Thursday, August 20, 2009

Breakthrough For Max!!

Today started out like any other day. I was tired, a bit cranky... lots of work to do, not enough time to do it, the whole nine, you know how it is. But when Max came out of his IBI session this afternoon, running down the hall towards me with a smile that could solve the US Healthcare Crisis, I noticed that Brian had a glimmer in his eyes. After Max gave me his SuperHug(TM), Brian proceeded to tell me that Max had done incredibly well in their session today. Max had started imitating all of the vowel sounds upon request and also imitating Brian's movements when prompted. I wasn't sure what to think, and then Brian asked Max to repeat a series of vowels - AH, AY, OO, OH, EE, WHY - and he did it! HE DID IT!!

Talk about the best day ever! EVER!! My boy is starting to really talk! On the way home, I started asking him to say different words - Da-da, Kitty, and best of all, Mama. And he said them all, clear as day. He said Up, Down, Yes, No, Duck, Ribbit...Cheese! Holy Sh!t (that was me, not him)!! I called Scott and got Max to repeat the same words again so Scott could hear. Then I called my Mom so she could hear too. Then when we got home, Max said "Hi" to Scott's parents. Pure joy. And why now of all times? Max is just finishing up his intensive block at blueballoon - mornings of Music and Speech camp, afternoons of IBI, and increased Occupational Therapy time where we have started Therapeutic Listening. I can't think of any better proof that going hard at something for a set period of time works. Max is potty trained and talking, in less than 3 weeks. Excuse me while I go dance for joy in the rain!

18 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:14 p.m.

    YYYAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. Jason Smith9:43 p.m.

    Makin' my heart sing!

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  3. Anonymous9:45 p.m.

    I am so thrilled for all of you!

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  4. rebecca10:00 p.m.

    YAY MAX!!! Hooray for you, Mama!

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  5. Wow. That's the best news I've heard in a long time. I'm so happy for you, Kat!

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  6. Anonymous11:10 p.m.

    Doing a happy dance for all!

    mb

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  7. Anonymous1:57 a.m.

    Wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL!!!

    Tag

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  8. Anonymous4:05 a.m.

    good job Max!!!

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  9. Anonymous8:37 a.m.

    Huzzah!

    -Dilysa

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  10. Anonymous8:42 a.m.

    Amazing news - by sharing such a personal process in public forums you are really showing a lot of people (like me) who have no exposure to autism how truly necesssary early and intensive intervention is. Very happy for you guys w this breakthrough. -ap

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  11. Yay!!! I'm crying tears of joy for you all! Do you think Max can help Charlotte with potty training? Seriously, I have weeks to go until school and she's still having accidents. Arggh!

    Seriously, so proud of Max and of you guys for everything you are doing. Max is a rockstar!!

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  12. Kat: that is AWESOME. We're cheering for you guys over here!

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  13. Kat that is awesome! I will forward this post to Ellisa as well as she will be excited to hear this! Congrats to making great progress with Max and congrats to him too

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  14. That is awesome. Congrats to all of you!

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  15. Anonymous10:41 p.m.

    I'll do a happy dance with you. That is totally AWESOME!

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  16. SO terrific! Yay! This is such a great blog.

    I'd love to hear a little bit about how you began to suspect that Max was autistic - what age, signs, etc. This is a huge education process for me.

    Keep it up, Max!

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  17. Anonymous8:28 p.m.

    Congrats Max!

    Like the above commenter, I'd also like to hear you write about the beginning of this journey. I'm starting to suspect that I might have issues with my son.:-(

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  18. Anonymous1:03 p.m.

    This is awesome news! YAY for Max, but a big YAY for you for working tirelessly to give him all these opportunities to excel. You have given so much of yourself to this and you so deserve to be happy!

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