The Most Beautiful Sound That I've Ever Heard

I've been telling you lately about how well Bobby has been doing.  This school year has been the most successful one this far and the most exciting thing has been the increase in Bobby's verbal language.

Last school year, Ms. Kim started a photo album for Bobby.  She took pictures of all of the people that work with Bobby and the other kids that come in and out of the autism room throughout the day so that he could learn people's names.  She also added pictures of Mommy and Daddy and labeled everyone's names in the photo album.  Well, this school year he actually learned everyone's names and can verbally identify every picture in the photo album.  We also took this task to behavioral therapy and added pictures of people from Bobby's home life.

Early on we realized that it was important to only have the person's face in the picture.  I took in some pictures to therapy that I had of some of his autism classroom peers.  He focused on other things in the pictures (ie, the backpack that one of the kids was wearing).  He struggled in identifying Daddy in a picture in which Bob has sunglasses on and Bobby couldn't really see his eyes.  There is a picture of Bob in the group of pictures that we are working on in therapy that Bobby also struggled with...even though I cropped the picture to only get Bob's face, Bobby would say "Rhino" when he saw the picture because he knows that Bob was sitting in the Rhino in the picture because Bobby had seen the  uncropped picture and was there when the picture was taken.

It has finally "clicked" with Bobby and he is now labeling the people in the pictures with very little problem.  When Ms. Kim was working with Bobby earlier in the year on people, she got out a hand mirror so that Bobby could learn to identify himself.  He finally got that the boy in the mirror is "Bobby" and lately in therapy he is identifying himself in the numerous pictures of him that are in the identifying people program.  Ms. Kim continued to work on name identification with Bobby.

One day while at home, I'm not even sure what or how I said it, but I asked him his name and he said "Bobby."  After I picked myself off of the floor I asked him again and he repeated his answer.  OMG...he knows his name!!!!!   It wasn't long until he answered, "Bobby Miff."  I was so excited that when he went to therapy the next day I showed off his "new trick" to his therapist.  She was briefly excited too and then said, "that's not your name.  You're name is Bobby Sssssmmmmmmmith."  Since she knew that he did not have a problem with making the s or the m sound, she sat him down and he got rewarded for saying his name correctly.  He exaggerated the sm sound like she did for a couple of days, but he leaned to say his name.  Ms. Kim and Ms. Sharon taught Bobby to say his name!!!!!  Quite frankly Bob and I still get giddy when we hear him say it.  After all, we have been waiting years!!

So last night after his bath, I took a little video so that you could hear too...

Then at Grandma Carolyn's retirement party, a man that worked with my mom sat down beside Bobby and said, "when's your birthday?"  I answered for him and the next day in therapy was telling Ms. Sharon about the exchange.  Ms. Sharon:  "Well, he's going to learn the answer!!!!"  Me (in my head):  "O Lord, help us all!!"

Sharon got out two index cards and wrote "May 19th" on one and "9 years old" on the other (even though Bobby was only 8, but had only a few weeks until he turned 9).  First she had Bobby repeat the words written on the cards to her, then asked him "When is your birthday?" and had him repeat the words on the card.  I wrote the same words on index cards at home and we worked on it here too. We faded back to showing him the card, taking it away and then asking the question and were finally able to fade the card completely away.  This entire process took about 2 weeks, but Bobby rose to the occasion...

Sorry to those of you who have an iPhone or iPad, because I know these videos won't show up at all.

Honestly I had given up on the fact that Bobby would be answering questions.  We can't wait to see/hear what Bobby learns next!!!!!!