Can you spell 'Marshall'? ok!

A few months ago, i sat down with Marshall and tried to get him to write out his name.
I thought i'd start by making a dotted tracing line for 'M', so i did.
Marshall went on his own piece of paper and started to draw a dotted 'M'.
Then when i showed him how to trace the line, he yelled at me and didn't like that,
so i dropped it.
Then at Marshall's preschool meeting, one of the teachers said,
"I bet Marshall know's 'M' by now since he was drawing them already last year."
hmmm...
I hadn't been trying with him, so i just casually changed the subject.  lol.
Then when i came home, i asked Marshall what the first letter in his name was.
He seemed confused by my question, but invited me to
come and sit and the table with him cause he wanted to write his name!!
So, I wrote out his name (all uppercase) and he watched me.
Then he picked up his crayon, and did it himself... like he'd been doing it for a year already!!!  what the??
The next day i had him try his name again, but with appropriate lowercase letters.
He complied and did it almost perfect.
Seriously??!  This kid is so full of surprises...
it's just always in his own time :)

I failed to mention in my summer post that we made it to the beach as well
last weekend... just squeezed it in!!
White Rock is always an enjoyable day and i am glad that
we were able to go again this year. 
Marshall was a little 'wild' for the first while as we tried to
show him how cool it was to make rivers and let the water flow through.
My parents joined us as well.  By the end (of course) Marshall was having fun
and then it was over as the tide came in.  lol.
Fish and chips for lunch, and feeding the seagulls the leftovers.
A great day of shell hunting, river building, and walking in the cool water.
So relaxing.

Summer review and back to school!

Sepetmeber.  It came fast this year!  We had a great summer.  Marshall took part in a VBS program which is a Vacation Bible School week where he attended for 3 hours each day at a local church.  His sister went last year and had a great week, so in spring, i approached the children's ministry coordinator and asked if she thought they could take Marshall on this year.  She went ahead and asked her sister, who happens to be a TA and who has worked with many autistic children, to work with Marshall for the week!  I had said that i thought he would be ok as long as he had an extra (even a youth girl) assigned to him.  But it was great that Betty volunteered and had a great week with Marshall.  She commented at the end of the week that she really didn't even need to be there.  lol.  She was quite impressed with Marshall and his ability to adjust and his excitement and involvement in each station.  I decided to volunteer my time, since both the little kids were able to be involved, to be a Crew Leader for the week at VBS.  It was so wonderful being able to get involved in such a great program, and also to watch my kids grow in their faith and make new friends.  I used to be really involved in my church and in all of the kids programs, and over the years i have had to step back quite a lot to meet Marshall's needs, and that has been hard.  It was a huge blessing to be able to give back, and to have people step forward so i could.  God paved the way and we were all blessed by that week and are looking forward to being involved again next summer!

Over the summer, Marshall quickly adjusted to swimming.  If you recall, last summer it took several visits to my Uncles pool before i could get Marshall to understand that this was supposed to be fun.  lol.  But this summer, after not having swam at all over winter, it only took him about half an hour poolside before he got in and starting swimming around (with his life jacket and floaty ring).  By the end of the summer, Marshall had ditched the floaty ring and became somewhat comfortable kicking around with just his life jacket on.  He is very aware of how close the water is to his face without the floaty ring on, so he does hold on to his life jacket for dear life as he kicks around the pool.  lol.  He was so proud of himself :) 
We had a bit of a set back with our pool (just a 3 footer) at home after a bouncy ball accidentally fell into the pool and sunk to the bottom when the kids were not in it.  Marshall lost it.  He was so panicky and yelling, and for quite a while after it happened, he would go into freak-out mode any time any toys were near the pool.  We had some friends over who had toys in the pool... that did not go over well.  I couldn't reason with M, it was totally out of his day to day character and he was just screaming and crying and begging the kids to get the toys (and the kids themselves) out of the pool.  Stressful.  But, the very next day, I called up my sister and had my 2 nieces who are my kids' age come over, with the understanding that we were going to help Marshall overcome this obstacle.  I knew it would be a challenge, but i also knew that if i allowed for him to continue to lose it on everybody, it would escalade.  So i talked to Marshall, and we did it slowly and in steps, and after an hour or so of him getting upset and the girls all cooperating with my instructions, Marshall actually got IN the pool and swan around himself.  Mission accomplished!! 

