Such promise

I had what I thought was a bit of a break through with one of the children I work with. His language until recently has been more echolaic than functional. I believe we have turned a corner though, with his understanding that he can change the environment by using words. First sign was while getting some cards out to use in matching tasks, he started to point and name them. In the past I have had to prompt with a certain phrase, and often the initial sound. When asked later he seemed not to remember them. These words were not modeled or prompted, just pulled out of his memory of previous programs. He has been leading me a little more too. I know "autistic leading" is a common thing, but C never seemed to want anything enough to try to move me. Now he pushes the guitar into my arms "Yi yi yipee" or "Yellow Submarine" he says. While eating his lunch, he pushed my arm towards his drink bottle and said "water". Obviously I got it for him, but kept returning it out of reach, so he kept requesting it, and seemed to enjoy himself. The best one though was when he led me out of the room the other day. I presumed he was taking me to the kitchen (one of his favourite places) or outside. Eventually he stopped and looked at me, and sat "sit down". I sat straight on the floor and he climbed on up for a cuddle. I have been trying to show him how to get me to do stuff for a while. Especially on the trampoline, where he doesn't like me to bounce while he is on there. I guess it finally worked. When he wanted me to get off the swing in the park, he said the same thing instead of getting so worked up like he normally would. Again, he seemed satisfied with the result. Much more effective than a tantrum. He understands so many verbal requests now, and has at least 30 words he can express with the same meaning each time.