Pleasantly Surprised....

The speech pathologist paid Jonathan her monthly visit this afternoon. I had been dreading this because the LAST time she came, he was NOT at all cooperative. He tried to dive out of his highchair and run away... there was tons of screaming and lots of tears. Ultimately, she worked with him on the kitchen floor with his regular teacher holding him. That day, he used a handful of words with her... I think "pop" "bubble", "more" and "my turn", if I remember correctly.

I felt like the SLP was just NOT as forceful as she needed to be. Our regular teacher takes charge and Jonathan knows now that she ALWAYS wins. The SLP is a little bit timid... Jonathan steamrolls over timid and he can smell it a mile away like a dog smells fear.

Anyway, so I had my concerns about how today would go and I was prepared to play the role of our regular teacher and keep things on track. As it turned out though, I didn't really need to.

I waved her into the house from the front door. Jonathan and I were already playing on the family room floor. This is a trick we have discovered works for the regular weekly visits from the other teacher. Something about not having the transition of getting up to answer the door and then start playing seems to help. Anyway, so he actually smiled at her and shared what he was coloring. Then she jumped into her routines with him -- a dog puppet who eats various kinds of foods he has to name, a couple turn-taking games, some wind-up toys he had to command to do things and a few other activities. He was happy and cooperative the ENTIRE time.

He used words and phrases and asked for things on his own. He did everything she said to do.

She looked at me at one point and said, "Wow. He's like a different kid!"

I know, this is what WE keep saying too! Amazing....

Seriously  a-Freaking-MAZING. The combination of weekly visits plus TIME has made a world of difference.

Today he even started using even longer phrases than before... "Kitty, come back here! Pet kitty!!!"   "Daddy is HOME. Hi, Daddy!" "Mom move. Want computer!"

It's all very exciting! :) :)