Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Two steps forward . . .

We had Adam home for the weekend, then spent yesterday afternoon with Toby in Alexandria. I reported to a few of my gentle readers in another forum last week that Adam had vocalized the tune of "B-I-N-G-O." Saturday morning, he watched my lips as I sang that to him, then he resonded, "B-I-ehh-ehh-ehh." This is the first time that Adam has uttered any discernible language, and thus it is a huge effing deal. I almost cried, quite honestly. I credit the applied behavioral analysis training program at St. Mary's for this development--that program forces him to attend to the adult trainer acrosss the desk from him during some pretty intense sessions. Adam fought like hell against this for several weeks, but now he pretty much goes along with the program. Anyone who has tried to start an ABA program with an autistic child can attest to the difficulty in getting it underway. On the flip-side, Adam's stereotypically autistic traits are kicking up again. He played at the park by making tiny piles of sand with the post-Katrina fill along the walkways, then taking those piles and sliding them down a slide. He insisted on buying several bottles of Pepsi products every time we went to the store, then arranging those bottles on the kitchen counter. Also, he got very agitated at the store the other day when he noticed that the lettering on his favorite automatic door had been covered. Overall, however, Adam is making progress. He's struggling, but he is trying hard.

Toby overcame a big fear yesterday. After a half-hour or so of watching the doors on the hotel elevator, he had me pick him up and take him inside the elevator. We rode up and down for quite a while, with Toby learning how to operate the thing. We also had a lengthy swimming pool session in a pretty wild pool. Unfortunately, Toby's wasteline has thinned, and his swimsuit came off. I managed to get it back on, but it kept falling, so I couldn't toss him into the air as I usually do.

DW had an odd throat ailment the other day. Her throat was aching on Friday night, then it swelled up so badly during the day Saturday that it almost closed. Adam and I had to run her to doc-in-the-box Saturday night, where she got a steroid shot that made things all better. It must not have been contagious, as I'm just fine.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is wonderful news for Adam! I have read really good things about ABA.

Does your wife have alergies? all the rain this time of year makes the mold counts awful in our part of the world.

Randy said...

The mold is a bitch in this area, thanks in large part to people who haven't bothered to gut their damn houses. It must not be as bad as it was, however, because my allergies have settled down.

The classroom teachers we had pre-St. Mary's used some ABA techniques pretty successfully with Toby, but they weren't intensive enough for the techniques to work with Adam.

Anonymous said...

Oh I didn't even think about all the junk still lying around. I bet the mold is awful :(

I'm crossing my fingers for all of us that we have a mild season this year. So many people here and saying that they will refuse to evacuate this year if another one heads our way, it's scary. I'd rather spend another 12 hour trip in the car with my newborn than risk it personally.

Are they just going to leave all the houses and building indefinatly? that has to be a huge health risk for everyone!