It seems like it's been forever since we've started down this road, and in a way it is. Jack's always had delays so that's nothing new, but adding a name to it seems to change things. It gives it a finality and a permanence that was - in reality - there all along, but is made more real with the name.
It also seems like we are light-years away from where we were. I like to look retrospectively every six months to see just how far we've come. A year and a half later, here is where we are and where we're going:
Jack's Therapeutic Program:
When Jack was diagnosed, he was getting the following -
- 1 hour of speech/feeding weekly
- 1 hour of OT weekly
- 1 hour of special instruction weekly
- 1 hour of Gymboree weekly
Before his diagnosis, we attempted to enroll Jack in preschool, but we were told by the typical preschools that they could not meet his needs.
Now, a year and a half later, Jack is getting -
- 2 - 1 hour sessions of speech/feeding weekly
- 2 - 1 hour sessions of OT weekly
- 1 hour of aquatic PT weekly
- 1 hour of special instruction weekly
- 1 hour of special needs play/social skills group weekly
- 1 hour of special needs music class weekly
- 3 hours a day of special needs pre-K - plus through school -
- 2 - 30 minute sessions of speech weekly
- 2 - 30 minute sessions of OT weekly
- 30 minutes of PT weekly
So, we've increased Jack's therapy load quite a bit, but I think that the increased intensity has really helped Jack overall and helps maintain the consistency he needs to progress.
Speech/Language:
When Jack was diagnosed, he had the communicative abilities of a 7-month old. He was non-verbal. He was using no gestures, words, or sounds to get his needs met. We were unsure what - if anything - Jack could understand.
Now, Jack's testing at an overall level of an 18-20 month old in terms of communication skills. Echolalia and scripting have been the name of the speech game for some time now, with it comprising about 80-90% of what he says around the house. In terms of spontaneous speech, Jack has tons of labels; he knows what a lot of objects are called and just this summer began to spontaneously label them. In the past month, his new favorite word is "No!" He's gotten to where he is much better with greetings. He can say "Hi/Bye _____" with pretty good accuracy, though he still needs prompting and occasionally he'll say "Hi Jack" instead of the other person's name. He can say just a few spontaneous two-word phrases, primarily ones with "more" or "all done" plus a noun. He still doesn't use verbs expressively or pronouns, nor does he ask questions. He knows our names (Mommy and Daddy), Mason's name, the names of his therapists and teachers, plus the names of a couple of extended family members (his Grandma, Grandpa, and one of his uncles).
Jack started pointing at the start of the summer. He doesn't point to show interest or request objects - only in response to a question of "Where's _____?" He doesn't yet wave, but he will clap with prompting.
Receptively, Jack's showing us that he understands more. He is starting to follow some very simple 1-step commands, but he usually needs us to break down multi-step commands into individual steps, for example we'll tell him "get shoes" then once he's done that we'll say "sit on couch" instead of "get your shoes and sit on the couch".
Clearly we've got a very long way to go, he's come so far already.
Feeding:
When Jack was diagnosed, he was still eating mainly purees. He was also vomiting multiple times daily. Foods with any texture would make him gag. I refer to that period in our lives as the "Dark Days".
Now, feeding is still a significant challenge, but he's made lots of progress. Purees make up a much lower percentage of his diet. Now, his main foods are cereal bars, yogurt, French toast, waffles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, pretzel rods, alphabet cookies, and Cheerios. Occasionally, he'll eat pizza. He only drinks milk. Other foods cause a lot of anxiety. He recently added a new food - Goldfish crackers - which was a victory!
He still struggles a lot with coordinating his swallowing and chewing. Jack still can't eat independently. He needs prompting and assistance with each meal. He needs to have oral stimulation before and during meals to help keep him from pocketing. If he pockets, we have to massage his cheeks and help him clear that food and swallow it. We've had a lot of problems with Jack pocketing food in his cheeks, which seems to ebb and wane over time. We've had several choking incidents because of Jack's pocketing and tendency to overstuff his mouth.
It's a work in progress, but I'm confident that we'll continue to see growth in this area, slow as it may seem at times.
Other Adaptive Skills:
Jack can take off his shoes and socks. He can put his Velcro shoes on with a little prompting and assistance. He can't take off or put on any other clothing, including his diaper (a good thing, in my opinion).
Jack still has very few self-care skills. He will occasionally put his comb to his head with prompting. We still have to wash his hands, brush his teeth, and comb his hair. We also still have to help him eat or feed him when he struggles with utensils.
