Twelve pounds of s&$t in a six pound diaper

For many of you without children, just the idea of handling another person's excrement is enough to make you gag. For those of you who have children or are expecting, and who were squeamish about the idea beforehand, nature created meconium as a sort of field test for new parents. Meconium is essentially nature's practical joke on new parents(http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium). It sticks to everything but the wipe, making it extra confusing when you haven't slept and have never changed a diaper before. It's also a treat that it is the first thing you see coming out of your child - not exactly calming.

Meconium - the joke's on you!

That said most people get through the diapering period with relative ease and are rid of the whole diaper changing issue after 2-3 years. Not so for most parents of children with special needs, and definitely not so for us.

Jump ahead six years (and for many special needs parents, this is an issue forever) and those relatively cute poopsie whoopsies become, as the saying goes, twelve pounds of shit in a six pound bag...literally.

Your sixty five pound child can no longer be laid on the ground to be wiped, so you're left to your own devices in terms of cleanup, which I imagine is the equivalent of asking a small bear to bend over (like the Charmin commercial, but not like that at all).

The "baby wipes", aptly named because of their intended use in wiping little baby butts, generally tear under the pressure of having to wipe a giant boy ass. This leaves your hands essentially unprotected, and if you've never noticed, the human hand fits perfectly in the human ass crack, and if you're curious, that rule applies to all ass cracks, not just yours. Truth be told, running your bare hand accidentally up a shitty ass crack is as horrible as it sounds, and becomes even more horrible each subsequent occurrence.

Does anyone have any idea how much adult diapers cost? We do, but only because we're price conscious and don't want to buy giant boy diapers if we can find petite diapers for seniors at a cheaper price.

Ever had a minor accident and had to throw your underwear away in the bathroom at work (be honest)? Think about what would have happened had you released the hounds into those undies. Go ahead. I'll give you a minute to think about the unholiness you would have had to deal with. That's what it's like to change a six year old diaper.

So you'll make a size seven Pampers, but not a size 13? Assholes.

This issue has been particularly stressful for us, especially as Mowgli transitions into full time schooling. As bad as it is for us, no teacher's aide, at minimum wage, should have to deal with such things. Sometimes we worry that he'll never fully train. Other times we laugh, because that's the only thing you can do when you find someone in their closet giving his cakoo the ol' Jackson Pollack treatment.

We've tried everything at this point, but this just seems to be one of those things that Mowgli is struggling with, and until he figures it out, we just have to do our best to not make it stressful for him, and not stress too much about it ourselves. That, and hope Pampers keeps expanding its offerings and that every hotel pool has a corresponding locker room where I can eliminate the evidence of a Mowgli water birth (thank you Sheraton Hotel - South Burlington!).

*Fun blog postscript- while writing this, Mowgli ruined another pair of underwear. True story.

We've got a runner!

Mowgli's always been a bit of an explorer. In fact, it was the reason we installed the fence when we moved to our current house, and the reason that I'm rarely seen at outdoor events (since I'm usually following Mowgli out into the wilderness).

Recently though, we've been forced to up our security because he's made two independent efforts to escape from our house. In both instances, Amy caught him, barely clothed, about to cross a very busy intersection. Additionally, while I was cleaning his room the other day, I found the following map, with a number of notations:

Rather than jump to conclusions, I decided to shake down one of his little buddies after a session of Pool Pals. He told me that Antonio had approached him, as a boy who knew "how to get things" and requested a rock hammer for, you know, making chess pieces.

Without that evidence, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about him asking us for a poster of Miss Rita Hayworth and staring longingly at Amy's painting and mumbling something about Mexico and starting over:

Taken together, we became slightly paranoid that something was afoot. Therefore, we instituted the following security protocols:

Security Protocol Alpha: Amy and I - Alpha, though solid, can be divided and conquered by other inmates, and is therefore not entirely reliable.

