New Skills

Lib is riding a bicycle on his own, steering, pedaling, etc. It's like he grew up overnight. He would not do this last year even when we bought him a bike with training wheels. He would sit on it and try to pedal a little but could not steer, lose interest, and hop off.

He has picked up more signs and since we don't have a sign for a DVD he likes, he found a picture of it and brought it to me while I was in the kitchen today. That is something I tried forever to get him to do last year when we were frustrated, trying to get him to communicate with pictures.

My boy is taking off with flying colors. This concentrated six weeks of camp with intense applied verbal behavior in increments of 15 minutes with one-on-one teaching has made the difference. I know that their method is working with my son when the things that he learns at school can transfer to home and other places. He signs to everyone now. He doesn't have a lot of signs, but what he does have he uses and he is communicating, that is the bottom line. Boy, I really see now what kind of accomplishments can be gained in such a short time. Wow.

Compared to where he was last year, he is now light years ahead. He understands faces and body parts and his focus is increasing and there is a feeling more of his being present with us. I hear about some parents talking about their children "re-joining" the family. This is how it feels. Last year, he was not connecting with us like he is now.

I describe in detail about Lib since just because our children might have the same label as autism, they are all different. Some children talk and communicate fine but have deficits in other areas. Some children know where they are in space, don't have the many sensory issues that we have had to deal with. Someone at the camp who is around Liberty made the comment that he has really "come out of his shell." Always so loving and affectionate, my little one just could not communicate with words or signs, only gesture, and lots of frustration.

So, to see him riding a bike down the hallway of school, and waving bye-bye and putting Mr. Potato Head together, and touching his nose when you ask him where it is, and saying what do you want, and watching him sign "pretzel," well, it's amazing and actually a relief.

We are understanding each other!

Now, the trick is going to be keeping up with the Carbonne method in our home routinely. I'd hate for him to lose any of these skills as so commonly happens when kids are off for the summer. That's where some help getting a home program will come in handy. Liberty's former speech therapist told me that the children who have a program at home, (and by that I mean parents reinforcing what is learned in school and therapy), are the ones who do better.

I'm so proud of Liberty and how hard he works and how little he fusses. He truly is my trooper. And, he's happy. The teacher told me that she sees his confidence increasing. I have never had anyone say that to me about Lib.

On another note, my husband is doing another music workshop for the kids next week. He takes his band out there and they play songs and then he lets the kids get in line to play on his drums, and the other members, one guitarist and one bassist, they also let the kids play on their instruments. The kids loved it last time and, in fact, there were apparently some breakthroughs with children in terms of communication and getting truly excited about something. That's the magic of music, I suppose.

Yep, it's been a great summer so far.