Leo (Language and ECU in one)

Hello Everyone,

How is everyone? We hope that you and your families are doing well. We are doing great these days. We have our tough days but mostly we have been having good days.
K.C. Is doing so well in his new program at school. Each morning he looks forward to going to school. He even smiles while I help him get dressed. He has a "job" at school. He helps cleaning up the classroom by putting things in their proper place. He understands this well, he loves for things to be the same so putting things away as they were before is something he loves to do. His teacher has been great. She stays in contact with me each day either by phone calls or in his communication notebook. About 2 weeks ago I asked the teacher if we could work on potty training K.C. because I believe he is ready. I told her I would still send his pull ups and that I would also be sending kids boxer shorts. The staff at his school have been taking him to the bathroom several times a day and waits in the bathroom with him until he goes. Sometimes he does go and sometimes he doesn't. We have been working on it very hard and I can now officially say that he is nearly day time potty trained. We only put a pull up on him when he rides home on the bus and in the morning on the ride to school. At home he is also doing great potty training. When he gets antsy and walks around looking panicky we hurry him to the bathroom. Yesterday Big Brother was in the bathroom ad K.C. had to go, I hurried Big Brother out just before he almost had an accident. He can't hold it for long so at school and at home we hurry him to the bathroom. He had at least 4 successes a day at the toilet! I am so proud of him, he is such a trooper.

K.C. has been using an augmentative communication device called "LEO." His teacher thinks this device will be best for K.C. so we are having a guy come in with alot of different devices to see which one would work best for K.C. He is using LEO in the classroom but just to be sure before we get one, to let K.C. try different ones. I too think LEO is best for him. This is what LEO is, http://www.assistivetech.com/p-leo.htm

We have been going on early evening walks with the boys. We have to walk in the evening because during the day, it is still around 104 degrees! Our buddy helper walks with Adam and I pull K.C. along in his yellow wagon. He loves this wagon so much in fact, when the sun starts to go down in the evening he pulls the wagon into the kitchen or wherever I am and just stands there! That my friends is communication! I always finish up whatever I am doing and we head out the door! He loves the wagon so much in fact, the above picture is of K.C. and Jayce, K.C. is actually sleeping in this wagon and Big Brother has fell asleep on the couch while watching SpiderMan part 1. K.C. kept trying to pull his wagon through the couch so I moved the couch and pulled the wagon near Big Brother and he fell asleep fast. K.C. never plays with Big Brother or Adam, BUT if they are sleeping he will hang around. He knows! We haven't had the wagon for very long, we ordered it from Lakeshore and it can hold four small kids or one big boy K.C.! We got it here, I also found alot of interesting things here teaching.
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CsearchResults~~p%7CLA979~~.jsp

Big Brother is doing great. We have installed a Tetherball and Tetherball Pole in the backyard. Adam doesn't understand the game but he loves hitting the ball. Big Brother loves having Adam in the backyard because he has no one to play with. He told me yesterday that even though Adam and K.C. can not speak having someone there just to watch is good enough for him! I do watch Big Brother play and play with him sometimes too. He loves having kids to play with and I love seeing him smile.

Adam (we have been calling him "Add Man" these days and sometimes I think I see him grinning when I say it.) He too is doing well in school and his ABA program at home. K.C. Adam and K.C. both have ABA instructors come to our house in the early evening to work with them separately. It's never too late for ABA, Adam is a teenager and has really just began his ABA program since living with us. Before ABA he could not dress himself properly, he now dresses himself. He is still working on brushing his hair, teeth etc but one step at a time. He is getting there and I am very proud of him and I believe he is happy that he has learned so much and can do it all by himself.

I have been having some lower back problems but have an appointment to see a doctor soon. During the day I have time to myself and some days I am so tired that I set the alarm clock for 2:00 p.m. and after the boys leave I had for the bed! One day last week I slept from about 8 til 2 p.m.! Having three boys is a very tiring job and it catches up to you and when it does you have to sleep to keep from getting worn out.

Thank you all for checking in on us, we love having visitors to the blog.

I have added a very important link to my blog. It is at the top right hand corner of my blog. It says, "Please show your support to Lora and Griffin, to learn more please visit, (there is a clickable link on my page.) Please visit her and her Autistic son Griffin, she has something very important to say and I believe we all can learn something from her experience.