Jack is still in diapers. We're working on him being able to have awareness of the need for a diaper change. We see minimal awareness when he has a BM, but none with wet. Even with BMs, he doesn't always say something or if he does, he says it to himself and doesn't alert anyone to it. We usually have to look for the tell-tale signs that he has gone - like walking funny or a grimace - to know he's gone. That's not always a guarantee.
We're working on Jack being able to simply sit on the potty for a few moments. We've been able to lure him up there by counting (he loves numbers these days). Right now, we're going just for comfort on the potty and being able to sit up there for longer than 10 seconds. We're taking our time so as not to freak Jack out during the process. We don't want him to shut down like he has in the past.
Other Adaptive Skills:
Jack can take off his shoes and socks. He can put his Velcro shoes on with a little prompting and assistance. He can't take off or put on any other clothing, including his diaper (a good thing, in my opinion).
Jack still has very few self-care skills. He will occasionally put his comb to his head with prompting. We still have to wash his hands, brush his teeth, and comb his hair. We also still have to help him eat or feed him when he struggles with utensils.
Jack is still in diapers. We're working on him being able to have awareness of the need for a diaper change. We see minimal awareness when he has a BM, but none with wet. Even with BMs, he doesn't always say something or if he does, he says it to himself and doesn't alert anyone to it. We usually have to look for the tell-tale signs that he has gone - like walking funny or a grimace - to know he's gone. That's not always a guarantee.
We're working on Jack being able to simply sit on the potty for a few moments. We've been able to lure him up there by counting (he loves numbers these days). Right now, we're going just for comfort on the potty and being able to sit up there for longer than 10 seconds. We're taking our time so as not to freak Jack out during the process. We don't want him to shut down like he has in the past.
Fine and Gross Motor:
When Jack was diagnosed, he wasn't able to self-feed at all. He couldn't scribble and his hands were very weak. He couldn't jump or climb stairs. He had not met a motor milestone past walking/running. He struggled greatly with motor planning.
Now, motor planning is still a huge challenge with fine, gross, and oral-motor tasks. He does better with motor planning when the task is familiar. He just started jumping and it's definitely a work in progress, but one which he loves and seems motivated by. Stairs are still a big challenge for him and he seems to fatigue going up the stairs in our house. Going down stairs is very difficult for him.
Fine motor presents the bigger challenge. Jack can now scribble, but his strength in his hands is so weak that his scribbles are very light. He needs to be prompted to scribble and he still can't produce markings beyond back-and-forth lines. Anything fine motor is NOT a preferred activity - just ask his therapists who get to hear his screams. I'm guessing he won't be a budding artist anytime soon. :)
Social:
When Jack was diagnosed, he was not aware of other children at all. He didn't notice them. He struggled with eye contact and was very self-absorbed. He didn't respond to his name at all.
Now, social skills are still a significant challenge, but we're making gains. He's gotten to where he can do greetings to familiar adults pretty easily if he hears some kind of prompt (they say "hi" first). He can spontaneously greet familiar adults but not unfamiliar ones, but still needs prompting to do it most of the time (or to say the right name occasionally, he still tends at times to parrot back their greeting with "Hi, Jack!").
His eye contact has greatly improved. Jack won't look at you for more than a few seconds - you might call it fleeting eye contact - but it happens and is much better than it ever was. We find that sensory activities - jumping, sliding, swinging - help with this.
Self-absorption still occurs. He still has a tendency to get an object and get "lost" in it. I'm not sure we'll ever see this go away, as it may just be Jack's way of dealing with the stress of his world.
Peer-to-peer interactions are his biggest challenge. The good news is that Jack's awareness has increased. He seems curious of what other children are doing, sometimes in an anxious way, but more often than not just because he's curious. He doesn't care to join in with the other children, though. He's emerging in parallel play - meaning he'll play near a peer if they're both set up with a similar activity - but there are times when even parallel play is too much of a challenge, like with fine motor activities. He has been yet to be observed to imitate the verbal or motor behavior of a peer, which is a critical skill for success with parallel play.
There was one time recently - one - in which he spoke another word to a child at therapy because that child was engaged in a very motivating activity for Jack (bubbles, which was what he said). He has spontaneously said "Hi, ____!" to that same child twice. This is a child that is frequently at therapy at the same time as Jack and is often used as a peer model and for work on peer interaction. This in in a 1:1 setting with tons of sensory work first in a controlled environment and is so rare (only 3 times ever speaking to a peer that are so precious to this mama!) that we don't even consider it really an "emerging" skill yet. We've seen it with no one else and in no other setting. This other child has special needs, but seems very in-tune to what Jack needs in his environment and goes out of his way to make Jack feel comfortable. As a result, Jack feels very comfortable around this little boy, even if they don't play and interact much. I consider this to be the HUGE victory - staying comfortable and regulated around a peer.
