A Little Bit of Hope.

Max will be starting a six week program tomorrow called CIP ("Community Intervention Program"). CIP is for kids with severe communication and social delays, due to Autism Spectrum Disorder or other developmental delays. I have been applying for Max to be in the program since this past summer, so I am thrilled that he was finally accepted into this next session. There are only six kids in each session, so the program is in high demand.

The program focuses specifically on building social skills, speech and language skills, play skills and transition skills. These are all areas that Max has challenges with, so he can only benefit from participating in CIP. The staff working with the children include Early Childhood Educators, Speech Pathologists, Behavioural Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Resource Teachers. This will be a new experience for me as well, because prior to this, I have always participated in his therapy sessions. At CIP, parents can observe through a one way glass, but we are not part of the sessions. I am finally going to be able to sit and just observe instead of spending the entire session trying to get Max to cooperate. I tend to think kids will also do things for other people that they won't do for their parents, (this is very true for Max). He ate with a spoon at daycare months before he did it at home for us. So, we'll see. But we are really hopeful that this will be a catalyst for a new round of progress.