Hi Goals, Nice to Meet You

Evan was now about two months into speech and OT. He was having fun, working hard and we were doing as much as we could to reinforce what he was learning at home. The first time he met one of his goals it was so exciting and very fulfilling to know everything was actually working. Meeting goals and seeing progress was like an addiction. After the first time I wanted more and more!

Evan was becoming more adept at running, kicking and jumping. All of his work at OT dealing with his sensory issues was paying off as well. His reactions to loud noises were becoming less severe. He may get upset, but the major breakdowns were a thing of the past.

Since so much of Evan's speech was memorized or mimicked he only spoke the way he heard us speak to him. For example, he would say "you went to school" instead of saying "I went to school." Getting him to get his pronouns straight was a long process. First we had to teach him to correct himself with a verbal cue, later with a non-verbal cue and eventually he began to self-correct. After about eight weeks of speech he started to use "I" and "you" appropriately.

One day on the way home from school I asked Evan the usual questions and I expected the usual absence of answers. But the conversation went down differently than usual.

Me: What did you paint at school today?
Evan: You painted Earth.
Me: I didn't paint Earth.
Evan: I painted Earth at school.
Me: Did you play with your friends today?
Evan: You played dress up.
Me: Who played dress up?
Evan: Evan.
Me: What did you wear?
Evan: A black tee shirt.
Me: What about Andie?
Evan: Andie wore a princess.
Me: How about Max?
Evan: A bat (batman I think)
Me: And Aylinn?
Evan: A fireman.

My first thought: Holy shit we just had a conversation!!!!!!!!!!! It was the coolest feeling and I was beaming with pride! The last time I asked him I got dead air and this time he was able to answer all of my questions. The next day I looked in his cubby and sure enough a painting of Earth was peeking out. He's communicating and telling the truth- awesome!