I have to agree with everyone in saying that Tony is doing really great things! I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a child who has made as much progress as quickly as Tony has. I feel the one of the biggest and most important things that we are seeing at this time is Tony’s extroversion. So many times, kiddos with ASD just really curl up into themselves and it’s so hard to reach them. As long as we keep Tony out of that shell, he is open to learning so much! To see him show so much interest in so many different things and different people is nothing short of amazing. After some discussion on Mon., we decided to use a two handed sign for cup/drink. We thought that maybe Tony was having difficulty discriminating between the signs for eat and drink since they are similar. In terms of Tony’s vocal/verbal development, I think he is doing marvelously! At this point we are seeing more imitation of sounds than words, but I’m OK with that. Tony is producing various sounds (good b/c we continue to increase his phonemic repertoire) and various sound combinations (good b/c this is repetition for more complex speech productions and is allowing the muscles of his mouth to become more familiar with patterns of movement neccesary for accurate speech production). For example, I know “ah boom” seems silly, but it requires Tony to transition from an open mouth posture to a closed one. “Tickle” requires him to move from a sound produced in the front of the mouth to a glottal sound produced in the back of the mouth. These patterns of movement are essential for future speech development! So, although some of this stuff seems silly and maybe nonfunctional at times…there’s really a reason! That’s all the time I have for now. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Thanks for the kind words Anton!

OK, so I’m back after a long Thanksgiving break…obviously too long because the kid that I left on the 19th is NOT the same today! Tony has had some MAJOR developments over the past 10 days.. and I mean major! Today’s session was completely amazing. Tony was focused and concentrated with almost everything. It was a little tough to start out with because he had just gotten up and had to ‘warm into’ working with me. Tony is not as good in the evening because it’s so close to bedtime and all but fortunately I am going to start coming on Tuesday and Thursday mornings now. Anyway, it was already dark so we could not do any activities outside (another disadvantage of working in the evening) but we did do some good things inside. We did a lot of “jump” as Tony would request it with the verbalization. Also, we did “ahh boom” where Tony would say “ahh” and then I would fil in with the “boom” and throw him on the couch. A few times we reversed it and I did the “ahh” and Tony said “boom.”

Tony continued to amaze me as we worked on puzzles later on. I brought the puzzle with the animals in it over to him and I dumped the pieces on the chair. Tony picked up the pieces without any prompting and put all the pieces in their place within 30 seconds. So can I just say this was the same puzzle I tried to get him to do 2 weeks ago..only then it would take at least 5 minutes to get him to focus enough to work on the task. Unbelievable…..oh..but I continue..

Tony’s eye contact has been insane. I had him over on arm chair..he sat in the chair and I sat in the floor with him. I did peek-a-boo (inspired by Elizabeth’s blogs) with Tony using my shrug sweater (that’s right, Anton). I would throw the sweater over my face and then I would remove it saying peek-a-boo. So I did this twice and then Tony started playing along and would pull the sweater down off my face and say peek-a -boo back and giggled. I did the same to Tony, putting the sweater over him and then I would pull it down and he would say an approximation of “peek-a-boo.” We also did the head-shoulder-knees-and toes song (Elizabeth has started this). Tony loves it and we did it a few times as Tony started repeating me…but they were again, approximations to the real words…however, I was completely stunned when we worked on toes. I kept grabbing his toes and saying “toes” “I’ve got you’re toes” while he giggled. Then suddenly Tony grabbed my finger and took it to his toes and clearly said “toe”!!! Whoo! Tony is so smart..I swear the child is just brilliant. In the chair Tony also did a lot of echoing…he took crayons and put them on top of the chair and then would let them fall down. Since he whined when I started to take him over to the couch to work on ‘roll ball” I decided to play along and say “fall down” when we dropped the crayons. Tony caught on immediately and started saying “fa-don”!! Again…just sheer brilliance!

So..I’ve written a lot but for a good reason. I can hardly believe this is the same Tony! He was singing a song to himself and playing with the pillow in the chair and pointing to the designs…(imaginative play)! He has calmed down a lot and seems much more focused. He walked over to his ‘wire bead toy” unprompted near the end of the session and started playing by himself…singing a song and looking over at me smiling while he was playing. So my question is…what HAPPENED??? Whatever it is..it’s WORKING! Everyone, great work and keep it up!

11/29/05
Dad here (Anton)…

I have been so incredibly busy taking care of our advertising clients
and Web clients and magazine clients over the course of the last few
months that I have been out of the loop for posting. This, despite
the fact that I am the writer in this family.