Security Protocol Beta: Handle locks and child proof door handles. The handle locks work, but only the ones that require a push button key. The twist lock is meaningless. The child proof door handles only work if they're the ones that are discontinued because they're essentially a fire hazard because adults can barely work them. Mowgli just breaks the "safe" ones. That said, we found a website that sells the discontinued ones. Bought them out.

Security Protocol Gamma: Door stopper. Totally ridiculous. FAIL.

Security Protocol Delta: Hook locks. These work, but he has figured out that if he can dangerously and precariously balance on top of random items, say, oh I don't know, at the top of the basement stairs for instance, that he can flip the hook. Nevertheless, it is certainly a deterrent.

Security Protocol Gamma: Cheap ass magnetic "alarms". This is essentially a noise deterrent. We figured that if something makes a loud enough noise, that it will at least slow him down. It has, but he's quickly piecing together how it works. We're hoping that the aforementioned child proof handles show up in the mail prior to that moment.

Security Protocol Ockham's Razor: You see that little switch next to the screen door handle? Apparently impenetrable. There you have it folks - the wonderful and awe inspiring problem solving of an autistic child - halted by a tiny little switch on the handle of an outdated screen door. Probably not going to last too much longer.

As funny as some of this sounds, it is only outdone by the circus performance that Amy and I have to go through in order to execute this seamlessly without escape, and at the same time not locking ourselves out of the house. It felt like it took three hours to bring the groceries in the other day, and our already frayed nerves can't take one more "false alarm" from the "Doberman Security" system that we've installed.

In the end, all of this is just smoke and mirrors. If and when he decides he wants to do something, Mowgli will figure it out. He is driven by an unquenchable urge to problem solve, but only if it involves obtaining popsicles, or some other preferred activity/treat. In fact, in my next post I'll discuss his cybersecurity attack on our home computer in order to watch an edited video of Blue's Clues on YouTube where someone drops the F Bomb. So is the nature of this very frustrating condition, he struggles to solve basic life skills issues like potty training, but is able to solve a series of (albeit low-tech) counter measures so that he can escape our vile clutches and run naked through the streets.

Things Mowgli Loves and Things He/We Can't Live Without

I'm stealing a concept from another Autism blogger (autism-daddy.blogspot.com), who, by the way, I highly recommend. That said, I thought I might take some time out and describe, for any of you who might be interested, what Mowgli loves, and therefore what we love, because he loves, because we probably wouldn't make it without them. Seriously, you might look at some of this stuff and think "Really? He could probably live without that", but by way of example, his brain thinks it is his turn on the computer right now (as I'm typing), and his inability to get it immediately has caused him to scream uncontrollably and punch his head for the last 25 minutes. If you're still thinking that he could live without some of this stuff, go ahead and pick up a nice book, pour yourself a hot herbal tea, and then try and read while your friend/spouse/significant other screams hysterically in your ear until they faint from exhaustion, because that, by the way, is the only thing that will stop him.

Here we go:

1. Popsicles - Who doesn't like a good popsicle on a hot summer day? Pretty much everyone can appreciate the cooling sensation and sweet hydration that a popsicle provides. An entire box of them in January? Not so much. Though we're sure that the sugar isn't the best thing for him, we do our best to give him Edy's "All Fruit Juice" popsicles (I smell a Dad of Year award!). Without popsicles in the house, he would ask for them continuously until they appeared. This is no exaggeration. He will perseverate until they arrive, non-stop, for days at a time.

2. Chex Mix and Combos - Why Chex Mix and Combos you ask? Who the hell knows, but God help me if I haven't rationalized that they are a healthier-ish option than potato chips (which he also loves) and other snacks. I'm certain that most of Mowgli's calories come in the form of Worcestershire sauce. We've also just considered buying him salt licks - though the cost/benefit analysis doesn't seem to quite work out.

