It’s been 2 1/2 years now that I’ve been taking Tyler to speech and OT therapy in Clear Lake and seems like I am always incorporating or doing homework in these areas -well THIS year his teacher and I have picked up on what seems to be “communication” improvement with speech – YES Tyler talks but he’s very echolalic and has little ability for true …communication. Lately he’s been “can you help me please” and when you ask with “what” he will respond. He’s introducing himself (and his haircut) to everyone at the stores (a boy who would not speak to anyone) and tonight when they were painting pumpkins, he wanted to see Kristina’s pumpkin that she was working on and he actually asked her to “turn it around” VERY appropriate AND CORRECT! See in speech therapy and with many AU kids – appropriate statements or answers are not always correct but this was – Speech therapy for Tyler is not just articulation, it’s also communication. When we were in the store, we always buy a box of Ramen soups for the food table at church. i always tell him we need to “help people” then we were walking down Ramen isle and I was passing it up, because i had some canned goods this time – he stopped and took the Ramen from the shelf and said “help people” well there’s no way I could tell him to put that back. Then last night we were watching Live With Passion on the Church Channel and there was a commercial about water in other countries, etc. and he said “we need to help people”, I cried a little. It’s so hard to truly know what is sinking in and what he actually knows. Pastor B keeps telling me, just keep it up, even if he (tyler) never spoke a word, you (me) do not know what’s he’s hearing, comprehending, learning and is in his heart.
One word, one phrase, one sentence at a time.
Giving all the glory to God and asking for his continuance guidance on this sometimes frustrating, most of the time exhausting, but very gratifying journey!
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