Tony was feeling much better today and as a result, Parker and I were able to get more things done. I came in for a late breakfast and Tony had already eaten some chicken. We watched a show and took a quick walk before speech arrived with some new toys. He seemed to have a really good session with Jill. When they were done, Tony decided he was still hungry and manded for “hot dog” and “chicken.” I prepared his hot dog and chicken and he watched another show quite happily.

After lunch, we went outside and worked on the new cards that Parker made for our program (yeh Parker!). I did the first round of delayed sample finding and although I’m not sure I did enough of a delay, Tony was able to pick out all the cards I had arranged in groups of three. I used “show me the ____” as my SD. He got nearly all of them right on the first try. I will try doing this again tomorrow, but I think we might be able to take this out and put more time into the receptives “feature, function and class” category.

Motor imitation went fairly well today. I may still need to adjust the different imitations chosen because again, Tony got several on his first try today.

Intraverbals were slightly more challenging. Parker and I have been using visual stimuli during the beginning stages of teaching (as we discussed with Jay). Tony can get most of the intraverbals already with a visual or gestural prompt now. We’ll continue with prompt fading until he gets the “yeses.”

On our walks today we did several motor imitations outside and Tony was able to burn off lots of energy running around the basketball court. He went to the hopscotch court and decided to tact all the numbers by touching them in sequence. He would then turn around and count backwards, 9 to 1. When he finished he looked up at Parker and I with a big smile and began to clap for himself. It’s so great to see him proud to show us what he knows.

The walk had tired Tony out for the most part. When we came back inside to work more on receptives he was, well…not too receptive. I did get a lot of requests for tickles though. Since we have been pushing the mands, I thought it was a good idea to elaborate on the ones he has established in his repertoire. I would say, “Tickle what?” and I prompted him to reply with a body part and say “tickle (body part).” He did really well with this. He echoed “neck” “feet” and “tummy.” Parker and I have also been emphasizing Jill’s 2-word-combos and incorporating colors such as “white duck” or “green leaf.” Tony really loves colors right now!

So, today was a good day for all of us. I finally feel like Parker and I are making headway into our new Phases for Tony’s program! Yeh!