We Have a Plan!

Liam has been doing really well in school. I'm so delighted with the progress he's made in terms of learning to sit down and focus on what he's being asked to do and even with learning to play with toys the right way rather than simply throwing them. Even with that progress, though, it sort of felt like Liam had hit a plateau. He had one or two words and wasn't at all consistent with them. And then there's wearing his hearing aids. I'm pretty sure he'd rather be strung upside down in a closet by his pinky toes rather than wear his hearing aids like he's supposed to. It's a constant battle. His cap that Kadee made has helped a lot, but he's a smart kid and he's learning to get past it. Little stinker.

I sat down and visited with the school's director who has been working with Liam and keeping detailed notes on his progress. She and I both agreed that it's time to increase his time spent at school, so we're adding a third day of school for him. I think that's going to make a big difference. Even more importantly, she came to work with him here at home during the holiday break. While she was here, I was able to really learn what it is she needs us to be doing wit him. We finally have a plan and it's working!!!

We have a special "Kassidi box" that is full of specific toys that are only to be used while Liam is working on his language and wearing his hearing aids. We will take him to the front room of the house, which has its own door to help quiet things and only one piece of furniture (see? It pays to have no furniture!). When he's in there, he will be required to wear his hearing aids the whole time and to use the toys in a very controlled way. We have vocabulary we expect him to wait for before using the toys, and hopefully he'll even repeat the language we give him. Right now, we're focusing heavily on requiring him to look directly at us before we speak and allow him to use the toy. As we make more progress, I'll be sure to video tape little bits of what we're doing to demonstrate how we're doing this all.

The exciting news is that, just in the time we've worked over Christmas break, he's really getting it. He has repeated one word (bang bang bang), and has come to understand that he needs to look to us for direction. I'm really excited to see what kind of progress he starts to make now that he's being pushed at school, spending more time at school, and being pushed at home.