For actual interaction to take place, Jack needs a lot of facilitation. He needs a 1:1 assistant or therapist to prompt him to speak, look, and act. He won't initiate interaction on his own. This has been one of our biggest issues with school, because every day when I pick him up he is off on his own. The other boys are running or riding bikes, while Jack is either sliding (one of his favorite activities) or opening and closing the doors to the Little Tikes house or grill. It breaks my heart that he's alone and no one is helping him. We're not sure what it will take to get someone to facilitate him at school, because right now he can't do it on his own.
Emotionally, Jack seems to lack awareness of the emotions of others. If I cry (and it's been known to happen), he won't comfort me as a typical child his age will. He understands receptively that crying is the action of crying and the sound it produces, but he doesn't equate it to pain. He isn't affectionate, though he will move his face towards you if you prompt for a kiss (oral-motor problems prevent him from puckering his lips) or will stand still for a hug (won't reciprocate). He will say "Love you" if prompted verbally, but he has never just come up to me to initiate saying "I love you".
We anticipate social skills, like speech and pragmatics, will be something we are always working on. It will forever be a work in progress.
Joint Attention
I only mention this as a separate category because it's one that parents ask about a lot. Does my child have joint attention or doesn't he/she?
So, what is joint attention? In my non-professional nutshell, it is when someone draws your attention to an object through looking, pointing, or other non-verbal (or verbal) means. It is someone wanting to share interest in an object with you.
Jack's joint attention is weak. The obvious things we notice are that he doesn't follow a point well (though with tons of work with his special instructor, it's improving), nor does he look at what you're looking at (called "eye gaze"). It presents challenges when we're trying to alert Jack's attention to an object, like a dropped toy or something he might find interesting. We have to point and then manipulate his head to look in the direction of the point. It makes it hard to work on vocabulary (prompting with "What's that?" questions) when he won't look at what you're pointing to or looking at.
In terms of Jack initiating joint attention, that's not happening yet. He can point when prompted with a "Where's ____?" question, but he doesn't point to indicate wanting an object or to draw attention to it. So, he doesn't point at a car that goes by when it interests him. Those of you with NT kids, think about it. When your child sees something of interest, they point to it and look back at you to see if you're watching. Even if they're non-verbal, they've indicated interest. That's joint attention. Again, a lack of it is kind of a key feature of autism - not sharing enjoyment in the world around you with others.
Jack also doesn't say "Look!" when he sees something of interest. I've heard that these skills usually come much later with kids with autism, so we're patiently waiting.
Sensory Issues
I think that Jack's sensory issues haven't so much changed, just evolved. He still really struggles with transitioning and breaking routine. He has a lot of anxiety. His anxiety involves tactile issues, auditory sensitivity, and anxiety with feeding. All we can do is try to manage these sensitivities while trying to slowly introduce the stimuli to "desensitize" him when we can.
He also hates lights being on. I think that he'd live in darkness if we'd allow it.
On the other hand, Jack is very underreactive to certain stimuli. He doesn't get dizzy easily. He can swing, spin, and get dropped onto surfaces all day long. In fact, Jack craves pressure. This may seem strange for a child that doesn't really like to be touched, but he loves pressure. He wants to be squeezed, compressed, or dropped onto a crash pad. One of the ways to really help him calm down is using joint compressions/brushing (called the Wilbarger protocol) or by putting a weighted toy on him or a compression vest/garment. Pressure helps calm his system down.
Perseveration
Ah, stimming. Jack wasn't as big of a stimmer in the obvious way when he was diagnosed, which is why many people have suggested that he probably was diagnosed as PDD-NOS at 24 months when he presents now as being more like "classic" autism. When he was diagnosed, he would fixate on trains, running them back and forth in front of his eyes. He also would cut his eyes to the side while pacing. Both are forms of visual stimulation. He also loved to stare at spinning objects like tops or fans, or anything else he could spin.
Now, Jack does more of the traditional stimming - hand-flapping, toe-walking (though not exclusively), and spinning himself in circles, plus most of what he used to do, minus the trains (not a favorite anymore).
Jack's current fixation is still letters and has been for over a year. He also has come to like numbers, I imagine for similar reasons as the letters. As a result of the new love of numbers, he fixates on timers and the timer on the microwave. He loves to watch them.
