Some Terrific Radiant Summer!

We spent four days per week attending school and Wednesdays cooling off at the river or the newly remodeled KOA Kampground, complete with play structure, water fountain park, and swimming pool.

When school began, he experienced residual apprehension. We had a few tough days of adjustment. After he experienced the more relaxed structure and smaller class size (2-3 other boys), he began to loosen up. By the second week, he was walking all the way to and from class without complaint and transitioning well between activities. He was enjoying himself and bonding with the staff. This felt like a huge success as well as a relief for us. Getting him acclimated to school in a way that is enjoyable to him is exactly what we hoped to achieve.

As if that wasn't progress enough, he has made great strides with potty training, and last Tuesday, he became suddenly willing to imitate our speech and make requests with prompting. His first requesting sentence was, of course, "I want a cookie." Who doesn't? He has gone on to repeat our words to request to watch a show, get something to drink or eat, open a door, go outside, and on and on! He is even willing to answer what his name is and how old he is with a little help on the first sound in the answer, "ffff..."

His willingness to talk more in general is a clearly measurable change from before he asked for that cookie. I don't know exactly what changed for him. I suspect he has been capable for a long time but didn't feel comfortable enough for some reason. He still refuses to speak at times, and he will sometimes mimic everything we say, not just the words intended for him to repeat. This leads me to believe that he continues to have some difficulty with receptive understanding. It also leads me to more diligently use clean language!

It was one year ago we enrolled him in preschool. He had some negative feelings lingering from those first experiences he had before we pulled him out. Returning last semester produced a mixed bag, and any progress he made was definitely accompanied by growing pains. It has been a long, exhausting year filled with trials and adjustments for all of us. A new chapter begins with Fall semester upon us, and we are excited for our highly anticipated trip to Nashville in November to meet with the Camaratas.