by Someone is making progress in leaps and bounds in a number of areas right now!
He just learned to pull to stand not too long ago, he’s eating more by mouth than he used to and is improving consistently there, he’s been learning more and more signs every week, and now is getting really good at matching!
In the first video you can see him matching the pictures of the puzzle pieces and learning which way to orient them – sometimes he gives up before they’re fully snapped in, but as you can see sometimes he gets them in too! You get some bonus signs for pig and cow in that first video too.
In the second video, not only is he only sporting a diaper (oops 😂), but I’ve handed him a picture of his rocking horse, and once he stops getting distracted by his new toy, he heads right for it. As of now he does this for his kitchen, bookshelf, toy bins, rocking horse and his favorite – the ball pit. Which is featured in the third video – make sure you’re listening, you can hear him making noises while his heads in his bucket. 😂
Matching and orienting objects may not seem like a big deal to a lot of folks, but it’s a very big deal for AJ. Especially as we start talking about him eventually going to school and using different communication tools and techniques. We don’t know how long he will have his trach, and even without it, he has a steep learning curve to speech. Most of the primary methods of communication he would likely end up using in school involve using pictures.
We know that kids like AJ can have a hard time learning many concepts, so when we presented him with these photos, we were all (therapists, nurses and ourselves) expecting it to take him months, to really understand what they were. We were prepared to just show him pictures every time he was playing with things. But on a whim we pulled them out and he just took off after whatever was on them. He figured out what was going on in less than a week. Rock. Star. 🎉🎉🎉
So many of these accomplishments are because of the relentless work of his therapists and nurses. Always finding ways to challenge him, and always believing that he’s smart enough and strong enough to do all these things and more. We’re forever thankful for all that they do!
Also – Please ignore the state of my living room after an AJ tornado hit it and the pile of gifts that need wrapped. I had this naive thought that if I piled them up in plain sight that they’d annoy me enough that I’d get them wrapped. No such luck! 😂
