MANDS COUNTED = 19

Although Tony didn’t seem too hot today (fresh cold) he actually did really well. Tony kept whining and going over to the gate and finally when we got near the door he made a request for walk. We went out back and did “do this” with running and stomping. Tony grabbed the hammock and so I put him up and asked “Do you want to swing?” And then I would swing him and then stopped and asked “Do you want more swing?” and Tony made an approximation to swing! So of course we did swing and stop, request for swing, then more swing like 10 times. Obviously the swinging was highly reinforcing for him. Its really cool when you know he understands that his language gets him something. When Tony was trying to say “swing” he seemed like he was really concentrating on moving his mouth to make the “S” sound. After swinging for a long time, Tony said “all done” and then we started off in the direction of home. Back inside we worked drawing “do this” and draw. We worked on marker colors and Tony went though the makers and tacted “black” and “blue.” We did “roll” with the ball as Tony was requesting to be “rolled” and he repeated it as I was rolling him.

He started to wind down and became tired but instead of going upstairs, Tony went straight for the door. I took him outside and we walked over on the sidewalk and echoed out “tree” and “leaf.” Then Tony became somewhat agitated and walked over to the bus, put his hand on it and said “car.” Then he walked over to Marlaina’s car and said “car” and then “open.” It was locked, so I couldn’t exactly open the door, but it was clear that Tony wanted to go for a ride. I told Marlaina and she said we should just go to Chick-Fil-A. Tony was completely happy once he was strapped in and ready to go for a ride. After he had his fries in the car and came home, Tony still wanted to play outside. I took him outside and he “manded” for ball. Marlaina suggested I take him over to the gated tennis court to play. He was getting tired but he still made an effort at rolling and even trying to dribble. I took him a few times to make baskets at the little basketball net which he really liked. After that he ran over to me, grabbed my hand and took me over to the gate door and manded “open.” Tony was walking really slowly back to the house so I ended up carrying him most of the way. By the time I got to the door Tony was half asleep.

So today was good even though he had a cold. I was getting used to the mand clicker too..I felt oh so professional using it.