"It's beginning to look a lot like PROGRESS!"

Mike and I spent some time yesterday discussing how the heck I was going to keep a structured environment for Brycen for 2 WEEKS over xmas break so that he could transition back to school with no problems (while also continuing to work from home and complete all of my job expectations at the same time). Through this planning and worrying, I definitely realized why I did not go to school to be a teacher. I think, rethink, and then get distracted...and forget that I am supposed to be focusing on Brycen and his learning (not my sanity!).
So, I am enlisting my friend and co-worker, Megan, to help produce many pictures from Boardmaker that resembles any type of activity we have or may be able to do during those days. Megan attended a recent training with my Mom and I on picture schedules and communication with children with autism...but more on that in a later post. While she works on that, I have been forming a schedule that starts at 7am to 5:30pm each day. Since Brycen's attention span is very short and he has a hard time transitioning from a beloved activity, I am forming this schedule to include many of his favorites (IPTV first thing in morning, a train movie at rest time, blocks, musical instruments, Curious George at 5) as well as many things he needs to work on (flashcards, sorting, board games). I also plan to utilize Angie as much as possible, as she is home with Ellie all day and structures her time with centers and various projects (did I mention that she has a degree in education too!).
So among all this planning, I decided to try a few things out with Brycen that we have not tried in some time. Brycen received a new wooden train puzzle with sound from Kelsi last week. He LOVES it! When we first started putting it together, I noticed how fast he figured out where each piece goes (compares the picture on the piece to the picture on the board that it covers). So I decided to bring out some of the old wooden puzzles we have. He used to wrestle around the pieces, so these were put away during that stage of his (even though that stage has never ended). Well, he surprised the heck out of me! The kid can do every single one of them! He does it so fast and just needs help fitting the piece the right way, but he knows exactly where each of them go!
So, then we decided to break out the Memory game that his cousins gave him since they are too old for it now. I took out 8 different pictures that I knew he would recognize and their matches and placed them on the floor face down (of course Brycen helped me put them in an exact line too...my precious OCD boy!). We worked on taking turns, recognizing the matches, etc. He did fairly well with this...definitely better than I expected! I have faith that if we work on this daily during xmas break, I can have him to the point of playing more boardgames suited for his age (don't tell him, but he has a couple fun ones coming as gifts for Christmas).
So, then I found a pack of flashcards that his Aunt Brenda got him with simple pictures of things on them. I once again took out the ones I knew he was familiar with and also a few that I thought would be easier. Here are the ones that he said spontaneously: shoe, ball, and boat. He successfully imitated the following (with exception to the fact he doesn't pronounce every sound in the word, but close enough that we know what it is): fish, car, book, cake, hat, moon. He did try to imitate the rest though it sounded nothing like the word, but it was great that he tried and was being so very attentive: sun, sock, bear, pig (noise), cat (noise), baby, dog (noise), cow (noise), drum. Of course after every card, he had to line them up on the couch and I was not going to get his attention back for the next card until they were lined up right!
So to summarize the entire post...he has sneakily been learning things over the last couple months and I know he loved our excitement at watching him show us these skills and to hear his sweet voice trying to say these words. Soooo..."it's beginning to look a lot like progress!"