Progress

Yesterday we went to a play date at a friends house. There was so much ...progress! Andrew did plan and it reminded me of a recent episode of Parenthood where 'Gaby' the autistic instructor helped max make a 'things you do at a sleepover party' list. It was so...rigid. Andrew made a list of things he wanted to do with J&J. It too was rigid and long...and one sided! The difference is I was able to talk to him regarding the list. We are avid Captain Underpants readers but some most of my friends are not. So I mentioned to him that we should change the "read C.U." bullet on his list and maybe put in a new book. In the past, that would have been a real loosing battle and he was visibly upset however, he did brighten up and pick a different book!

Ah...Silly bands. Apparently, according to public schoolers, they are 'out' now however I think that is because teachers have probably banned them because the are a distraction! But they are still 'in' in the homeschool crowd and I have been handing them out to Andrew over the past weeks. First, I love my kid because I had given him duplicates and at first those were the ones he was going to share/trade but he said that wouldn't really be sharing/trading because he'd still have one. I love his heart. I also was not quite sure he'd part with ANY of them at all! But he had great fun trading with his two buddies. I had to hold back a tear while I was snapping pictures.

We still struggle with hearing in many environments. As Andrew's joint attention and referencing have increased we have seen improvements in his asking for clarification versus getting upset. I have seen that at Praise and Worship class at enrichment hub as well. But he did 'better' and his friends were great with Andrew. They would tap him on the shoulder to get his attention and wait for him.

We spent a bit of time on the Wii. Computer and video games are just not a great 'together' activity with Andrew. He has 'his' way of doing it.. which is, of course the 'right way.' He has to get every coin and go in every secret tunnel. We did play for a bit and probably will again but just not the 'best' thing for him. He was even flexible here though. They wanted Andrew to bring over a Wii game and Andrew was very nervous that his data would be erased if he put it in another system. I posed the question on facebook and a friend called me to tell me that her son (Andrew's teenage buddy) said it would not erase. Andrew took it! He had a trust level there that was not there before. It probably had something to do with the fact that his buddy Tony had supplied the info.

We left on a high note after a 2 hour play date. Andrew had forgotten to bring a lego creation he wanted to show them but did not melt down with that either! Another sign of progress. Today has been wonderful as well... a happy kid. He desires so much to connect and I think that it is, itself, a reward for him. We may begin to approach RDI on a more cognitive level and explain to him that we do this SO that he can learn how to better form relationships with others.