Bobby's World: I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!!!!!!!!

First, it is important for this story to know that Bobby has been learning the word "wait" and what it means. Every day in behavioral therapy and at school Bobby is being prompted with a wait card or with a hand held out it a stop motion and then he has to wait for a period of time (generally 30 seconds since we are just starting this process). He does best when he has a specific place to wait, generally a chair. Learning to wait is a huge skill for Bobby to learn because his impulse control skills are extremely, extremely, extremely limited.

And now for the rest of the story....

Finally, it is February and time for our favorite winter activity...Tiny Tykes Tumbling at the West Virginia Gymnastics training center. Oh how Bobby and his peers are in dire need of a winter activity where they work off some of their energy. We pulled up to the gym about 10 minutes early so we were planning to sit in the car for awhile. Bobby had other plans, he was climbing all over the car trying to get a door open because he wanted to go jump.

Bob and I took Bobby into the gym, well really we kept up with him while he made his way into the building. One of the Stepping Stones staffers was in the waiting room area, in front of the door that leads into the gym, with the rest of the Tiny Tykes kids making sure that everyone had their registration forms filled out. Another staffer was inside the gym with the group of WVU students who were going to be paired up with all of the kids to be their helper for the tumbling fun.

Bobby was bouncing as he went into the building, saying "you jump, you jump." I took him to the bathroom and got his shoes and coat off to be prepared for when it is finally time to go in and JUMP. This is the perfect time/place to work on waiting. Our audience is a group of parents of other special needs children who are in no way going to judge Bobby's behavior. I brought him over to a chair, verbally and gesturally prompted him to sit and wait. All in all, Bobby sat for 3-4 minutes and waited, he got up a few times so Bob and I had to wrangle him back to his seat. But 3-4 minutes of waiting to Bobby is like a couple of hours to the rest of us.

Bobby finally made it to the point where he just could NOT wait any longer!! He got up out of his seat, made his way through Bob and me, then made it through the Stepping Stones staffer in front of the door, opened the door into the gym, made it through the group of WVU students (with me chasing behind him) and finally through the Stepping Stones staffer, Kim, that has known Bobby since he was 4 years old...we were all laughing and I was hearing George Michael's song FREEDOM playing in my head. He ran, full force, past all of these people, through the lines of balance beams and finally made it to his destination...the big trampoline. Finally, time to JUMP!!!!!! Kim had a couple WVU students go over to the trampoline with him and Bobby was in heaven.

Bobby and his helpers on the tumble track. It is so dark and they are moving so fast inside the gymnastics center that I don't get very good pictures.