3. Swimming - Mowgli loves swimming. He'd probably spend his entire life in water if it was made available to him. I'm certain that if I turned my back for even a minute at the Syracuse Zoo, he would take up permanent residence in the penguin tank (who he affectionately refers to as his "babies").

4. Exercise Ball - You know those exercise balls that fat people on The Biggest Loser hysterically tumble off of nearly every episode? Mowgli spends approximately 5-6 hours a day bouncing on one. The result? Rock hard baby abs (that is as creepy as you imagine it). He's coincidentally shaped like a 1920's strongman - barrel chested and loin-clothed/diapered. He's just missing a handle bar mustache and a bicycle with one giant wheel.

5. Eyes - You heard me. Eyeballs. It is actually part of his behavioral plan at school, because he's trying to touch people's eyes so often and he obviously can't continue to do that. The only thing worse than touching eyes you ask? How about licking them, which he also enjoys if available. Here's a picture of him licking what I imagine would be the location of this inanimate object's eye sockets (he does it every morning before he gets on the bus - notice the "neck" grip):

6. Computer/"Reader" (Tablet)/YouTube, etc.

Mowgli loves electronics, but not because of their incredible ability to teach him a variety of important life skills and knowledge, but because he can watch things like Nyan Nyan Cat over and over and over and over.... He generally likes watching 5 second pieces of his favorite shows on YouTube until he's in a trance, or laughing hysterically, whichever he decides is the mood of the day. Sometimes he watches total nonsense and sometimes he stumbles on things that he probably shouldn't, but get through any screening or blocking software because the person who created it on YouTube names the video in such a way that it doesn't get picked up. What did special needs parents do prior to YouTube? My guess is lots of drugs - because without continuous access to his favorite shows, I'm not sure we could keep Mowgli from total self-destruction on a day-to-day basis. Thank you two guys from YouTube who are billionaires now - as if you needed my thanks.

7. Swinging - I've mentioned this before, but the kid loves to swing. He loves the feedback that he gets (that nausea that you and I feel when we swing that - he craves). Again, like the computer, many summer days would have turned out far less positively if it weren't for the swing set (and the mini swimming pool).

8. Hugging - I've touched on this before, but it bears repeating since it is generally out of character for children with ASD to be super affectionate. Mowgli loves to hug, and we love to hug him. It is the best way for us to interact emotionally that doesn't involve crying or screaming.

9. Comfortable Clothes - Ever tried to build an entire wardrobe around athletic pants and "non-itchy" shirts (the consistency of that definition changes daily by the way)? Not fun, and after the age of 3, very difficult (just ask my mother, who has spent the better part of three decades trying to dress my father in this way). Regardless, my beautiful wife has found a way, again and again, to outfit our son comfortably, and fashionably. She gets a number of compliments about how well dressed Mowgli is, and she should, since it takes three times as long to find him clothes that work for him and yet it all looks so effortless.

10. Melatonin, Probiotics, and Bears....oh my - Having an autistic child take medicine is next to impossible, therefore making sicknesses even more unbearable for all parties involved. In addition to the occasional sickness are the day to day ailments that are specific to children with ASD, like problems sleeping, and GI issues. I would like to thank modern science for having the decency to put things like melatonin and probiotics in the form of gummy bears and chewable "candies". Without them, Mowgli would struggle daily with painful constipation (despite his love of beans and bean burritos) and would not have come out of his recent, two month "sleeping slump" where he refused to go to bed every night, and then slowly became overtired, at which point he would come apart at the seams emotionally and scream himself to sleep (rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat - every night). Now, thanks to those wonderful little hippie medicines, he's back on a consistent sleep schedule and quite regular (which is a nice way of saying "shits like a thoroughbred" - a quick thanks goes out to diaper companies for making sizes that are at least somewhat capable of containing such an unholy mess).

Though there are other things that Mowgli loves, these are the things that keep our little family sane, so if you're ever wondering what to get him for his birthday, just check this list and go for it.

