Updates

Fun and amazing things that we want to share....

April 22, 2016: William is very good at telling us what he wants and when he needs space. He usually says "bye bye" when he wants a few minutes alone. Today, dad went into the fun room to hang out with William. William gently took dad by the shoulders, turned him around towards the door, and said "bye bye" with a smile on his face! What amazing intention and cognitive ability! We are still chuckling at how well William shows us what he wants.
April 8, 2016: On Fridays, William goes to a YMCA art class with other kids with special needs. He has a friend with whom he plays board games after the art project each week. Today, they played the game of "Trouble" 3 times without a break! And they were in the library, where there are many distractions. Still, William stayed focused and played the game 3 times. Later, at dinner, dad asked "who would like the rest of the cheese?". William put his hand out and said "I would!" Awesome day!
March 19, 2016: Mom was telling William about the colleges that his sister, Ashley, has been visiting. When he saw the brochures of the colleges and saw the students, he was very interested. He listened to mom talk about the colleges and looked at her intently. When mom told him that one day he will look at colleges and go to a school like this, he became very excited and continued looking at the pictures and brochures, smiling.
March 10, 2016: William had been out of school with the flu. He missed 3 days of school. When he returned, he was SO EXCITED to go back to school and be with his friends and teachers!
January 5, 2016: William slowly transitioned to school, starting with 2 hours per day. He worked his way up to the whole day. And, today, he started riding the school bus! He had a big smile on his face as he got on the bus and left for school!
September 28, 2015: William started school! He showed and told us that he wanted to go to school with kids his age and to ride a school bus. So, he is now a student again outside of the house. He is very happy and is becoming more independent every day!
May 31, 2015: William went through confirmation at church! He participated in weekly classes all winter and joined his 4 friends on Sunday May 31st during the church service where he was confirmed. The whole church fell in love with him and his excitement for being there! He loves church and his church family!
February 11, 2015: William was in the classroom by himself and did a project all by himself. He cut pictures from a magazine and glued them onto a piece of paper as a collage. This was his idea and did it without asking for help.
September 8, 2014: William is so motivated by being around his friends and other people right now. He loved having his friends come to his classes this summer in his classroom. Now that his friends are back in school we have changed William's school schedule so that he can be around people as well as learn. We are "taking him into the community" every morning, and then back into the classroom after lunch for 2 classes. He will go to both Horse Occupational Therapy and Gymnastics on a weekly basis. But, the other days, he will go to the library, shopping at different stores, to restaurants, help out with church community outreaches, on field trips, and to Princeton Friends School once a month to do activities with school kids. So far, on day 2, he is having a great time. And after our outings (to Whole Foods yesterday and to our library today), he returned home calm and focused…after having been very alert and interactive during the morning activities. We have also started a weekly family movie night because he has shown us that he wanted to watch movies again. This will be a fun change for him since he hasn't watched TV in almost 6 years!
August 5, 2014: Field Day! William and his friends had a field day with the help of our friend Niko and his friends. They played water balloon games, tug of war, "launch the chicken", and many more fun games. William's team, team "yellow", won! Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a cookout and eating together, talking about the fun activities. William smiled, laughed and played a lot. Especially when his friends invited him to come help out or to take his turn!
July 18, 2014: William is such a social guy! He is really loving having his friends join him for classes during the week. And, his friends like it so much that they are asking to come on days that they aren't scheduled. Today, 2 friends came for a 1.5 hour language arts class. They built a life size "Game of Life" for 40 minutes, took a 10 minute break, then played the game for 40 minutes, having a blast. After a 30 minute recess, where they jumped on the trampoline and played with balls, they ate lunch together. Then, they headed back outside for another class on "Cycles". They made a family tree then watched a brief video of "life cycles". They had so much fun and were together for 4 hours! William could have continued hanging out with his friends, but they had to leave. As if it couldn't have gotten any better, one friend made a casual comment as he was leaving, which was "William is one of my favorite neighbors. I love hanging out with him!" William heard this and immediately looked at me and gave me a big smile!