I am remiss…

So now I find myself in the early dark night of late fall (Nov.
29th), finally spending time to add my completely biased two cents to
Tony’s therapy blog (apparently a first in our community).

It has been an incredible journey, these last 4 months (August-
November) of 2005.

When Tony acquired his initial diagnosis of Autism on July first, we
had no idea what his future held.

We knew a few things about Tony though: he was gorgeous (I know,
completely superficial, but an attribute nonetheless); he was
energetic; he was VERY adept at fine motor skills and coordination
(witness his very autistic behavior of stacking small objects sky
high); he loved music and had/has very specific tastes (Tony loves
Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffet, Joe Jackson, Van Morrison, Macy Gray,
India.Arie) and if Marlaina tried to play ANY “Hair Bands” he would
freak out (good boy!)…and strangely enough, he hated some of the
Broadway Musicals we love. BUT…he has seen Rocky Horror Picture
Show and HAIR! (he loves the music…and hey, I don’t think this is
wrong for a toddler) and he really, really, REALLY loves a lot of the
peacenik hippie tunes that Peter Paul & Mary sing, and he LOVES Joan
Baez, The Birds, Mommas & Poppas, The Beatles, Cat Stevens, CSN&Y (Teach
your Children Well!), Old Bruce Springsteen, George Thorogood (Bad to
the Bone), and a few others my scrambled brain can’t remember…

We knew he loved a lot of repetitive behavior. He closed doors. Then
opened them. Them slammed them shut. And reopened them anew. A game
he could play for hours, if allowed. He liked to be all alone…by
himself…totally isolated.

We knew he loved cheese sandwiches. And cheese. And bread. And pasta.
(We later found out just how incredibly addictive these substances
were for him, and discovered there effects on his development)

We knew that he did NOT like being held or being kissed or being
touched (for the most part) or basically interrupted in whatever he
was doing. We knew that he NEVER ever pointed at anything. Not even
once.

We knew he had a hard time looking at animate objects…like us. Or
others. Or even animals…

We knew he never said one single word that sounded like an actual
word. Although prior to his first birthday he did have a few words,
and one of them was DaDa Har Har…a word he reserved exclusively for
seeing me (his dad).

We knew that Tony’s attention span was about .5 seconds…and then it
was off to the next interesting thing. Unless he was stacking stuff
over and over and over again.

So…we knew knew a lot about Tony. And what we knew was so atypical
of what we had experienced with previous children…oy vey.

I fast forward…

This is what we know about Tony today: Tony now hugs
people…especially me when he has just gotten up from a nap. Tony
now looks people in the eye…playfully, provocatively, and (most
importantly) interactively! Tony has language skills…he can ask for
things, he can take us to what he wants, he can point at things of
interest to him. He has words. He has counting skills. Tony can sing.
He can dance. He can concentrate on a task and complete it. He can
learn new skills, and then repeat what he learned (tasks). He can
focus and concentrate!

Tony is also on a Gluten/Casein Free Diet, and takes a daily regime
of very specific B vitamin complexes. We have seen what going off
this “diet” can do to him…and it isn’t pretty.

In short, Tony’s development has gone (in 4 months) from that of a 6-
month old to that of a two-year old. If it wasn’t for his speech
delays, you would think that you were around a typically-developing 2-
year old.
Granted, Tony still has some weird little habits…he likes the feel
of sheepskins…he needs to fall asleep with a specific stuffed
animal toy (chenille)…his eating habits are still sort of centered
around pseudo carbs…and he still occasionally indulges in
repetitive play.

Just in the past week Tony has done a few TOTALLY amazing things
which he never before did. After I arrived home from class on Monday
night he ran to the gate dividing his space from our foyer and waved
at me coming in the door and said (emphatically) HI!!!!!!

He also played a game of “hide and seek” with me while I was in my
chair. He came over to one side of my desk chair, and when I spun
around to say “hi” to him, he raced behind me to the other side of my
chair…hiding from me. I spun the other way around to greet him and
he responded by running the opposite directing behind my chair. He
did this three times before I just started laughing out loud. He was
obviously “hiding” from me. What an awesome display of imagination
and game-play! He has additionally started saying “DaDa” in context
with me. For example, this morning when I left the play area to make
breakfast for Marlaina he followed me to the gate and repeated “DaDa”
a few times in a somewhat angry voice. When I poked my head around
the corner and down the hallway he said “DaDa” again and then ran
back to what he was doing.