The Battle of the Century

I was reading one of my daily feeds the other day and I saw a review of a science book that involves the question of whether or not animals (and particularly chimpanzees) have theory of mind. You can read the review here. My immediate reaction was to say to Amy "seriously, if I find out that chimpanzees have theory of mind and Mowgli doesn't, I am going to be pissed." For those of you that read this blog, or have researched the topic, theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own. It is something that children with autism struggle with, and it is one of the great impediments to social/emotional development. Apparently it isn't out of the realm of possibility that chimpanzees have it in some rudimentary form. Really science? I need to be told that a chimpanzee has a step up on my son? So I got to thinking - in a head to head competition between Mowgli and chimpanzees, a best of seven battle royal, who would come out victorious?

[For those of you who personally struggle with theory of mind, or have absolutely no sense of humor, this post is intended to be a joke - it kills me that I have to write that, but there are a number of people out there who I know would take this seriously if I I didn't]

I. Theory of Mind: As stated above, apparently the chimp has it, and Mowgli doesn't. Chimp 1 - Mowgli 0

II. The Potty: Mowgli, though slow with his potty training, has made some progress over the past year, though regressions (like this week) are always right around the corner. For the most part, he goes number one on the potty. As for number two, he has figured out that he has to run into the bathroom and close the door, though he still utilizes the diaper for the actual event. Apparently, according to my research, one of the reasons that chimps make lousy house pets (thank you internet for a number of articles on this subject) is that they can't be potty trained. Additionally, they like to play with and sometimes eat their poo (they're looking for nutrient rich seeds inside). Though Mowgli has been known on occasion to schmeer - he has yet, to our knowledge, eaten it (a lot). As we can hope that eventually Mowgli will be trained, I'm going with him on this one. Chimp 1 - Mowgli 1

III. Violence: You remember that lady who had a chimp as a pet and got attacked? You don't? Feast your eyes on this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Has Mowgli had his moments? Sure (read more about it here). Has he taken our faces off and danced a jig on our skull innards? Not yet. Win goes to Mowgli. Chimp 1 - Mowgli 2

IV. Sounds and Vocalizations: Chimps are among the noisiest of all wild animals and use a complicated system of sounds to communicate with each other. A loud "wraaa" call, which can be heard more than a mile away, warns of something unusual or disturbing. They "hoo-hoo-hoo," scream, grunt and drum on hollow trees with the flat of their hands, sometimes for hours. So does Mowgli.... It's a push. Chimp 1 - Mowgli 2

V. Socializing: Chimps touch each other a great deal and kiss when they meet. They also hold hands and groom each other. A chimp often has a special "friend" or companion with which it spends a lot of time. So does Mowgli (his name is Kevin by the way). Again, it's a push. Chimp 1 - Mowgli 2.

VI. Tools: Chimpanzees use large sticks and branches as clubs or throw them at enemies like leopards and humans. They also use grass stems or twigs as tools, poking them into termite or ant nests and eating the insects that cling to them. They are able to wedge nuts between the roots of a tree and break the shells open with a stone. Mowgli goes to occupational therapy three times a week - and he's doing the best he can damn it! Cut the guy some slack! The win goes to the chimp...for now. Chimp 2 - Mowgli 2.

VII. Intangibles: Though chimps hug, no one hugs like Mowgli. Though chimps have been known to express complex emotions, they don't have a smile that melts your heart. He's a one of a kind kid, and I wouldn't trade him for any chimp in the world. That said, I'm sure this post will be widely circulated when I'm having my face surgically reconstructed, as "Dad's famous last words".

Mowgli wins 3-2.

