Brycen's Newest Accomplishments!

Brycen has made some small but positive strides in the right direction in many areas this last week.  He is doing well at handling the full-time school schedule and the increased therapy schedule.  The therapists even mentioned adding a 4th session on Friday mornings later in September but we've opted not to do this as he would miss some important parts of the school day at that time.  We're really having to make sure he is getting the "best of both worlds" by getting 1:1 therapy on specific areas and socialization/routine with the school.  We are currently happy with the schedule we have worked out with both places and we will soon be adding SCL home services two times per week soon which will help him work on more socialization and community skills like safety.

One of Brycen's new accomplishments this week is drawing shapes in the air!  He is able to do a square, circle, and triangle...and will make a noise with each line.  I think this is a combination of both therapy and school helping this progress along.  He has been doing this more often during mealtime..he'll stop eating and just start drawing in the air.  He is working on so many things in kindergarten that I am programming many more things in his device each week for the aides/teachers to use.  Most recently, kindergarten is working on sight words.  I can't believe my little boy is working on reading!!  They have only worked on two so far, and of course reading is a little different for him since he isn't able to verbalize much, but having it programmed on his device allows him to participate when the word comes up in the book they are working on. 

The second accomplishment this week came in physical therapy.  He is now doing two sessions a week overlapped with one of his other therapies.  The PT that is working with him is so energetic and eager to work with him.  It makes me so happy to see how excited he is to see his therapists each time.  Our main goals in PT is for him to pedal a bike, as well as increase his muscle strength with jumping and balancing.  He was able to do one entire pedal around on the bike this week during therapy!  We took him outside today to work on more pedaling (as his therapy was cancelled today due to the holiday), and he was trying really hard to push each foot around.  He is just having a hard time knowing to push the opposite leg next.  We walk behind him and touch the back of each foot saying push and help him get started, then reach for the other foot.  It's exhausting!!  His regular speech therapist returned from maternity leave this last week also and he was excited to see her!  She commented about how far he had come in so many areas in the last 5 weeks...which of course made me glow with pride. 

The 3rd accomplishment this week happened this morning when he was getting dressed.  OT asked me a week ago to bring in a zip up and button up shirt for him to work on.  He was doing so good at the zipping and buttons that they wanted him to work on it from the angle of getting dressed, but of course Brycen wouldn't wear the vests they have at the therapy place.  While getting ready this morning, I encouraged him to pull the zipper up on his shorts...and he did it!  He even held the bottom of the zipper to hold it straight like a pro!  He was also able to do the button with my help to pull the shorts away from his waist so he could see it better.  He fumbles around a lot, but he shows so much more willingness to do it now than he did just a couple months ago. 

We are so proud of his determination and eagerness to learn!  It's amazing how much he really takes in from his surroundings and eventually will surprise us with his new abilities when we least expect it. Here is a short video of part of his "therapy" session outside today where we worked on jumping up and down the small step in the front of the house.