye on her and made her take things out of her mouth a couple of times! I have noticed he can be trusted to watch Lydia when I tell him to also. His attention to task has improved dramatically. His teacher commented on this right before break, but I saw it for myself yesterday. I had him sit down to do his "homework" which is an optional handwriting sheet practicing upper and lower case L's and coloring 3 pictures at the bottom. He whined about doing it (typical kid not wanting to do their homework) said he "wasn't done with his Bacation and didn't want to go back to school yet." (he calls Vacations Bacations). I reminded him that he if he sat down and got to work he would be done but that it needed to be his best effort too. He wrote his name at the top of the page and I helped him with the first 3 L's. I then said I was going to go upstairs and change clothes. When I came back about 15 mins later it was done and it was the best handwriting I've ever seen from him! The pictures were colored and it looked GREAT! I can tell he really put effort in but didn't lollygag either b/c he was already involved in playing with his new castle full swing by the time I got back down. 3 months ago I would have had to stand there and keep reminding him to work.

I really feel we are swerving off of Autism Road and onto Correct Developmental Path Parkway a fair amount these days. Of course, we still spend a decent amount of time on Autism Road, but I sure love the time we are spending on Correct Developmental Path Parkway. ;-)