Play Skills
Functional play and play skills are still a weak area for Jack. His tendency is towards non-functional or cause and effect play. He'll open and close doors on a play house instead of playing with it. He'll drop or bang an object on a surface instead of using it functionally. He'll arrange letters in strange patterns. He has a house full of toys that he rarely plays with.
He still isn't doing any pretend play, though he can be prompted to do a simple pretend play action, like feed a doll. He needs a model to follow in these situations. He doesn't initiate this at all and needs to have facilitation for appropriate play.
Like I said before, he tends to fixate on non-toy objects, like his timer. He also would far prefer his iPad to a person any day.
School/Learning
Jack has been described as what you would call a Gestalt learner. He learns things in chunks. Someone once described it to me in this way - his words are in Duplo, or big, pre-made chunks. The rest of the world learns in Lego, or small, moveable pieces. So, he learns in chunks, like learning a scripted phrase like "Go play!", but he can't use the individual components of that phrase - "go" and "play" - to form a new phrase, like "play letters" or "go car". This can help explain why it's been such a challenge to move into meaningful, spontaneous 2-word phrases.
Jack does not have savant skills, but he has areas of very uneven cognitive ability. He has significant cognitive delays, though we have been unable to get good cognitive testing done due to Jack's language and attention issues. For example, his perceptual processing of things like hidden toys is very weak (you hide a toy under a cup, move the cup, and it's basically gone to him). However, he knows all of his letters (along with phonemic sounds they produce) and the numbers 1-10 (and a lot beyond that), plus he can read a digital clock. He memorizes words from Super Why! and can spell them with magnetic letters, but only in the order that they do it on Super Why! and with no other words except for ones seen on there. He has an incredible memory, I'd say bordering on eidetic.
Unfortunately, he has no understanding of any of this, nor does he know how to use it. He can read a clock, but he doesn't know what "time" is or those numbers mean. While he knows his numbers, he can't "count" how many of a certain object is placed before him. Comprehension is a huge problem for him in so many areas. He can recite many things, but he doesn't know what it means. This is what is known as splintered development, and it's very common with kids on the spectrum.
Also like many kids on the spectrum, he is a very visual learner. He requires extensive visuals and picture schedules to understand sequencing and multi-step tasks, like the layout of his school day. Some of his best learning actually occurs via his iPad, which contains several programs designed for children with developmental disabilities.
Jack has a hard time attending to task due to his sensory issues. His anxiety also comes into play at school, too. We see him get overwhelmed and self-absorb a lot at school.
These differences in learning make a good special education program critical for Jack's success. Mainstream scenarios have never worked in the past for Jack, but it's because he needs an environment tailored to his needs and learning style. We'll probably always be on the hunt for the perfect learning environment for Jack.
---
So, that's it. That's where we are. As you can see, we've come a very long way and we still have a very long way to go. We've resigned to the fact that progress is a dynamic term, constantly changing and redefining itself. We are so incredibly proud of our boy, what he has done, how hard he has worked, and where he is going. Our definitions of progress, success, and the future have changed, but we couldn't be prouder of him, regardless of the destination.
He is, and will continue to be, our inspiration. Our reason to fight. Our heart.
Social:
When Jack was diagnosed, he was not aware of other children at all. He didn't notice them. He struggled with eye contact and was very self-absorbed. He didn't respond to his name at all.
Now, social skills are still a significant challenge, but we're making gains. He's gotten to where he can do greetings to familiar adults pretty easily if he hears some kind of prompt (they say "hi" first). He can spontaneously greet familiar adults but not unfamiliar ones, but still needs prompting to do it most of the time (or to say the right name occasionally, he still tends at times to parrot back their greeting with "Hi, Jack!").
His eye contact has greatly improved. Jack won't look at you for more than a few seconds - you might call it fleeting eye contact - but it happens and is much better than it ever was. We find that sensory activities - jumping, sliding, swinging - help with this.
Self-absorption still occurs. He still has a tendency to get an object and get "lost" in it. I'm not sure we'll ever see this go away, as it may just be Jack's way of dealing with the stress of his world.
Peer-to-peer interactions are his biggest challenge. The good news is that Jack's awareness has increased. He seems curious of what other children are doing, sometimes in an anxious way, but more often than not just because he's curious. He doesn't care to join in with the other children, though. He's emerging in parallel play - meaning he'll play near a peer if they're both set up with a similar activity - but there are times when even parallel play is too much of a challenge, like with fine motor activities. He has been yet to be observed to imitate the verbal or motor behavior of a peer, which is a critical skill for success with parallel play.