I think that above and beyond all of his progress, the most amazing
part of his development has been his interaction with us. Where
before he was completely uninvolved in our lives, and
uninterested…he is now completely engaged in our lives, and even
looks to us for approval of tasks he performs. Four months ago we
would have NEVER thought he’d create (or desire) this sort of rapport
with others around him. This week he has even started petting the dog
and cats. He notices them. He wants to know more about them. He wants
to be involved with them.

An incredible voyage of discovery for him, these last few months. We
could not have done it without the help of some key people in his life.

Tony’s two ABA therapists, Whitney and Elizabeth, have been a
cornerstone of his development. Their patience and guidance and
interaction has played such a key role in his development that I
should spent a page on them. Well, I plan on doing that…probably in
a few months. Whitney and Elizabeth have been our daily companions
with Tony, and his personal interaction with them has helped in ways
we’ll always be grateful for. They have been his Front Line of
teaching…and they have both done amazing jobs. Tony loves them
them…unconditionally.

Tony’s Early Interventionist Megan has been a blessing of epic
proportion for us. She has, in short, navigated the maze of services
for us that we would have never managed alone. On top of that, Tony
has shown a genuine affection for her, and even recently started
greeting her and patting the seat next to him for her sit down. He
obviously adores her as part of his “crowd.”

Tony’s speech therapist Jill has been absolutely indispensable for
us. Tony has learned to sign and speak his needs and desires. This,
almost more than anything else, has been profoundly important for his
development. Without Jill (and early on, Jana), I seriously doubt I’d
be typing this narrative. The first person that Tony ever really said
“hi” to…in fact, he said “Hi Jill” just this past week. Even when
Tony is completely tired and out of sorts and not interested in doing
anything…Jill can get him back on task. This is truly amazing.

Lastly, we have our friend and neighbor Toni to thank for helping us
get started down this interesting path towards “recovery” for our son
Tony. Her knowledge, insight, and availability to us has made this
journey a smooth one. For that, we will forever be indebted.

I look forward to then next four months!

And with that, I will sign off. For now.

Wow, today Tony was talking so much and really looking at everyone for reinforcement while he was playing. He said “hi” to Megan (EI) when she came in and he said “thank you” (an approximation) to me when I gave him the pen he wanted! Tony drew on a Magna Doodle and tried to make sounds for “circle”, and “square”. He also looked at his dad and said “dada”.

Tony did really well with the mand “open” today. Many situations arose in which it was easy to use it. In the beginning of the session I was prompting Tony but towards the end when he wanted me to open something like a box with crayons he just sounded the word “open” and it was rather clear. When Tony was playing with his alphabet puzzle we sang the alphabet song and I said the letters aloud to him. Tony sounded out some of the letters and clearly said “O” many times. Tony requested “more” during eating with sign (I think he’s using this sign like “I want”). We’re working on “eat” and “cup” but the two signs are similar and he’s doing a little whining, reaching, and leading rather than doing the signs. But we’ll keep working on this. I’m going to ask Jill (speech) for ideas with these two. During puzzle time, Tony was pushing out and replacing the puzzle pieces well. Tony was also doing good imitation of physical movements (“do this”) and sounds, not just with puzzles but with ball bouncing (made sounds for “ball”, “bounce”, “roll”). He also initiated games like “wake up”, “aah choo”, “fall down”, “peek a boo”. Outside we played “sit, stand up” and he tried to say “sit”. Tony was in such a great mood today, being very playful, and he was really trying to say and do a lot. We tried to use a plate and play fork during snack but Tony was trying to flip the plate on the floor so I just took the plate. He held the fork once but used it to flick food on the floor so we moved on to something else.

Speech showed up afterwards with her mirror and Tony said many words and in general, made many sounds. She worked on body parts with a Mr. Potato Head–he really enjoyed this. He played with a ball and other toys while working on words and signs such as “more” and “open”. They also worked on a few tacts as they arose. What a productive Monday (Corporate World, eat your heart out)!

Tony did wonderful today! When I arrived, he was sitting in a chair eating a waffle. He waved and said “hi” and then patted the seat next to him for me to sit down! I sat by him for a little while, then he got done and said/signed “open” for me to open my toy bag. He, of course, picked through every toy in the bag until he found what he wanted to play with, which was the MagnaDoodle. He really enjoyed scribbling with the pen and would try to follow in what I or Elizabeth drew. We worked on repeating names of shapes with the shape magnets, but Tony mainly wanted to line them up and count them. He did great letting either mom or Elizabeth know when he needed a break. He would grab their hands and take them outside to swing or say “all done” or “bye bye.” I cannot believe how calm and focused he was today. He is like a completely different kid from the one I met in August. He did a lot of imaginary play today, including pretending to sleep (way to go Jill!). It’s so great to see him play with other people…he really wants to interact and that is such a huge step!

