Two, Three, Go!

We are SO proud of our boy.  In a classroom of his age-level peers, Parker is flourishing.  His current word count is 9 (ready, go, two, three, Chase, all done, up, and walk).  We are noticing that, of course, repetition helps, but that he is most attracted to phrases where we use inflection or lots of energy.

We are still working on comprehension.  For example, in speech therapy, we are working on saying (and doing) walk....walk....walk....walk....STOP! To try and help Parker learn commands.  He will walk and say the word walk, he will attempt to say stop occasionally, but is still struggling to transfer the word stop to other situations.  I anticipate language comprehension to be a main topic of conversation as we move towards his special education evaluation and subsequent IEP meeting next month.

Language comprehension is also probably the hardest thing for people that don't know him to learn about him quickly.  Even new therapists, who are around kids all the time, sometimes have a hard time realizing that he doesn't understand their command.  This is definitely what we struggle with the most at home, too.  Parker has the (almost) size, strength, and behavior of the average 3 year old.  He is not interested in rules, flies in the face of danger, and climbs/throws anything.  The following directions and learning from mistakes is what challenges us.  Many people assume he is ignoring instructions, which aside from some minor exceptions, is really not happening.  But, we take it one day at time.  We are introducing time-outs at home to try and find some way to communicate trouble for repeated offenses-- current favorites are pressing the power button on the cable box, pulling the air vent out of the floor and putting things down it, climbing behind the couches, throwing/dumping food, etc etc etc.  

As we speak, he is upstairs jumping up and down in bed, giggling and babbling to himself.  He is strong-willed, and HAPPY.  I know moms get really frustrated about that assumption with Down Syndrome.  Kids with DS are definitely not all always happy.  We just happen to be blessed with a son who is.  We are lucky.  Even though my house is a wreck :)