The ball is rolling!

Yesterday we met with the behaviorist and the preschool teacher who will be working with Wes using ABA therapy. She is super nice and seems like a great fit. She will be starting in the school district this fall and will help with the transition when Wes starts preschool. She will be coming three days a week for 3 hours. She started yesterday with him and I told her to feel free to push his limits. His whining doesn't affect me anymore because I hear it so often. We also started on PECS. We have some general pictures to start out with. The game plan is to start object to object, then picture to object, then picture to picture.

So for example, we will start with animal figures. The BT (behavioral therapist) will place an animal on the floor, say the name of the animal and hold out her hand for Wes to give it to her. Once he's mastered that and echos the name, she will put a few animals on the floor and hand Wes a picture of the animal she wants and say it's name. He's to find that animal and give it to her while using the name. Once that's been mastered, He will need to match a picture with a picture. She has story boards of some nursery rhymes and the last word of each rhyme is left blank with a picture. She will sing the song to Wes, but leave out that last word. Wes is to find the picture that matches that of the Story Board. Each accomplishment, he will receive a reward. I just have to figure that out. I know someone who uses chocolate chips. We might do the same. Every time he masters a skill, we up the anti. So instead of getting a chip for each match, he might get one for every 4 matches once it's been mastered. It changes every time he masters a new skill.

Tim and I went to a support group and it was so much fun. We met a really nice couple who have a son who is much older then Wes, but they were so nice. Tim actually went to school with the dad. They had a Make and Take Night where everyone was able to make visual pieces to take home. You could make a story board, or more PECS or whatever. They had computers and laminating machines to use. Next month is about transitioning into preschool and I will totally be there! We need all the information we can get. I hate going into the unknown. I like to dip my toes in before jumping full force. I want to know what we're getting into before it happens, so it should be a very informative meeting.