Adventures in Expressive Language

Simply put, expressive language is the ability to express wants and needs. Though Mowgli possesses some expressive vocabulary (particularly as it pertains to popsicles - "I want purple popsicle, please!") as well as some of the language forms and concepts, like many children with ASD, he struggles with language processing, and the finer points of pragmatic and social language. When coupled with his difficulty self-regulating and his cognitive rigidity, language arguments, or in other words, conflict that begins with or is driven by language, cause him the most stress and disruption. And without the expressive language necessary to work through the issue, Mowgli seems compelled lately to resolve all issues the same way - with relative levels of physical aggression and/or self-injury. Most of these events can be broken out by level of severity for greater simplicity in explanation.

1. The Displeasure Punch: This involves a minor displeasure such as "No, Mowgli, you've already played enough computer for today" followed by full eye contact, a grunt, and what appears to be Mowgli combing his own hair with his knuckles. This is purely a self-injury shot across the bow, and is actually sort of funny to watch - he's preparing us for something worse, his version of "I better get my way or else" - a standard tantrum behavior for children. We usually laugh these off and refuse to give in because it isn't healthy for him to think that he can manipulate us with such a, quite frankly, lame ass effort.

2. The Hug and Scratch: This is extremely devious. It usually occurs in the morning when he doesn't want to get ready for school. He'll lean in to Amy as if to hug her, and then once he has her locked up, he scratches her neck or back. Again, we try not to react to this behavior because it's bullying, and there is really no mystery why he's doing it - he doesn't want to go school. Message received.

3. The Alligator Punch: This is usually the next stage of anger after the Hug and Scratch. If he doesn't feel like he satisfactorily made his point with the scratch, he makes two punching fists, but then comes at you with both fists clapping together in front of him, like an angry sideways Pac Man. We usually just dodge this and ignore it - again, there's no great mystery why it is happening.

4. The Shake and Bake: This is where it starts to get a bit more serious. These are the instances where he can't get his point across, we're struggling to understand him, and he's simultaneously being told to do something that is not preferred (pretty much anything that doesn't involve playing on a tablet). These are the instances where his front brain (where anger resides) takes over and you might as well be trying to convince a cat to take a bath. And since we don't have the ability to freeze and reverse time (yet) there's no going back at this point, and there isn't any way to diffuse it, except walk away and let him left/right, left/right, left/right the beejesus out of his head until he decides that he's made his point. Redirection and calm is only attainable if he decides that it is, there's nothing we can do to change the course of events, so distancing ourselves becomes the best option. Which brings me to...

5. Defcon 5 - Total Annihilation: This is what happens when a pig-headed gentlemen such as myself decides that he is going to directly confront Mowgli during a Shake and Bake situation, and compel him to act "appropriately". It took a number of these events for me to learn my lesson, but realize that I'm 25% Trunfio - my grandmother's uncle once found himself stuck in a cage with an angry, hungry bear (he was a zookeeper) and rather than flee the cage, decided to fight it. That said, the last time this happened, which I realize now will be the very last time I ever confront Mowgli and try to calm him down from a Shake and Bake, it ended this way:

That's a full length mirror. He used his head to break it. Before everyone starts gushing about the "poor child", recall that this is SELF injury - I didn't throw him into a mirror - he walked down the hall, grabbed it with two hands, lined it up, and drove his head through it. Our immediate instinct was to make sure he was okay (which he was) and remove the glass from the area.

After thinking about it for quite some time, I realized that smashing the mirror was his only way to express total frustration and anger. He can't yell at me, or tell me why I'm being unfair, or how he wishes I would just leave him alone. He can't do any of that. So he does what he can to get the point across. I got it now buddy, I hear you loud and clear.

As time goes by

For those of you that read this blog regularly, you already know that Mowgli is what I have coined a "regression model" autistic child. On the macro level, he was hitting many of his developmental goals early on, only to lose them all suddenly (read here for more). On the micro level, he regresses every time there is a moderate break in his regular schedule. What that means to us and our family is that after a week vacation from school, the following week (or recently, more than that) becomes an unholy adventure in anxiety and distress.