There was one time recently - one - in which he spoke another word to a child at therapy because that child was engaged in a very motivating activity for Jack (bubbles, which was what he said). He has spontaneously said "Hi, ____!" to that same child twice. This is a child that is frequently at therapy at the same time as Jack and is often used as a peer model and for work on peer interaction. This in in a 1:1 setting with tons of sensory work first in a controlled environment and is so rare (only 3 times ever speaking to a peer that are so precious to this mama!) that we don't even consider it really an "emerging" skill yet. We've seen it with no one else and in no other setting. This other child has special needs, but seems very in-tune to what Jack needs in his environment and goes out of his way to make Jack feel comfortable. As a result, Jack feels very comfortable around this little boy, even if they don't play and interact much. I consider this to be the HUGE victory - staying comfortable and regulated around a peer.
For actual interaction to take place, Jack needs a lot of facilitation. He needs a 1:1 assistant or therapist to prompt him to speak, look, and act. He won't initiate interaction on his own. This has been one of our biggest issues with school, because every day when I pick him up he is off on his own. The other boys are running or riding bikes, while Jack is either sliding (one of his favorite activities) or opening and closing the doors to the Little Tikes house or grill. It breaks my heart that he's alone and no one is helping him. We're not sure what it will take to get someone to facilitate him at school, because right now he can't do it on his own.
Emotionally, Jack seems to lack awareness of the emotions of others. If I cry (and it's been known to happen), he won't comfort me as a typical child his age will. He understands receptively that crying is the action of crying and the sound it produces, but he doesn't equate it to pain. He isn't affectionate, though he will move his face towards you if you prompt for a kiss (oral-motor problems prevent him from puckering his lips) or will stand still for a hug (won't reciprocate). He will say "Love you" if prompted verbally, but he has never just come up to me to initiate saying "I love you".
We anticipate social skills, like speech and pragmatics, will be something we are always working on. It will forever be a work in progress.
Joint Attention
I only mention this as a separate category because it's one that parents ask about a lot. Does my child have joint attention or doesn't he/she?
So, what is joint attention? In my non-professional nutshell, it is when someone draws your attention to an object through looking, pointing, or other non-verbal (or verbal) means. It is someone wanting to share interest in an object with you.
Jack's joint attention is weak. The obvious things we notice are that he doesn't follow a point well (though with tons of work with his special instructor, it's improving), nor does he look at what you're looking at (called "eye gaze"). It presents challenges when we're trying to alert Jack's attention to an object, like a dropped toy or something he might find interesting. We have to point and then manipulate his head to look in the direction of the point. It makes it hard to work on vocabulary (prompting with "What's that?" questions) when he won't look at what you're pointing to or looking at.
In terms of Jack initiating joint attention, that's not happening yet. He can point when prompted with a "Where's ____?" question, but he doesn't point to indicate wanting an object or to draw attention to it. So, he doesn't point at a car that goes by when it interests him. Those of you with NT kids, think about it. When your child sees something of interest, they point to it and look back at you to see if you're watching. Even if they're non-verbal, they've indicated interest. That's joint attention. Again, a lack of it is kind of a key feature of autism - not sharing enjoyment in the world around you with others.
Jack also doesn't say "Look!" when he sees something of interest. I've heard that these skills usually come much later with kids with autism, so we're patiently waiting.
Sensory Issues
I think that Jack's sensory issues haven't so much changed, just evolved. He still really struggles with transitioning and breaking routine. He has a lot of anxiety. His anxiety involves tactile issues, auditory sensitivity, and anxiety with feeding. All we can do is try to manage these sensitivities while trying to slowly introduce the stimuli to "desensitize" him when we can.
He also hates lights being on. I think that he'd live in darkness if we'd allow it.
On the other hand, Jack is very underreactive to certain stimuli. He doesn't get dizzy easily. He can swing, spin, and get dropped onto surfaces all day long. In fact, Jack craves pressure. This may seem strange for a child that doesn't really like to be touched, but he loves pressure. He wants to be squeezed, compressed, or dropped onto a crash pad. One of the ways to really help him calm down is using joint compressions/brushing (called the Wilbarger protocol) or by putting a weighted toy on him or a compression vest/garment. Pressure helps calm his system down.
