This morning I went in for my monthly meeting with Ryan's senior therapist and team therapist. I'm happy to report that I left with a big grin on my face. They had nothing but good news for me.
Ryan is doing great on all his programs. In fact, he is currently expanding several programs (meaning they are getting more advanced). They are moving several of his old programs to incidentals (meaning they aren't in formal therapy anymore; they just come up in natural situations).
They are doing baselines (figuring out where he's at) with a bunch of new skills, especially focusing on daily living/self-help skills. For example, at home we're working on getting him to take off his socks by himself, and drying his hands on a towel after washing them.
I was so pleased to hear that, despite a crazy December of illness and holidays, Ryan experienced zero regression. In fact, he's gotten back into programming and homework like a champ. He did not lose any skills over the last three weeks of December. This is a HUGE achievement for Ryan. In the past, whenever we were lax on his therapy/routines, he would regress and lose skills. Now he's showing skill retention. That is AWESOME.
However, what I'm most excited about is that they are finally planning to start PECS with him next week! They think he's ready to give the Picture Exchange Communication System a try. When they were listing what new skills they planned to work on, my ears perked right up when I heard "PECS." Me: "Really? We're gonna try PECS now? That is so exciting!" They agree with me that Ryan's made so much progress in other areas, and that it's time to get him some functional communication. He gets frustrated sometimes, and it's time to find a way for him to express his needs/wants more clearly.
I am trying not to get too hopeful, but I can't help it. :) I have to keep in mind that, like everything else, Ryan's skills develop very slowly. If PECS do work for him, it will probably be months before we see anything for certain. In the meantime, we're taking pictures of things Ryan will be really motivated to request. Because of Ryan's developmental level, pictures of the actual items will make the most sense to him. For example, a cartoon picture of a jug of milk would be meaningless to him; a picture of his bottle filled with milk would be clearer for him to make the connection. So, they are photographing items around the Centre that Ryan really likes, and I'm going to send them photos of things from home like his rocking chair and his bubbles, so they can make up the PECS cards.
I also asked about music therapy. I mentioned on a recent Facebook share, of an article about the benefits of music therapy for kids with special needs, that I hoped music therapy might be available at Summit again. Ryan had a music therapy student working with him, but that student's placement finished in December. I was pleased to find out that another music therapy student is coming in this semester. I made sure that Ryan's senior therapist knew I wanted him to participate in this again, and she said she'd mention it to the executive director. I don't know if only so many students can participate, or how it works, but I made it clear how much Ryan enjoyed and benefited from the music therapy before, and I want him to be involved in it again!
Oh, another little thing they mentioned that surprised me: Ryan goes up their indoor climber and slides down the slide, completely independently. I said, "WHAT?!" Last year, when we were in Unity, he liked the slide, but I had to put him on it, and he couldn't do the climber at all. I have also never seen him use the little climber in our backyard. Now, I'm looking forward to the weather getting nicer, so I can get him out there and see that new skill!
Anyway, it was a great meeting, and I hope to have lots more good news to share next month. PECS will be started, we'll be signing Ryan up for Junior Kindergarten . . . big things in the works . . . :)