July 16, 2014: William and his friends made a lemonade stand today. We invited friends and neighbors to stop by to support their stand. They had lemonade, blueberry tea and adirondack chairs for customers to sit and enjoy their lemonade. During a 45 minutes period, they had about 20 customers, most of whom hung out to talk and drink their lemonade. William smiled the whole time and really liked having what turned into a lemonade party on his driveway. He helped by handing them their lemonade and saying 'Hi" and "Bye" to everyone. He also loved watching his friends run up and down the street with big signs, advertising their lemonade stand.
July 11, 2014: William is very motivated for being with his friends. And, we are always making changes to his home school program to help him continue to prepare for school outside of the home. So, this summer we have invited 2 neighbor friends to join William for a few classes, 2 times a week. The boys have class in the classroom, take breaks, have lunch, and sometimes go to another class together either in the classroom or in the kitchen. Today, his friends came for the 3rd class of the day, which was 1.5 hours in the classroom. They worked together to make a time capsule and then hid it in the back yard to be opened in a few years. William participated a lot, and did an amazing job handling the energy of 3 boys and 1 teacher in the small classroom. He only took 1 ten minute break and then easily went back to the classroom to finish the project. After the class, all 3 boys played outside with water balloons and on the trampoline. William stayed connected, ran after the boys a few times, joined them on the trampoline, and tossed water balloons with them. Our favorite thing was when William hid his last big water balloon by covering it with grass while he sat watching the boys look for more balloons. How clever!
June 20, 2014: What an amazing week! Ashley and her friends created and led a 4 day camp for William and his friends. They had so much fun doing lots of activities each day, including: target practice, freeze dance, charades, shaving cream fun, water balloons and squirt guns, 4 square, slip-n-slide, volley ball, soccer, frisbee, fashion show, and "holi" color tag. William easily integrated into the activities that lasted 2 hours each day; he often participated and loved being invited to join in by his friends. He really loved watching the freeze dance and charades, laughing appropriately at all of the funny parts. Check out the pictures we posted of William, his friends, and the awesome counselors for this wonderful camp!
April 24, 2014: One afternoon, William and I walked to the park with William's friends, Eddie and Joe. They all tried the swings, monkey bars, etc. They were really encouraging William to participate. He had more fun watching them and laughing. Then, when we were home, very organically, Joe asked if he could use our pump to pump his basketball. I said sure, and we did it together. William watched and then smiled as he followed Joe to the basketball goal. Joe and Eddie took turns shooting and would throw the ball to William. He laughed and shot the ball a few times. He stayed doing this for 10 minutes, smiling. The next day, Saturday, we took school outside and did a craft. Joe had just caught a snake and brought it over to show us. I invited him and his brother, Tom, to join us, and they did. It was technically William's school day so I happened to say "hey William, isn't it fun having your friends come to school with you." He smiled, and Joe said, "Yeah, I love going to school with friends." So, we invited Joe to come over on Saturdays for science with William and Jessica. He has already come once and both boys loved it. Jessica said William watched a lot, especially Joe. They were able to go deeper than usual with the experiment and Joe showed William how much fun science can be.
December 24, 2013: The family went to church for Christmas Eve. William sat still and quietly for 30 minutes as we listened to other children read passages about the Christmas season. He stood when we sang songs and he sang with us. He was so amazingly present and calm and seemed to pay close attention to everything he saw and heard.
December 18, 2013: William goes to a speech lesson once a week. Today, the therapist left the room 2 times to photocopy a picture to paint. She was gone for 2 minutes each time. While she was gone, William sat calmly and waited for her. He also easily used the iPad app to show her what he wanted to do. He even answered "yes/no" questions for about 5 minutes, telling her that he has 1 cat, a Christmas tree and an angel, not a star, on the top of the tree. He also had a play date with 2 friends that afternoon. He watched them play an angry birds game, by building the set and launching birds to knock it down. He watched and smiled several times, 5 minutes each, and he participated when they asked him to launch the birds. He was very calm and present as he played and observed them.
November, 2013: William has been so focused and calm, with amazing eye contact in class as well as when we play in the afternoons, He is talking a bit more as well as participating. He has 2 play dates a week with friends his age and he is interacting with them more, as well as enjoying watching them model how to play board games, ball games, and draw different scenes.