Perseveration
Ah, stimming. Jack wasn't as big of a stimmer in the obvious way when he was diagnosed, which is why many people have suggested that he probably was diagnosed as PDD-NOS at 24 months when he presents now as being more like "classic" autism. When he was diagnosed, he would fixate on trains, running them back and forth in front of his eyes. He also would cut his eyes to the side while pacing. Both are forms of visual stimulation. He also loved to stare at spinning objects like tops or fans, or anything else he could spin.
Now, Jack does more of the traditional stimming - hand-flapping, toe-walking (though not exclusively), and spinning himself in circles, plus most of what he used to do, minus the trains (not a favorite anymore).
Jack's current fixation is still letters and has been for over a year. He also has come to like numbers, I imagine for similar reasons as the letters. As a result of the new love of numbers, he fixates on timers and the timer on the microwave. He loves to watch them.
Play Skills
Functional play and play skills are still a weak area for Jack. His tendency is towards non-functional or cause and effect play. He'll open and close doors on a play house instead of playing with it. He'll drop or bang an object on a surface instead of using it functionally. He'll arrange letters in strange patterns. He has a house full of toys that he rarely plays with.
He still isn't doing any pretend play, though he can be prompted to do a simple pretend play action, like feed a doll. He needs a model to follow in these situations. He doesn't initiate this at all and needs to have facilitation for appropriate play.
Like I said before, he tends to fixate on non-toy objects, like his timer. He also would far prefer his iPad to a person any day.
School/Learning
Jack has been described as what you would call a Gestalt learner. He learns things in chunks. Someone once described it to me in this way - his words are in Duplo, or big, pre-made chunks. The rest of the world learns in Lego, or small, moveable pieces. So, he learns in chunks, like learning a scripted phrase like "Go play!", but he can't use the individual components of that phrase - "go" and "play" - to form a new phrase, like "play letters" or "go car". This can help explain why it's been such a challenge to move into meaningful, spontaneous 2-word phrases.
Jack does not have savant skills, but he has areas of very uneven cognitive ability. He has significant cognitive delays, though we have been unable to get good cognitive testing done due to Jack's language and attention issues. For example, his perceptual processing of things like hidden toys is very weak (you hide a toy under a cup, move the cup, and it's basically gone to him). However, he knows all of his letters (along with phonemic sounds they produce) and the numbers 1-10 (and a lot beyond that), plus he can read a digital clock. He memorizes words from Super Why! and can spell them with magnetic letters, but only in the order that they do it on Super Why! and with no other words except for ones seen on there. He has an incredible memory, I'd say bordering on eidetic.
Unfortunately, he has no understanding of any of this, nor does he know how to use it. He can read a clock, but he doesn't know what "time" is or those numbers mean. While he knows his numbers, he can't "count" how many of a certain object is placed before him. Comprehension is a huge problem for him in so many areas. He can recite many things, but he doesn't know what it means. This is what is known as splintered development, and it's very common with kids on the spectrum.
Also like many kids on the spectrum, he is a very visual learner. He requires extensive visuals and picture schedules to understand sequencing and multi-step tasks, like the layout of his school day. Some of his best learning actually occurs via his iPad, which contains several programs designed for children with developmental disabilities.
Jack has a hard time attending to task due to his sensory issues. His anxiety also comes into play at school, too. We see him get overwhelmed and self-absorb a lot at school.
These differences in learning make a good special education program critical for Jack's success. Mainstream scenarios have never worked in the past for Jack, but it's because he needs an environment tailored to his needs and learning style. We'll probably always be on the hunt for the perfect learning environment for Jack.
---
So, that's it. That's where we are. As you can see, we've come a very long way and we still have a very long way to go. We've resigned to the fact that progress is a dynamic term, constantly changing and redefining itself. We are so incredibly proud of our boy, what he has done, how hard he has worked, and where he is going. Our definitions of progress, success, and the future have changed, but we couldn't be prouder of him, regardless of the destination.
He is, and will continue to be, our inspiration. Our reason to fight. Our heart.
Jack really has come so far! You must be so proud of him. And of yourself for being such a great advocate for him! I love reading your posts. They are inspiring and often echo a lot of my own thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWould you mind sharing of programs you usenwith Jack on his iPad?
Thank you so much! I am so incredibly proud of him. He definitely follows his own, unique developmental path, but he works harder than anyone I've ever known. All of our kids are so inspirational.
DeleteAs far as the iPad apps go, there are a lot! I tell you what...I'll do a post in the next day or two about iPad apps. I've been meaning to do a "What's on Jack's iPad" post for a while, so this will be a good reason to do it. There are several that have really made a difference for him!
Thanks for reading! Stay posted for the iPad list!