In the last few weeks, Mowgli has regressed to the point where tantrums and self injury have once again become a large part of our day (they had all but disappeared in the last few months). He has left bruises on his body and has emotionally unnerved a number of new victims (apologies to the bus matron and his teacher - but there really isn't a good way to prepare someone for witnessing a small child punching himself in the head).

We met with the school psychologist and Mowgli's therapists this week and we talked a lot about why we felt this was happening. I did some research (as I always do when I don't know what else to do) and discovered that the two parts of the brain that are commonly believed to control temporal perception (the cerebellum and the basal ganglia) are also known to be areas of the brain that are effected by ASD.

As one researcher put it:

In typical people, the cerebellum is a primary site for the integration and modulation of sensory and motor activity. It receives significant amounts of ascending sensory input from the tactile (touch), vestibular (movement - with which it has a direct connection), and proprioceptive (body awareness) systems. The cerebellum also receives signals that are being sent down to the muscles from the motor cortex and helps to modulate that information for postural control before it travels down into the brainstem. It fine tunes motor responses, and helps to control the smoothness with which we move. The cerebellum in some children with autism has been found to have an excess of axons within it but their distribution is abnormal. In addition, the links that should be made from the cerebellum to other structures appear to be decreased. There are also fewer Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. One of the functions of these cells is to arouse the reticular nuclei, which stimulates the arousal of muscle tone and helps a person to change the focus of their attention.

[and again, the same author later states]:

Another area of the brain found to have some abnormalities in its structure, is an area called the basal ganglia. This structure which lies deep within the cerebral hemispheres, serves to connect the cerebellum with the cerebrum in order to regulate automatic movement. The basal ganglia contain a structure called the caudate nucleus. The caudate nucleus in children with autism is enlarged. Increased size of the caudate nucleus in the basal ganglia has been associated with compulsive behaviors, difficulty with changes in routine, and stereotypical motor movements.

Well that covers it, eh? In many ways, I suppose that as a rational thinker, and as someone who has always believed in scientific research above all else, that I should be satisfied that with just an hour of research I was able to find a scientific explanation for Mowgli's behavior. Yet I can't help but feel gypped.

Knowing why Mowgli behaves the way that he does, though helpful in maintaining a modicum of sanity at times like these, and for thinking clearly about his condition over the long haul, nevertheless doesn't solve the problem of how we are going to keep him from smashing himself in the head with his own hands, or get him on a bus in the morning that he doesn't want to take, or quite frankly help us very much at all. For that we are left to our own instincts and abilities.

Yet, try as we might to get him back on his schedule, it has been a tough road to hoe. Tricks and strategies that work 95% of the time, seem to fail all the time. His responses become more irrational and his tantrums last longer. As a parent, you are constantly walking the line between limited patience and anger (which, once that happens, you might as well just forget all of the work you've put in, because his reaction to our anger is far angrier and more irrational than we could ever muster). In the end, when all else fails, the only thing keeping us going is love.

Now before everyone gushes about how wonderful it is that the love between a parent and child wins out over all else, please understand that I don't want anyone to think that what I am talking about here is rainbows and unicorns. The love that gets you through these times is more like the love that Chris Rock describes in his standup:

If you haven't contemplated murder, you ain't been in love. If you haven't seriously thought about killing a motherf*&^er, you ain't been in love. If you haven't had a can of rat poison in your hand and looked at it for forty-five minutes straight, you ain't been in love. If you haven't bought a shovel and a bag and a rug to roll their ass up in, you ain't been in love. If you haven't practiced your alibi in front of the mirror, you ain't been in love.