On a side note, as I am sure all of you already know, we are changing OTs. I spoke with the current OT today who was extremely understanding and said that she felt as though Tony does need someone else. Sometimes people just don’t mesh well! We are looking into getting an OT from Jill’s agency, which will definitely be a good thing. I’m excited to see how Tony reacts to a new person. Other than that, everything is going smoothly. When was the last time we could say that? I should have said this at my visit today, but Marlaina, great idea taking Tony to Chik-Fil-A. It’s so important that he gets exposed to as many social situations as possible, even at this age. Eventually he is going to need to know the appropriate way to act in public social settings, and it’s never too early to start teaching him that. You guys amaze me every day with your willingness to sacrifice and do what ever it takes to help Tony.

Great job today! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Only a few more weeks until Christmas!
Talk to you all soon!

Okay, so I walk in the door and Tony’s eating a waffle. He looks and smiles, then later says and waves “hi” to me. After that I only got a little accomplished. 30mins after I started working/playing with Tony he tells me “all done”. He was getting upset so we went outside. Tony had a great time and if I said “Tony, this way” and pointed my finger he actually followed me. I did this three times to see if it was a coincidence but each time he did it. We played a few games (aah, boom, wake up, feet stomp) and we ran around until two dogs came running into the park. Of course I snatched up Tony and said “see the dogs”. Tony held out his hand and made a sound for “dog”. Inside Tony made the sound for “open” when he needed the cellophane removed from his new book and when he wanted a toy from a closed box. Tony did imitate when I said “do this”. He imitated stomping and running. He didn’t sign or say “cup” when he wanted his drink. Tony was really irritable today so he whined on/off throughout the day. Tony told me “all done” a lot. He had been awake since 6:30am (didn’t sleep well) so he was just tired and took a nap early. I am trying to push Tony a little with the mands so I’ll see how it goes Mon. just to see if I need to change my approach.

Tony was very verbal today. While picking up his ball he said “ball”. So I said “do this” and rolled a ball. Tony then rolled his (imitated). When wanting to bounce on his exercise ball he said “bounce”. When I was lying on the ground pretending to sleep Tony grabbed my shirt and said sounds for “wake up”. This was a game he played inside the house and outside on the grass. When Tony wanted to open a box with his post-its in it I said “say open” while signing it. Tony made the sound for “open” so I immediately did it. We went through this throughout the session. When Tony wanted his cup I either held it or made it just out of reach. Tony was trying to grab for it or whine but I said “say cup” while signing it. When Tony didn’t do it after a couple of secs then I used hand-over-hand for the sign and immediately gave him the cup. Twice after Tony signed cup w/out physical prompt. Most the session Tony whined first for the cup before doing the sign. We also did this with “eat” while Tony had his breakfast. When Tony was stomping his feet while sitting I grabbed his feet and said “stomp” while stomping them. Then I stopped and held his feet to the ground. When he tried to lift them and couldn’t I said “say stomp” and he made the sounds for “say stomp”. After that I would stomp his feet. Then I would stop again, hold them and he would repeat “say stomp”. When Tony grabbed my hand and led me to the tv I tried to get him to do the sign for “movie” but no luck. He was still eating his nuggets and this was the only opportunity of the session. Tony requested “jump” verbally and held his hands up for me to pick him up. Outside we played “aah boom” and Tony put his hands to my mouth while going “aaaahhh”. The tv showed different images of the color brown while repeating the word and Tony made the sound for “brown” a couple of times. When I was tickling Tonys ears I said “say ear” and put Tony’s hand to his ear. He made the sound for “ear”. While watching tv he looked at me and said “hi” and smiled. Tony made a lot of incoherent sounds the whole session. Today I mainly focused on mands “open” and “cup” (for drink). Although Tony whined some with requesting his cup it was only for a sec or two and once he got it he was fine. I also sang the alphabet song and counted numbers like OT, letting Tony fill in the blanks with approximations for the letters or numbers. Tony likes being grabbed and having me do the “head, belly, knees, and toes” game while grabbing his hands and placing them on the body parts as I say the words. Tony patted his belly, knees, and toes on his own, too but not his head. Tony was really sleepy at noon and started to whine some while grabbing the gate to upstairs so we knew it was nap time. His mom did the sign for “sleep” and said “night, night” then took him to his bed and he fell asleep. Good day! Tony learns so quickly!

