Self-Reliant

Once we learned Ryan has a mild autism, we promise ourselves that we give him an Early Intervention by becoming independent. It is not an easy task for both of us, but he has been showing tremendous progresses since he looks up his older brother, Dylan. Not only looking up at his older brother, interacting with the typical students at his school site help a lot.

For weeks, he has learned to brush his own teeth, doing mouth washing and brushing his hair before he hits the sack. He especially likes to give me the number to count before he spits his mouth wash. While doing his mouth washing, he likes to sway his head as if he is dancing.

Brushing his "Spike" Hair

Swaying his head with his Mouth
Wash while I was counting

Brushing his own teeth

Not only focusing on his grooming, he has recognized and counts the basic coins. He even learns to color inside of the pictures. As I have said it is not an easy task for us, I also have to work with him on his sentences in and outside of home. Lately, he has been putting more descriptive words together. Few examples he has used the last few days are:

Adverbs: Sometimes, Fluffy shakes. Every time, a girl name Sonia gets a time-out. Mom, it's raining very hard outside.

Preposition Phrases: Dylan is in the bathroom. At the playground, I rode a bike in a circle. I won. I'm hiding under the blanket.

Pronouns: (Since Ryan already uses some of the pronouns, except for we and they. So, I have been working on we first before using they. It seems to be working. This week, he has used more of "we" without my help ) We have 20 Hot Wheels. We are hiding from daddy. We the three of us are in the room (speech therapist told me.)

Evidentially, it is a matter of his own pace despite of numerous of hours I have been working with him in and outside of home. All I can say is that I am a proud mom to see him becoming more independently gradually.