October 5, 2013: We made a change to William's home school program. He now "changes classes". He starts with Language Arts in the morning in the classroom. Then, he comes to the kitchen for science, then recess. Then he eats lunch in the kitchen, helps to clean up, and then goes back to the classroom for math. His school day is the same length, but there is more change, and moving around. Also, we sometimes go outside during science to find nuts or leaves and then use them in experiments. This is a big change. He has been in the "playroom" for 5 - 6 hours at a time for the past 2 years, and 8 hours when he started his Son-Rise Program 4 years ago. Now, he is "changing classes". He has been very interactive, present and focused during the mornings since Oct. 5. After lunch, he willingly goes back into the classroom, but he is mostly exclusive. He interacts around 5-10 minutes, but spends a lot of time on the floor of the classroom and reading by himself or staring into space. After the last class, he runs out of the room, goes for car rides and walks. He vocalizes a lot and is somewhat controlling. We give him what he wants and give him the predictability he seeks. After a few hours, he is more settled and more interactive. It seems that he needs the afternoons right now to process all that he has experienced and learned in the morning and to decompress. (To see daily lesson, go to "Lessons" tab.)
September 2013: William has been vocalizing a lot. He really enjoys using a microphone and amplifier to make loud sounds. He will often speak into the microphone when we pause from singing and offer it to him.
August 20, 2013: William has been "hanging out" with a few boys his own age, learning how to "play" and do things that 12 year old boys do. He really loves watching them and smiling at them. One of his friends is his neighbor, who is very calm and welcoming. He is always inviting William to join in the game. And, when he sees William outside, he says "hi" and invites him to play. William has really connected with him and enjoys hanging out with his friend so much that he initiated a "play date". He went over to the house, knocked on the door, and went inside to draw and hang out with his friend. He stayed for 30 minutes! Also, once his friend was playing basketball and called William over to take a turn. William started laughing and ran right over and took a shot!
July 31, 2013: William is increasingly present, interactive and in our world. He is so much fun to play with. He is starting to have "play dates" with a few boys his age so he can learn how to "hang out" with them and what boys his age do. He gets very excited when we tell him that his friend Will or Joe are coming over. Also, the other night, he found a picture of Bob the Builder from an old game; he smiled and said "Bob the Builder" twice, very clearly!
July 1, 2013: This week, William has been so interactive and physically participating with us in the classroom and around the house. He stays connected most of our classroom sessions with only brief bathroom breaks. Often, if he leaves my game and goes to sit down, I nonchalantly start a different activity and he watches intently and joins in after less than a minute. He is so "available" and is like a sponge. He is also babbling a lot and saying a lot of 1 and 2-word phrases. He will often repeat short phrases that we say. So cool!
June 9, 2013: After breakfast, William started walking up the stairs. Dad asked "where are you going?" William responded with "my room". Dad said "oh, can I come too?" and William responded by looking at him, smiling, then running to his room to get a puzzle to play with dad. Later, after washing his hands at the sink, he put the towel away and told dad he was going to his room! He is so amazing with the little phrases that he says and how he is communicating with us.
May 13, 2013: William continues to do so many amazing things. We have turned his playroom into a "school room". He helped the team do this during our last team meeting and he smiled the whole time. The next morning, I told him that it was time for school, and he smiled at me, giggled, and ran into his classroom, ready to start! He also visited the local ambulance station today and he was very calm, attentive, looked at the man showing him the ambulance, giggled and climbed into the driver's seat when offered the chance, and he watched the whole time with interest. He also has amazing eye contact, really looking at us with dazzling eyes and a big smile. He laughs so much at appropriate times when we are talking as a family and he comes up to us spontaneously to hug us and interact with us. He is very connected in his school as well as when we are doing outside activities. He even ran and kicked the soccer ball spontaneously the other day like a real soccer player! Go William!