We bought the kids new bikes this summer, Marshall's first bike!  At Toys R Us a few months back, we approached the bike section where Marshall proceeded to get onto one and ride around the store like a pro (with training wheels, but still)!  Lol.  It was so weird.  He was so happy on that bike.  We only bought the bikes mid-August, so the kids haven't been on them too much, a handful of times.  Marshall loves riding it and asks constantly.  They also have a bike at NSAP that he chooses for his reward often :) 
The only challenge we face with the bike at home, is that Marshall has become very aware of the cars (even the ones at the end of our street going the other way), and is constantly yelling out "car" when there isn't one.  lol.  He is just seeing them at the end of the road, not coming his way.  Of course, we are trying to teach the kids to go to the side of the road and to stop riding if a car is actually coming, and perhaps our voices have sounded urgent at times and that freaks him out. Or, perhaps Marshall's obsession with Kermit the Frog getting hit by a car in Muppets Take Manhatten (the kids' new fav movie) has him mulling it over a lot.  lol.  I know, it's bad.  haha. 

We took our first real family vacation this summer!!  Two nights away to Lynnwood (just outside of Seattle) and we took the kids to the Seattle zoo!  This was actually the first zoo visit for the little kids.  It was great!  I should add first, that Marshall had his first sleepover (followed by several others) at my parents place over the summer and it was a huge success!!  So huge, that Marshall doesn't want to live here anymore and is constantly asking to go to "Nana house a (s)leepover"  lol.  So, we knew Marshall would have successful sleeping in the hotel room next to Devyn, which he did :)  The weather was beautiful and the trip was fun!  We went with my sister and her family, as well as with my parents.  It was a tad busy with all of the shopping everyone wanted to fit in, so busy, that we actually tried to stay an extra night, but the hotel was booked.  Marshall loves to talk about the trip to the zoo.  The clarity of his words is getting better and better each day, and he is working really hard at NSAP to get some functioning sentences together.  If you ask Marshall about the zoo, he will say, "see monkeys (not "gunkies!"), a see giraffes, see (p)enguins, a see mangos (flamingos ;)), a see birds, see elephants, see drunks (trunks on the elephants- lol)"  I love hearing him talk about the things he enjoyed seeing. 

Marshall is starting to volunteer a lot of information as well, which is wonderful.  Last year, he never talked about friends names, or even teachers really, and if i tried to ask him what he did today, he mostly focused on what snack he had.  This year, he is telling me stories about how at NSAP, "Krish (a boy his age) a (s)mash-ed a doll house.  Patty say no, no Krish."  HA!  Since telling me this story, and perhaps my laughter that followed, he has repeated this story to me several times.  I'm just so happy that he is taking things that happen earlier in the day, and voluntarily talking to me about them!!  The staff at NSAP was all laughing when i asked them about this story the next day, and they did confirm that that story did happen.  haha.  Marshall is talking about his friends at home, and his teachers by name now.  The info he is trying to get across is not always clear to me, but i'm happy that he is trying :) 

I had a meeting with Marshall's preschool teachers just before school started.  This almost never happens, but Marshall has been paired up with the same autistic boy as last year, and they have the same aide!  He is doing 3 days a week for 2.5 hours each day this year.  I am so happy that we got our desired spot at NSAP in the 12:45-2:45 time slot, allowing for him to do both programs :)  He loves preschool.  Each day he is eager to go, and when i pick him up, he doesn't want to leave!  Last year he would run to me smiling and shouting, "Mommy!".  Now he slumps down and starts to cry about leaving.  I love that he loves preschool, but hey, give your mother some love child!!  ;)  lol.  Overall, it is nice to see how much he loves school and learning, and it just tells me that next year when he enters Kindergarden, he will be more than ready for it. 

Just had my meeting with the NSAP (Next Step Autism Program) team yesterday for Marshall's yearly review and IEP (Individual Education Plan) for the year ahead.  Janel (program coordinator and Behavoiur Consultant), Laura (Speech) and Carla (senior Behaviour Interventionist)) all sat down with me to go over Marshall's plan.  I am so excited!  Marshall has done awesome over the past year, and the updated chart of progress more than doubles where he started a year ago!!  Janel stated that it was just so fun to update it.  Marshall is so determined to learn and seems to just soak up everything that they throw his way.  Laura shared of a time when she had to clean up with him and he was shouting, "no! more!" cause he was just loving the excersize.  How awesome is that??!  Most of Marshall's goals are speech and social related, which i am in full support of.  It was great to have Laura challenge one of the goals of 100 items, up to 250 because she feels Marshall can handle it.  I am in agreeance!  Push him as long as he's allowing us to!!!  It was such a positive meeting, and i am excited for the year ahead.  There are no goals for Marshall as far as fine and gross motor skills go as he is above average in those areas, as well as self-help areas.  Is am so hopeful that he will continue to come leaps and bounds over the next year with such a focused program!

Well, i am out the door now to meet with the school's principal to discuss some options for Marshall for next year.  I spoke with Janel about some options through her program (as well as other routes) for next year, so now i need to gather all of the information and make a decision by January!!  Because Marshall is in a private school, i will need to register him with a tuition plan in place by February, so i don't have until after summer to figure this all.  That's ok, because i love having a plan to get excited about!! 

Until next time... :)