The kind of love that gets you through these times is the kind of love that can survive pain, sadness, emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and more pain. It is the kind of love that doesn't come with flowers and chocolates, and can't be expressed in a Hallmark card. It is the kind of love we see in the movies, but distilled down to its absolute core, stripped of all of its pretense and bullshit. The love I'm talking about, the love that gets you through these times, is the last thing that you are left with when you have nothing else, when there aren't any immediate answers to your problems, when you don't have any other options except quitting. But the best part of this kind of love is that it won't let you quit. No matter how low you've sunk, no matter how little hope you have at the time, the kind of love I'm talking about, this immutable love, that son of a bitch, it just won't let you quit. It gets you up every morning and forces you to face the day. It guides you through tantrums and self injurious behavior and screaming and scratching and unbearable discord, and at the other end, when you come out the other side (and we always do when it comes to Mowgli) that love is waiting for you with a pat on the back for a job well done. In the end, that love will reward you with all the riches in the world - a hug, a kiss, a smile, and a chance that you and your child will live to fight this condition another day.

Praise of Speech Therapists

A few weeks back, Fred and I attended a teacher's conference for Mowgli. We requested that his therapists be present at this meeting. It surprised me to learn that this request was considered special. At Mowgli's preschool program, we had always met with his entire team. Which included his teacher, 3 therapists, and behavior specialist. Sometimes we also had meetings where the family support specialist, classroom aides, and school psychologist, were present. That's a lot of people working hard, to make sure my child succeeds!
The conference meeting was the first time we met with Mowgli's new school therapists. Mowgli has a speech therapist, occupational therapist (who works on his fine motor skills and sensory issues), and physical therapist, who works on some minor large motor skill issues, but mostly helps with teaching social skills, and providing sensory input through physical activities. Each one of these ladies plays a significant role in Mowgli's developmental education and progress.
During the meeting, the therapists updated us on Mowgli's progress, which was more positive compared with the sterile (and depressing) report card he had received. We asked that they send us email updates weekly, so that we could be aware of any progress or issues that may come up. They were more than willing to help us in any way they could.
Now I'm going to share with you this week's speech therapy progress report. I truly believe that in addition to Mowgli's family, his speech therapist (past, present, and future) is the most important person in Mowgli's life.

Fred and Amy,

Mowgli has done well in speech therapy these past two weeks. He is
consistently recognizing the concept of "under" in the pictures that I
have been using. I have started using some new pictures to see if he
can generalize the concepts to unfamiliar pictures and he has done well
so far with this. I am happy with his progress with this.

I have been able to completely fade the paper prompt I was using for him
to produce 3 word sentences using present progressive verbs. He does
point his finger in on the table three times though if the paper was
there, but he doesn't need it directly in front of him.

Mowgli continues to do well identifying objects by function and is just
beginning to say the name of the item i am describing rather that
pointing to the correct picture and repeating my description (i.e.
saying a pencil rather than point to the picture and saying write with
it).

I have begun working on simple "what" questions with Mowgli using
picture cards and some worksheets. He is doing well with this so far
and seems to enjoy the worksheet activities. I have also continued to
work on him stating "I need scissors" etc... when using these materials
- He does continue to need prompting with this, but we will continue to
work on it. He has been able to attend for the completion of the entire
worksheet this week.

I have a toy dog in my room that barks, runs, and does a flip. He has
been turning this toy on more recently and when he plays with it I have
been saying "Jump dog" and now Mowgli has been turning the dog on and
saying this too independently and without me initiating it - very cute!


When Mowgli is playing with a preferred toy or on the computer, I have
also been working on a little turn taking and using the phrase "my turn"
- He does not always like this but is allowing me to use the computer
mouse/toy for a short period of time. I say "my turn" and take the mouse
and click on something on the website he is on and then prompt him to
say "my turn" to get the mouse back - He at times does say "my turn"
without my prompting.

Mowgli is doing better at identifying his classmates as well - He is
able to identify 7-8 with a phonemic prompt (I give him the first sound
of a peers name and he is able to then state the peers name himself.
This is a nice improvement as well.

Hope you have a great weekend and I will see you tomorrow at his
meeting!


Seriously, this woman busts her butt, every day for my child! She is helping him learn to communicate with the rest of the world. I couldn't be happier with her, or with the progress my little man is making. This is what I call a Merry Christmas!