April 7, 2013: During family night, we have been modeling games. When we played pin the parrot on the Pirate, he watched us and laughed for 20 minutes; he also pinned one on all by himself and really smiled afterwards. He is also very present and interactive both inside and outside the playroom. Today, he played for one hour outside with Maria, playing soccer, badminton, a toss game, riding bikes, jumping, walking and running. When Nils asked him what he wanted to do outside, he went and jumped on the trampoline and laughed. He is using his eyes a lot to show us what he wants. He is also talking a lot more.
March 26, 2013: Tonight I told William that we were going to brush his teeth. He came towards me, smiled and looked me in the eye and said "brush teeth"!
March 20, 2013: After a few weeks of being very exclusive and inflexible, William has come out of it extremely interactive, talkative and low-key or flexible. And, after the second day of an outreach with a new Child Facilitator (CF) from the Autism Treatment Center of America, the CF said William "was a constant green light". He was only exclusive for 5 seconds at a time and each time he came back with a stronger connection to participate!
February 27, 2013: Today, William woke up his dad by running giggling into dad's room and jumping on the bed. He then asked dad to sing for him. Mission accomplished! How fun this was.....and how spontaneous and intentional
February 18, 2013: The past 3 weeks have been very interesting. William went from an average attention span in the playroom of 5 minutes, to 10 minutes to 8 minutes. And, every day is different. He may play with little to no isms....or he may be mostly exclusive. We continue to love and accept him each day however he shows up. But, I find this pattern new and interesting. It's as if he is going in and out of learning modes, but the modes are much shorter. He is so much closer to our world and is so present most of the time that I think his modes are shorter as a result. Perhaps he doesn't need as much time to process all that he is learning. But, he still needs to take care of himself and to be exclusive for some periods of time. This is really cool!
February 15, 2013: Today, William was extremely connected. He was a different boy. He looked at me about 70% of the play session and he smiled and giggled a lot. He did not ism once, which means we played for 90 minutes straight. When he looked at me there was such a strong quality to his gaze....as if we were really connected and singing and playing together. I told him several times how awesome his eyes were and that I knew we were really connected and playing together. He smiled each time. And, every time he looked at me it was for at least 20 seconds.....that is really long and amazing for ANYone!!!
February 1, 2013: William is doing so many subtle things that are showing us just how deep his cognitive development has been.

- Yesterday morning, I was playing with him in his bedroom. I was putting together a puzzle on the floor as he watched from his bed. The cat walked
in and meowed. I modeled how to be with a pet by asking her is she wanted me to pet her. Then I did. William giggled to himself. I noticed this then
asked the cat to go to William so he could pet her. He heard me and reached his hand down towards her while looking at her. She didn’t move. I
asked her to go see William. He opened and closed his hand in a “come here” gesture. She walked away and he giggled. This is amazing because
just a few weeks ago he was waving the cat away and saying “bye bye” to her. This time, he enjoyed her presence, giggled about the experience, and
even did a spontaneous gesture for her to come over to him.
- Today, I was playing a reading game. To get and keep his attention, I brought imaginary play into the game; I was a pirate, wearing a pirate hat,
who loves school. This is how I read books to him. At one point, he way laying down and I was sitting next to him reading to him. He moved his leg up
and around me to bring it closer to himself. In doing so, he gently tapped my head and knocked my hat sideways. He giggled. I looked at him and he
had such a neat, quiet, giggling expression on his face, as if he knew a secret and couldn’t help but giggle. I laughed too and told him that was funny
how he accidentally tapped my head and knocked my hat. He looked at me in the eyes and giggled again.
- He is not telling us “bye bye” as much for his space or to show us he wants time for be exclusive or “chill out”. He is still staying “bye bye”
sometimes, but mostly, he is motioning for us to “move back”. When we do, he is still playing with us. He is just showing us that he needs more
space….not that he wants to shut down our interaction.

January 30, 2013: William is really listening a lot more to the books we are reading and if he is interested in a topic, he will sit for up to 10 minutes and actively listen to us read. He sat and listened to a book on Abraham Lincoln for 7 minutes. There was a historical picture on each page, and there were large paragraphs of text on each page. He looked at the book and listened as it was read to him. He also went back to the book several times and listened to half of it read a few more times.

