good day

Many of you may be wondering about all this therapy we're doing. My dad and Martha were visiting this week and I realized from their questions that it is hard to describe on a blog just how it works. Right now Lewis is getting 12-15 hours per week of ABA therapy, an hour with an OT, and 2 hours at WKU's speech clinic. Tonight, due to snow and an overworked volunteer, I got to work with Lewis some myself and took a couple videos to show more what a session looks like.

We have about 16-18 tasks per session, and each task is done 5 times. If Lewis completes the task on his own, he gets a +, and if not he gets a -. If Lewis has trouble completing the tasks, the therapists manipulate his hands so that he knows what is expected, but he does not get credit for it. Of course, on vocal imitation that is impossible, but as Lewis learns to imitate nonverbal things, the verbal imitation should also improve. Anyway, the data shows when Lewis has mastered a skill (80% or more correct over 3 sessions) and then it moves into 'maintenance.'

The tasks range in time length from seconds to minutes (puzzles and fine motor skills take longer), and he is rewarded with reinforcers (toys he likes) in between tasks. The reinforcers are key, because if he doesn't have something motivating to work for, he will typically run off or just not cooperate. The real goal is for Lewis to use the skills learned in therapy in real life.

Tonight we were working on a 12 piece puzzle (which Lewis hates!). He whines and sometimes screams when he sees a puzzle. This puzzle he has been working on for a week, and it takes him a little while, but he can do it all by himself! If you had seen him last week, or even Tuesday when the puzzle caused several breakdowns, you'd be amazed that he has caught on so quickly.



The next video shows him touching a baby's hand, opening a ziploc bag on his own (which also gave him some trouble early on), and nodding by imitation (you hear me say "do this" and he responds with an awkward nod).



While all of that was going on, Owen was jumping in the doorway. He's gotten into, running and jumping and flying around.



My other victory tonight was getting Owen to roll from his back to his belly all by himself! He has not figured it out on his own, so our DI, Krista, started working with Owen this week too and putting a towel behind him so that he could practice rolling from his side. We worked on it some this afternoon, and then tonight I left him on his back (not propped at all) with some paper strategically placed to entice him to roll. For some reason, Owen loves paper! I walked into the other room and peeked back a minute later and there he was on his belly! He took the bait.

These boys are a lot of work sometimes, but it is so fulfilling when we see some progress. We should all sleep good tonight!