Remy Update

Yesterday we met with our service coordinator for the first time. She is going to be coming out once a week to provide "special instruction." I think that means to teach me how to work with Remy to reach our goals. But she is going to teach me by modeling with him, so he will still get a lot of one-on-one time with her. Yesterday she showed me how to push him without getting him to a point where he is too frustrated to learn. She recommends only prompting two or three times for the sign or the sound and then providing the object. She also introduced bubbles to his world and he loved it! She reworked the goals set up by the original service coordinator so now we are working on the starting sounds of his favorite toys (b-uh for ball, t-uh for train etc.) Once he can correctly identify three objects with three different starting sounds, mission accomplished and we formulate a new goal. She also asked me to email pictures representing his routine activities and favorite toys so she could make magnets that can be arranged as a schedule or that he can use to learn to ask for those things. Super excited about doing this!

Since last week we have made a little progress with the sign for "more." He has done it correctly with me a couple of times and I think he did it for her once as well. He still takes a lot of warming up to get to that point but he has definitely made progress. We also think he may officially have a real word (no, for real this time!) He is saying UH! now when he wants to be picked up and when he wants help putting his vacuum on the table (don't ask.) Even though it sounds similar to the noise he makes for letters and numbers it is definitely a command and not a label and he uses it appropriately - for example he doesn't say UH! when he wants to get down or when he wants a toy. He is also starting to make a noise that sounds like down, so we'll see if that is his second word, lol! (Poor Mommy and Daddy, not so good for our egos.)

So here is the official break down of services:

• Special Instruction 1x week
• BAT Consult 1x month
• Instructional Aide 4x week
• Speech Therapy 2x month
• Team Meeting 1x every 6 weeks

In addition to that we also have the Autism Clinic to go through, which is going to consist of:

• Bayley II-Scales of Infant and Toddler Development A one hour thirty minute evaluation that assesses four areas: sensorimotor, emotional and social, communication and language, and cognition.
• ADOS-Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule or the Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment If the Bayley determines a cognitive level over 15 months he will do the ADOS and if it is below 15 months it will be the play-based option.  They are designed to measure communication and social behavior and will also last about an hour and a half.  
• Comprehensive Medical  Evaluation After reviewing all medical records and test results an Early Intervention pediatrician will evaluate him and determine the diagnosis. 

So that pretty much sums it up! I will let you know how it goes!