January 28, 2013: William is so interactive right now! After our outreach on December 2nd, he became very exclusive. Then, a few weeks later, he started interacting more, but still gave us lots of "bye byes" when he wanted to have exclusive time. Now, he is playing almost the whole day. His exclusive times are shorter and more clear. And he is often babbling and laughing when he is exclusive. He is talking a lot. William is also very tired, because he is working so hard. He is increasingly present and aware, and is doing so much with intention. He is just amazing!
January 21, 2013: William continues to be increasingly present. He is using his eyes a lot to show what he wants and to show expressions and emotion. He continues to use sounds and words mores to get what he wants and to communicate with us. Once he needed my help and came to the room, looked at me and made a loud sound to ask for my help. I celebrated him telling me that he needed help and he smiled a big radiant smile. Also, the other day he saw me putting on make up. He came to me, looked me in the eyes, took the brush, dipped it into the powder, brushed it on my face, then smiled and looked me in the eyes again. I thanked him and he smiled and walked away! His actions were so precise and so intentional, and so relevant to the moment!
January 9, 2013: So much is going on right now for William. He is growing and developing so fast and he is showing us something different every day. Yesterday, he drew a circle, took 2 "goggly eyes" and placed them where eyes would go. Then he smiled to acknowledge what he had done. Last night, when we were getting ready for dinner, there was a lot of laughter and talk around the table. I was in another room and I heard him say "dad" and "Maria". He is showing us with more intention what he wants. When we were walking, he stopped and wanted to draw with chalk on a neighbor's driveway. I told him that we should go home to draw on our driveway. He gave me the chalk, turned and walked the 10 houses to get home, stopped and looked at me and then asked me to draw. In the past he would have just continued on our walk. He is also really looking at books. When I read, he is smiling and laughing at appropriate places. He is also requesting us to read a lot more. We are continually amazed and excited about what he is doing. Even if he is more exclusive from us, we know that he is taking care of himself. And after he does, he is so interactive with us!
January 8, 2013: William is so close to our world that when he wants to take a time out, or "ism", he has to physically push us away and turn his back on us. It used to be that he could just stop playing, sit down and zone out. He would go to his own world and be exclusive, while we would join, or mirror, his activities showing him we love him and are not judging him. Now, he is having a hard time disconnecting from us so he is physically moving us, telling us "bye bye", and turning away from us. He also continues to use his voice more and some of his words are more clear. There is a real level of being present in his eyes and mannerisms, and he is doing things with such intention! Go William Go!
December 10, 2012: Last night, as I was playing with William in his room, he heard the tv on downstairs and he heard Maria talking in her bedroom. He cocked his head a little to the right and he moved his eyes in that direction as if he was really listening to the different sounds. In the past, he would move his eyes to the corner, put his fingers on his eye and ism. This time, he was very present, and really listening, as if discerning the different sounds. As he did this, I narrated what he was hearing. Then he stopped, smiled at me and continued playing. Today, several times, he showed us he wanted to go outside by picking up his socks and showing them to us while making a sound. He also said many work approximations, including "spring" as I was singing a song with that word in it.
December 9, 2012: A lot has been happening so I will share a few things at once: William went through a period of 2 weeks of not playing much at all. Now, he is much more interactive. He had stopped using language as much. Now he is babbling a lot again. We have all been modeling "I potty" when we need to go to the bathroom. Now, he often says it too...even when walking around the block. Twice yesterday he ended a walk by saying "I potty" then walking home to go to the bathroom. Also, I was putting on his shoes the other day. I noticed his cup, on the couch next to him, tipped over. He looked over at it too, tightened the lid and then set it purposefully, upright, on the floor! We started using a communication device a week ago; the "Go Talk". Yesterday, he pushed the button for potty; his friend and team member said, "Oh, you have to go potty. There it is" and pointed to it. He got up, walked over to is and said "all right" and went potty. Dad took in an artificial Christmas tree to set up as a game with William. Dad was being silly and he looked at the box and said "now, what am I going to do with a tree in a box?" William looked at dad and said "set it up". William is growing everyday. He is showing us much more cognitive awareness and ability and he is using verbal language more. Every day is full of wonderful surprises!
