light reading

Jake finished his first full week of ABA therapy last week.  It went fantastic, and I am so thankful that we have been blessed with this resource for him.  Recently it has been shown to be the most effective form of therapy for kids with ASD, and I can totally see why.  It is behavior training at it's finest.  He's going to "preschool" three mornings a week, but while he is there he is being worked with one-on-one the entire time with an ABA therapist.  She walks him through the whole day.  Every interaction, every playtime and every school time.  She is teaching him the skills that he needs to navigate the day.  He is taught appropriate behaviors and rewarded generously with praise and tickles.  (She told me that those seems to be his favorite reward... she knows my boy well.)

I'm seeing progress already, albeit in baby steps.  As he progresses in this environment, his therapist will begin coming to our house, teaching him appropriate behaviors and the mastery of skills at home.  She will go with us to the park or the library, wherever he goes.  Helping the world be a friendlier place for him, until he is ready to tackle it on his own.  I think it would be nice if we all had a therapist to walk us through life, no?

As we focus on all the areas to work on with him and set goals for him, I am reminded constantly of all that he can do rather than what he can't do.  He is a brilliant, funny little boy... his mind just works differently than some.  I recently heard ASD referred to as "neuro-diversity".   That made me laugh.  I think we could all fit into that category.

For Christmas, we bought George W. Bush's new book Decision Points for my father-in-law.  Jake came across it and it quickly became his favorite book.  He read it every day.  We wrapped it, and he unwrapped it.  We hid it for fear of it becoming overly-worn before it was gifted... but he found it.  He loved this book.



Obviously he didn't understand every word, and I doubt that he comprehended much of what he was reading, but the fact that he spent so much time reading this book was so funny.    He's four... and I'm pretty sure he's a Republican.

Whatever the reason this book struck his fancy, it was a good reminder of all of the gifts that are inside our little neuro-diverse boy.  He is a treasure to us, as are all of our children.  And he adds so much to our family, as do they.  What a blessing.