Destination: Socialization
I am happy to report that Elijah will finally start receiving the speech services that I have waited so long him to get. I met with our family consultant this past Friday, to go over Elijah’s progress since he has joined The Center for Autism’s program in December of last year. So far he is progressing accordingly. He needs more work with his socialization skills, learning how to interact with his peers. Sometimes I feel sad cause my daughter Sophia tries to play with Elijah, but because of his condition he is unable to show a real interest in her. She looks at him with her big eyes and her face lights up with laughter as she watches him act silly. I can’t wait for the day when he is able to interact with her on his own without being coached into it.
In other news Elijah’s favorite reading time book is Llama Llama Mad At Mama and Night Shift Daddy. I have to say I really enjoy reading it myself. He will walk around the house and ask me and husband to read to him several times a day. It’s the cutest thing. Bath times are slowly getting better. This morning during bath time I had to calm him down from crying, once he stopped crying he got to use his Thomas Shaving Kit that my mom gave to him as a Christmas gift. Every day Elijah amazes me with something that he does that I have not seen him do before. I love my little guy so much and can’t believe how fast he is growing.
In other news Elijah’s favorite reading time book is Llama Llama Mad At Mama and Night Shift Daddy. I have to say I really enjoy reading it myself. He will walk around the house and ask me and husband to read to him several times a day. It’s the cutest thing. Bath times are slowly getting better. This morning during bath time I had to calm him down from crying, once he stopped crying he got to use his Thomas Shaving Kit that my mom gave to him as a Christmas gift. Every day Elijah amazes me with something that he does that I have not seen him do before. I love my little guy so much and can’t believe how fast he is growing.
It has been a long and constant battle for Elijah but I know that with God's help, family support, and lots of patience, he will be just fine. I, too, am saddened by the fact that he is not at a point in which he can respond to Sophia that much right now. I've seen the look in her eyes and that smile you speak of when she watches him. I'm also looking forward to the day when he will be able to respond to her more and I firmly believe that this will improve over time. As Sophia gets older, starts to walk, and even talk, Elijah will learn to respond to her just as he did with the rest of us. In the meantime, just continue to teach and help him to be aware of Sophia's presence as best you can. One thing that you might want to try is the addition of some affectionate action that he can do daily at a specific time that would encourage his relationship with Sophia. For example, just as he learned to say his prayers every night, try adding a "hug and kiss" to everyone in the house just before he goes to bed. You can lead him by the hand to each person (if needed) or tell him to go to them on his own to get a "hug and kiss". After he has developed the habit of doing it each night and becomes comfortable with it, he might begin to initiate the action at other times during the day on his own. Later on, you could add a "Good night" phone call to his grandparents just before he goes to bed. The last time Elijah stayed with us, I found that he was much more receptive to the idea of doing things like this right before he went to bed, as opposed to spontaneously being asked to do it "on que" during the course of the day when he was distracted by other things.
ReplyDeleteGood post!