November 10, 2012: William came downstairs for breakfast, saw his food on the table, walked to the pantry and looked inside, then looked at mom and said "eat puh". He was telling mom that he wanted to eat pancakes! He was very clear with his intent, and he used a 2 word phrase to tell mom what he wanted! He continues to babble a lot with laughter in his voice. He seems to enjoy his sounds as well as practicing saying them over and over again. He even looked at dad in the playroom, tried to take off his sweatshirt and said "I'm hot". The language center in his brain is really going through a lot of development right now!
November 7, 2012: William has been talking a lot more and has been doing more things for himself. Yesterday, he was in the bathroom saying "I potty" over and over again for a minute. He came out and told me "potty". I cheered him telling me what he had done. That afternoon, we were walking and he stopped, turned us both around and walked home. When we reached the house, he stopped, looked at the house and said "potty" then walked inside and went to the bathroom. He came out and smiled at me and said "potty". I smiled and celebrated him telling me. He is saying "wuh" and "eee oooo" a lot, while moving his mouth very distinctly in different ways. He is really going through growth with his language. Also, he is taking care of himself more. Maria asked him to pick up a book in mom's room and put it away. He picked it up, took it to his room, found another book on his bed, picked up that one and put them both in his book basket. That afternoon, before coming inside, Maria told him to pick up his toys. He went to the front porch and picked up his chalk and then walked to the grass and picked up the badminton rackets he had been playing with. He put them all away in their respective places and then went inside. She did not need to guide him or tell him anything specific; he did this all by himself! I have also noticed that his sensitivities are a little less. He usually removes his shoes and socks immediately when he enters the house. The last 2 days he was worn them all day...both inside and outside the house...including inside the playroom! What amazing changes for William right now!
November 5, 2012: Due to Hurricane Sandy, trick or treating was delayed to tonight. William went trick or treating with Maria and team member Roni. They stayed out for 30 minutes. Maria modeled ringing the doorbell and William rang all subsequent doorbells. He stood and let neighbors put candy in his pumpkin. Maria switched his candy from the ones he received from neighbors and he easily allowed this; he also help the pumpkin with his candies and ate one at a time, slowly. He was calm and flexible all night and enjoyed watching trick or treaters in their costumes.
October 28, 2012: For the past 2 weeks, William has been seeking control both inside and outside the playroom. We celebrate this because it shows how much his brain is developing and that he is learning how to try to control the situations around him. He tells us "bye bye" when he wants to be left alone or when he wants to stop or change our game. We immediately celebrate him for telling us what he wants, and then we respond by leaving the room (when we are outside the playroom) or by joining him or giving him choices of how to change our game (in the playroom). He is doing many more things with intention and was showing less flexibility as he was trying to control his environment and our activities. We have seen a shift in him over the last 2 days; he is more interactive with us, more flexible in following our suggested games, and he is using more words and phrases than before.It appears he is moving out of his "learning mode". We have the same amount of joy in our hearts as we did when he was playing less and being more controlling, but we are seeing more shared joy with William through his smiles and the twinkle in his eye as he plays with us. Awesome!
October 23, 2012: William climbed onto the trampoline today and then got down on his belly, looked at me through the opening, smiled with a twinkle in his eye and said "bow". He was asking me to come onto the trampoline and bounce with him! He was so excited when I said "sure, I'll bounce with you" and I climbed up too. He stood up, held my hands facing me, and we bounced together. While bouncing, he said something that I didn't understand but it was very different from what I've ever heard him say...and it was in his normal, "big boy" voice. So cool!
October 13, 2012: William and I were playing outside with bubbles in the afternoon. I blew then and he would look at them and pop them. The wind began to blow and the bubbles started blowing by William. Once, he ran after a bubble and popped it! What great focus and spontaneity....and what a neurotypical thing to do! He looked like any other kid chasing bubbles! So cool!
