It's amazing how things can change. One great thing about updating this blog is that in as little as a week things have completely turned around over here. My last post I was so frustrated and discouraged. Now we have so much hope for our Desmond and his future! I love writing progress posts like this because it really is SO EXCITING! Our little Desmond took some pretty significant steps in the imitation department this week! Holy cow he did! I feel like we're finally reaping the rewards of the the therapy Desmond has had this past year. I also feel like we're getting a little bit of our Desmond back, the Desmond we lost last year when he started to regress.
SHAPES: This past year Desmond has been playing with this "Shape in the Pot" game. It's this little pot that has plastic shapes that you put in it. For example if you put in a circle it will say "Circle" and it will proceed to do this for all kinds of shapes (square, triangle, rectangle, star, heart, you get it). His therapist initially started with this toy to help with his motor skills. At first Desmond really struggled putting the shapes in the pot because the little space was so small. Now he's totally got it down. Recently it's been used to help Desmond learn his shapes. What Lacey will do is she'll grab two different kind of shapes (like a circle and a square for example) and she'll put one in each hand and say, "Desmond, grab the circle". At first he really struggled even getting the concept that he was supposed to grab a shape out of her hand. They did a TON of hand over hand, meaning she would grab Desmond's hand and get him to grab the circle and then he would proceed to put it in the pot. Once he mastered grabbing the shape from her it was just a matter of repetition. Over and over and over she would grab two different shapes and try to teach him which shape was what (of course all of this is being positively reinforced if he does get it right, by a treat or a snack). Last week Lacey came out of their session and said, "Ok, you've got to come and see this!!" I came in and she explains that the last few sessions he's been consistently grabbing the shape she asks for. Sure enough, I saw it with my own eyes!! She would put one shape in each hand and say, "Desmond, grab the circle". He then grabbed the circle from her hand and put it in the pot. There were about 8 different shapes and by gum he got them all!!! I was SO PROUD!! Desmond still isn't talking so it's hard to check for understanding, but from what he's showing us he's understanding!! More importantly, he's showing us that he is learning and understanding what we're saying. For the longest time we weren't even sure if he was going to be able to understand us, follow commands, or learn because he wasn't showing any signs that he was understanding. Now we know that he is learning, understanding, and imitating!! To some this would be a very normal and simple thing that I'm sure their child has been doing for ages. For us this is HUGE!! He may be 2 and a half and SUPER BEHIND in all areas of his development, but these little steps are ENORMOUSLY AMAZING for his own personal development. In the words of President Donald Trump, "This is YUUUGE!!"
ANIMALS: Similar to what Lacey has been doing with his shapes, she has been doing with animals. Desmond has this barn animal puzzle that she's been using to try and teach him some animals. She'll grab two puzzle pieces and do the same thing she does with the shape game. She'll put one in each hand and say, "Desmond, grab the cow" and then try to get him to grab the right one and then put it in the right spot. For months and months she's been doing this. The day she had me come in to the session she mentioned that she felt like he was mastering the shapes but that the animals needed a little work. So that night I decided to see how much he knew. I grabbed a chicken and a goat and said, "Desmond, grab the goat". I kid you not, he said "Oat." and then proceeded to grab the goat from my hand and put it in the puzzle. So not only did he grab the right animal....HE SAID OAT!!!! I will say this about Desmond's autism. There are moments, just little moments when it's like Desmond doesn't have autism and he's here with us. This was one of those moments for me. It was like his autism was gone for just a moment, and my Desmond was totally there with me. Does that make sense? It's like his autism makes it so there are parts of himself that are constantly hiding. We never really see him at his 100%. But there are moments where we get glimpses of his 100%. I feel like we are getting to see more and more of him lately. It's been amazing!
WAVING: Family members, and I guess those of you who are following my blog know that a little after Desmond's birthday he had his big regression. There were things, little cute tricks, he used to do that he just stopped doing. One of those cute little tricks was waving. Desmond was totally waving "bye bye" and "hello" at 9 months old. This is one of the things he just stopped doing shortly after his 1st birthday. I remember thinking it was weird that he wouldn't wave "bye bye" when we left my Mom's house, or wave "Hello" when Marshall got home. Little did I know that it was his autism that was causing it. We got Desmond into an early intervention program at 15 months old and then diagnosed at 20 months old. We caught it really quickly, but in that short amount of time from his 1st birthday to 15 months and then 20 months he lost his ability to do so many things. Once he got assigned to Rachel for ABA the very first thing she started working on was waving. So for the past 9 months (9 MONTHS!!!!) Monday-Friday many times throughout the day Rachel, Me, and now Lacey have been trying to get this kid to wave again. There were times where I honestly thought, "Why are we doing this? We do this every single day. We can't even get him to look at us, why are we trying to get him to wave? He's never going to do it." However, those days have added up and now we are starting to see the fruits of our labors. On Saturday we were at a wedding reception with Marshall's parents. Marshall and his parents were all talking with someone and out of no where Desmond starts to wave at Marshall's dad Brad. I internally start FREAKING OUT!! So I put him on my lap and said, "Hi Desmond!" and started waving at him. And what does he do?! He waves at his Momma. I probably would have burst into tears if I wasn't surrounded by strangers. I had not seen my sweet boy wave since he was a year old. It's been a YEAR AND HALF!! A whole year and a half trying to get Desmond to do something he had lost in his regression. I would also like to note that earlier this week Desmond started clapping on his own for us as well. (That was another thing he lost was clapping on his own.)
Like I said, these are all pretty little things that most 9 month olds have down cold. But for our Desmond these things are amazing steps in the right direction. It's not that he's doing "cute tricks" that makes this all so amazing. It's that he's finally starting to show us that he is capable of imitation. He's getting that if someone waves at him, he should wave back. He's getting that if someone claps their hands, he should clap his hands too. He's getting that if we say "Grab the cirlce" that he should grab the circle. I don't think anyone can understand how important imitation is for a child's development until you have one who doesn't imitate, and that is what our Desmond lost in his regression; his ability to imitate. He is now showing us that he can imitate, which means he is understanding, which means he can LEARN!! And what things can he start learning? For starters, we're hoping he'll start learning to talk. From what we've been told the better he is at imitating the chances that he'll be able to talk increase exponentially.
Moral of this big post: Desmond is finally playing the Imitation Game (well our version of the Imitation Game 😉) As he continues to practice, continues to play, we will see that he gets better and better at imitating. We are over the moon happy with all these huge miracles we're seeing. We are so blessed to see miracles in our daily life. We are so hopeful that there will be more miracles to report soon!
