Generally Speaking

One thing that Wesley will need to work on is realizing that items with the same name can look different. He needs to understand generalizing objects. One thing that he is currently working on is expressive language. This is being able to label an object correctly. He has mastered labeling 'pig' and 'duck'. This just means that when his therapist holds up a model plastic pig or duck, he needs to correctly say which one she is holding up. Once he's mastered labeling objects correctly and without problems, his therapist will start using general objects so he won't think that just the toy is a duck and only white ducks are ducks.

With that being said, we took the boys to a local park on Sunday to feed the ducks. I enjoy feeding them and seeing which one out of the bunch is brave enough to eat out of my hand. We took the boys out of the car and headed to the pond. As soon as the ducks were in sight, Wes said "duck!". I looked at Tim and he looked at me and then we both burst into praise! He correctly and clearly labeled duck! He knew what they were without us telling him! That is amazing. These ducks look nothing like the plastic toy that he's used to seeing. Let alone all the pictures in books and such that use a white duck! These were brown mallards and he was able to distinguish that they were indeed ducks!

I'm tempted to bring him to a local farm and point out all the animals he's familiar with such as cow, horse, pig, dog, chicken, sheep, etc. Maybe if he can see these out in our world, he'll have a much easier time generalizing those as well. It would be interesting to see if he can label those without a problem as well.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the boy simply amazes me with his abilities and his drive to learn. I am fairly certain that by this time next year, I'll be able to actually talk with my son and hopefully get a meaningful response back.