October 3, 2012: Jane and I modeled outdoor games for William to show him how much fun it is to play with more than one person. William watched for most of an hour and interacted with us with very few exclusive breaks (isms). We played hopscotch; we took turns telling each other what to draw (pumpkin, house, ghost, etc); we played soccer with a big red ball taking turns kicking the ball to each other; we threw the big red ball and even a tennis ball back and forth; we blew bubbles and popped them with sticks; we caught bubbles with a tennis racquet; and, we kicked a ball back and forth into a "goal", keeping score with chalk. William was amazing in how he was present, smiling at us and interacting with us. Once, Jane changed the way she threw the tennis ball by bouncing it to William; he picked it up and bounced it exactly the same way back to her!! He seemed to be having fun as he came up to us several times with a big smile and a hug. And, incredibly, after that very full hour of outside play, William continued to be interactive. We then played inside, taking turns drawing, and me reading or singing with him!
September 29, 2012: William was playing with a foot massager. Maria said the way to use it is to to put your feet on it. He stepped on it. She cheered. Then she said it's better if you sit and put your feet on it. He immediately sat on the bed and put his feet on it! Then, dad walked into the room and said "how does that work?" William took dad's hand and put it on the massager so he could feel it! All of William's reactions to our conversation were spontaneous and quick, showing that he was completely present during the conversation and understood what was being said. He responded appropriately and with intent as he was told how to use the massager and when dad asked how to use it.
September 28, 2012: Lately, there has been lot of change in William's life. Maria was on vacation. We are training a new team member. We took him on a field trip with other kids so he could learn about apple gleaning. We are playing games outside the playroom with 2 of us modeling, like hide and seek. In the past, with much less change than this, he would become very exclusive inside and outside the playroom. Instead, right now, he continues to actively participate with us, he seems energized, is very smiley and giggly, is using more sounds and word approximations and is talking in a lower more "regular" voice. He is very present and takes action with intention. It is just amazing to see how he continues to grow and to respond to changes in his life.
September 25, 2012: Artur was leaving for the gym. I said "bye bye Archie". William looked at Artur and said "bye bye". Since then, William has said "bye bye" twice more when someone was leaving the house! He is really using his words and sounds a lot more to communicate with us and now he is starting to participate in social greetings!
September 14, 2012: William has been more present when playing and interacting with us. Today, I was playing a game with him and he spontaneously took the "boat" I was using, started rocking it, and looked at me with a glimmer in his eye. His spontaneous physical participation and the glimmer in his eye is new, and it's awesome. It shows me that he really wants to be playing the game with me....and that he is having a good time.
September 5, 2012: Today, William was walking from the park with Maria. They saw a man pick up a woman and carry her over a large water puddle. William saw this and stopped, turned towards Maria, put an arm around her neck, and lifted his leg for her to do the same. She tried, but he is too big! How amazing that he watched this simple action take place between 2 people and he both wanted to do the same, but also did it so quickly!
August 30, 2012: William has started floating on his back in the ocean. Once, while I was watching him, he kicked his legs like he was doing the back stroke. He kicked 4 times. He is also communicating many of his needs/interests with sounds. I always celebrate him telling me what he wants; when I don't understand and I get him the wrong thing, he will go to the refrigerator and get it himself...or reach across the table and get what he was wanting. He is also very aware of what we all drink and eat...and if he has something different, he wants it too. If we have wine, he wants juice, not just water. If we have bread, he wants bread. He is really wanting to do what we do and is showing and telling us that! Today, he took a sandcastle mold without anyone requesting, he filled it with sand, patted it down, pulled out a few pieces of seaweed, then turned it over on the beach. He also helped me get water in a big sand castle mold and we poured it into the hole dad was digging. When he took the mold into the ocean for a swim, I called to him and asked him to bring it back; he did and he put it into the hole dad was digging.
August 28, 2012: William has been doing a lot of fantastic things over the past few weeks. When we are leaving the beach to go to the cabana, he is in front of me and often turns around to make sure I am following him. What interest and awareness! He is also making more requests with a sound coupled with eye contact and a hand gesture which shows he understands the power of communication and is trying to get across his interests and needs. He is also going up to a lot of people in the ocean, smiling and waving his hands at them. He is going up to people on the beach and touching their faces while gazing into their eyes, as if to say "hi". He is also reaching out to touch their arms to connect with them. He is intently watching other kids play on the beach; he even ran up to a 3 year old and gently touched his head....both boys smiled at each other. William is also doing more for himself: taking the knife out of the peanut butter and putting it on his rice cake; sprinkling salt on his food; going into the refrigerator and pantry to get his food; and going to the bathroom by himself at the beach, complete with washing and drying his hands before he opens the door to exit. He is also taking our hands when we draw to help us draw in a certain way or area, showing us what he wants. And, he is starting to draw stick people, a bear, sun, fish and boat by himself.