Tony worked really well with OT (Debbi) today. OT got Tony to sound the words “thumb” and “finger” while playing a “thumb up, thumb down,…” game. Tony also said numbers with OT going “12345_” and Tony responded “six”. Tony sounded the words “bounce” and “ball” while OT bounced him on his big exercise ball. Tony lied across OT’s lap as she said “Tony up!” while lifting him up (like a sit-up). Then Tony did it on his own after she said it. He also ran outside and imitated patting his hands and picking up and dropping acorns. Tony inside imitated jumping. OT used a lot of deep pressure/joint compression and Tony really seemed to enjoy this. He was also quite verbal, making many sounds/approximations. Tony’s attention and responsiveness was incredible, making great eye contact and focusing. Today was a very good session!

Tony worked well this morning at the beginning of the session. He matched items many times(3D-3D)and completed a pouring activity. I said “do this” with the pouring and “pour” and Tony did this. He also colored pictures of shapes w/primary colors. I stacked and lined up different objects of primary colors and said them aloud. Tony once said “red” while holding a red crayon. Tony also used one of his shape sorters and matched the shapes without error. Tony also peeled stickers and swinged as a break. Tony said an approximation for “jump” as a request and he also said “aah-choo” (as a game) while swinging. We played with dinosaurs and once Tony made the dinosaur sound. Tony grabbed his ball and bounced it along with hitting it out of my hand. At the end of the session Tony’s attention began to dart from one thing to the next and he also tried to lie on the ground. He was also zoning out to the tv a couple of times. Tony said “all done” while signing it and “bye, bye” quite clearly.
When speech arrived Tony was so tired that he almost fell asleep but he did make car sounds while rolling a toy car and he used a mirror to say words. He did an approximation for the sign “eat” when prompted while being offered chips. But Tony was so tired that he couldn’t keep his eyes open so he took a nap.
In the future the ABAs will be spending more time working on mands and tacts with Tony. Despite being so sleepy Tony was really cooperative, responsive, and he worked/played hard.

OK, so today was actually a pretty good day for Tony. We started out slow and did some coloring. I did “do this” with Tony today and prompted him to draw a straight line. I had today in between my legs at the coffee table so he couln’t escape as easily. This was the first time I’d introduced this task, so he didn’t really like it that much but I used full gestural prompts and reinforcement. We’ve worked on coloring before but I decided on using more mands as Jay suggested by asking him to draw a line. After coloring we also played with a drum. Tony initiated play with the drum so I grabbed his electronic Leap Frog drum and tried modeling. I did “1-2-3” and banged on the drum and then prompted Tony to imitate. He didn’t follow too well but I think he was getting distracted with the Leap Frog talking drum (which he really likes because it counts out loud everytime you hit it). We also worked with Play Dough. Tony pulled out the drawer and we worked on making balls with it. I let Tony try and open all the containers for the Play Dough so that he could give me the sign or verbalization for “open.” I didn’t open anything until I got the sign he would say it (which he did of course because he desparately wanted the Play Dough). Anyway, I worked with him on making round balls with the Play Dough and matching them together. He also pulled out a book while we were working on the Play Dough that had animal pictures in it. Tony imitated me as I pointed to cat and said “Meow, meow, meow.” Tony does a great job imitating sounds (not words as much).
Today was also really exicting for Tony (and me too really) because Marlaina took us to Chik-fil-A for lunch. This was a field trip we took mostly to get out of the house because of the construction going on for Tony’s therapy room. After lunch we took him into the play area and Tony was WAY excited about the slide that all the other kids were coming down. He was so stimulated, laughing, bouncing up and down, and flapping his hands. He absolutely loved it. I really wanted to take him up in the slide but I was afraid I would get stuck since I exceeded the height limit (haha). So, we played with a few things on the bottom in “Todler Land” (mirrors, buttons, a wheel etc.). He liked these things too, but was really into the slide. Next time we’ll have to go to a real park with a slide.
When we got home, Tony was a little more mellow. He wanted to play with the Play Dough again, so we worked on it for a few minutes until Marlaina thought it was about time for him to take a nap (such a long day at Play Land at Chick-Fil-A and all). So it was a really good day. Tony was really happy and was able to work very cooperatively with the few tasks we did.