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)!