August 16, 2012: William was spending most of the time in the cabana and not wanting to go to the beach. First time ever!We brainstormed as a team and decided to change our schedule: we added 1 playroom session b/c he was showing signs of wanting control and he was enjoying the playroom. So, we gave him more. We also began spending a shorter afternoon on the beach...together. Rather than taking turns, we all played together. So, we created a family atmosphere of all being together...all of us there for him when he wanted to play. He started going into the ocean alone and watching us, giggling. We played on the beach, digging holes, building sand castles, playing frisbee and ball, etc. He watched, came up to us giggling and went back to the ocean. Little by little, he wanted us to play with him in the ocean. He also started playing with sand toys with us and drawing in the sand. He seemed to settle into this new routine and smiled and interacted a lot. We all started spending less time at the cabana and more time on the beach together. He also continued to watch other kids intently and will mimic them. Sometimes, he runs towards the ocean and away again like they do. He also went swam up to 3 adults in the ocean and interacted with them for 2 minutes. He smiled at them, looked at them and showed them the seaweed in his hand. The man found seeweed and played with it like William. William laughed and looked me on shore. Then he came out of the ocean. He had just gone in to play with those people!
July 25, 2012: William was imitating some children at the beach. He was running to and from the waves in the ocean. Before he did this he told me bye and then when to play. As he played he would run to me and giggle.
July 24, 2012: When William was at the ocean playing with a float he started to imitate a boy that had a float too. The boy was trying to sit on the float and William tried to as well. The boy then lay down on the float and William tried to do that too. Then the boy went out of the ocean and a few seconds William did too. After a few minutes the boy came back to the ocean and William followed him and played with the float like the boy again.
June 29, 2012: While William was eating a snack with Maria, he said the following words very clearly: wait (3 times), sweet (2 times) and William.
Week of June 18, 2012: Jeff was helping William get his clothes out to get dressed one morning. Jeff took a blue and green shirt and asked William which one he wanted to wear. William pointed to the green shirt and said "green".
Week of June 4, 2012: This week, William has been drawing a lot. He watches so intently when we draw letters as well as pictures. Often, he gives us his hand to help him draw it. Several times later in the day, as he was drawing on his own, he drew the same picture by himself. He drew a smiling face, a fish and a boat!
Memorial Day Weekend in Rhode Island (5/2010): This was William's first trip back to the beach since September 2011. He did a lot of swimming and playing on the beach. On Monday (05/28/12) he went up to a little boy who was playing with the sand and kind of played with him for two minutes, then he turned around and had a big smile. We celebrated him for playing with another child on the beach and we smiled back at him. He also imitated a group of boys who were playing; they were running to the ocean and when a wave came they ran in the opposite direction. William started to go to the ocean and then walked away, he did that several times while sporting a big smile. Later that day, we saw a boy who was walking with a tube around his legs. When we came back to the cabana (where William's toys are) William took his tube and did the same as the boy on the beach. He didn't want to use it in the water, but it was so cool that he was walking around like the boy we had seen on the beach.
Riding bikes with mom (5/29/12): We rode our bikes around the neighborhood and when we were done, I rode into the garage as usual and parked my bike and took off my helmet. William stopped in the middle to the driveway as usual. Sometimes he waits for me there; sometimes he continues to straddle his bike and "walk" it up to the garages. Today, I turned around and he was off of his bicycle and was walking it into the garage next to mine, holding it by the handlebars. He looked at me and smiled. I told him how great it was that he helped me and brought me his bike. I was smiling both inside and out! It was such a natural thing to do after riding bikes....and he did it with ease and without my asking.