Right now, I can officially say we are potty trained!!! You have no idea how good it feels to be able to say that. We have struggled with this skill since two years old and I wasn't sure when or if she would ever be able to do this. We are still working on #2 but are well on our way. :) I am so proud of her!
Her fine motor development is coming right along too. She can write her name and almost every letter of the alphabet, as well as numbers 1-10. She is still struggling with using scissors and using the correct grasp (pencil) rather than holding things with a fist grasp. We are starting some occupational therapy exercises at home to work on these things and have a binder full of material to start with her this weekend.
Her speech has progressed so much in the past few months that even some of the therapists have said she's like a completely different child. :) She is starting to speak mainly in sentences and can now answer yes/no questions. She is pretty consistent with answering "what" and "where" questions as well. Right now, we are working on reducing her echolalia (repeating the other person's words or something she has heard) and using pronouns, such as "My" and "Your" correctly. Those are so hard for little ones, so I can't complain about the time it's taking to learn. We are also trying to work on greeting others and introducing herself. She has done great with this and we have seen her introduce herself to both children and adults lately. A hard concept we are working on now is First/Then. She has trouble with the concept of time and often acts out if she can't get something immediately. We are working on using a first/then chart to teach her that some things have to come before others. It's funny how easily she goes along with something because it's on paper rather than Mommy just telling her to. ;)
As far as behavioral issues, she has been getting excellent reports from school! We try to use a reward system at home for her to work toward getting something she wants by completing tasks appropriately. I've attached a photo below of some of the materials we are currently using with her. The ziplocs contain candles that we let her pick out from Yankee Candle to smell whenever she likes. One of her major stimming behaviors is smelling her hands and other objects. We use these as a way for her to fulfill this need when at home or other places rather than doing it inappropriately.
We also use these visual schedules for our bathroom routines. (The potty one continues on the back):
And that's about it! That's all that I can think of anyway....I'm sure there is tons more that I'm leaving out. :) But to summarize - She is doing so great with school and therapy right now. We have seen tremendous progress just in the past few months and can't wait to see what's in store for her this year!
If you know of any moms that may find these resources useful for their child(ren), feel free to share!
Thanks for Reading!
Caitlin
