Magic and Potty Training

Magic and potty training... unfortunately, the two aren't related.

A good friend *wink, wink* asked why I didn't go into exactly what Little Bit's teacher told me she had done to get the 5 word sentences. So, here is what she (and I) did. She provided him with a physical prompt. As she spoke the words that she wanted him to repeat, she tapped him on the arm. Little Bit then repeated the words and tapped himself. I did the same thing and it is so cute to watch his little wheels turn. As he uses the sentences, he taps his chest. A part of me wonders if this crutch could be a bad thing, I envision a 40 year old Little Bit hitting himself in the chest as he talks, but I'm so grateful to hear the words that I'm not going to focus on that. I'm sure that the prompts will fade with time just like the other prompts that we have used.

Now onto potty training... I should have posted yesterday while I was excited. Little Bit successfully "tee tee'ed" in the potty once yesterday! It was exciting and we celebrated wildly. However, it was a long day. We took him to the potty every twenty minutes. I had high expectations for today. I wanted him to "tee tee" in the potty at least once but we haven't had any luck. I'm sad to report that he wet his pull-up within five minutes of getting off of the toilet on three different occasions this morning. It feels like we are constantly in the bathroom and the reality is that we probably need to visit the little boy's room more often. Sigh, I think potty training might be more difficult on me than the whole autism thing.

The last five months

The learning that has happened in our home over the last five months has been fast and furious. When Little Bit was diagnosed, he only had a few words and they really weren't spontaneous. Since attending preschool for 20 hours a week and receiving 10 hours of ABA/DTT therapy every week, he can now say a ton (for him at least) of words and is putting together some sentences.

Yesterday his teacher told me that he said a five word sentence, "I want to jump again." Of course, I asked her to share her magic. Upon using this magic, Little Bit has said, "I want to watch Blue's Clues." The first time he was heavily prompted. The 2nd time, I just had to give him the "I want," but he has said it a few more times completely unprompted! I have a feeling we are going to have a day full of Blue's Clues! This new speech must be rewarded.

Just for the record... since starting school, Little Bit can count to 20'ish (depending on his mood), recognizes numbers 1-9, knows a lot of colors (red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, green, black, brown), knows a lot of shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, pentagon, octagon, diamond, heart, star), recognizes several letters, and knows most body parts. He can label quite a few objects, but this is a skill that we are definitely working on.

Don't hold your breath

I'm going to try my hand at this blogging thing, but don't count on me being very good at it.

A little bit about us...

Hubby and I have been married for a little over five years. We have an amazing son who is approaching his third birthday. To protect the innocent, we will call him Little Bit. Our 2nd amazing son will be four months old next week and we will call him Baby Bit. I'm sure those names will evolve with time, but they work for now.

Little Bit was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder on April 24, 2008. It didn't come as a big surprise, but it is still a day I will never forget. Little Bit has come so far since that day and I think I owe it to him to document all that he is doing. So here I am, hopping on the blogging train...