OK, so today was actually a pretty good day for Tony. We started out slow and did some coloring. I did “do this” with Tony today and prompted him to draw a straight line. I had today in between my legs at the coffee table so he couln’t escape as easily. This was the first time I’d introduced this task, so he didn’t really like it that much but I used full gestural prompts and reinforcement. We’ve worked on coloring before but I decided on using more mands as Jay suggested by asking him to draw a line. After coloring we also played with a drum. Tony initiated play with the drum so I grabbed his electronic Leap Frog drum and tried modeling. I did “1-2-3” and banged on the drum and then prompted Tony to imitate. He didn’t follow too well but I think he was getting distracted with the Leap Frog talking drum (which he really likes because it counts out loud everytime you hit it). We also worked with Play Dough. Tony pulled out the drawer and we worked on making balls with it. I let Tony try and open all the containers for the Play Dough so that he could give me the sign or verbalization for “open.” I didn’t open anything until I got the sign he would say it (which he did of course because he desparately wanted the Play Dough). Anyway, I worked with him on making round balls with the Play Dough and matching them together. He also pulled out a book while we were working on the Play Dough that had animal pictures in it. Tony imitated me as I pointed to cat and said “Meow, meow, meow.” Tony does a great job imitating sounds (not words as much).
Today was also really exicting for Tony (and me too really) because Marlaina took us to Chik-fil-A for lunch. This was a field trip we took mostly to get out of the house because of the construction going on for Tony’s therapy room. After lunch we took him into the play area and Tony was WAY excited about the slide that all the other kids were coming down. He was so stimulated, laughing, bouncing up and down, and flapping his hands. He absolutely loved it. I really wanted to take him up in the slide but I was afraid I would get stuck since I exceeded the height limit (haha). So, we played with a few things on the bottom in “Todler Land” (mirrors, buttons, a wheel etc.). He liked these things too, but was really into the slide. Next time we’ll have to go to a real park with a slide.
When we got home, Tony was a little more mellow. He wanted to play with the Play Dough again, so we worked on it for a few minutes until Marlaina thought it was about time for him to take a nap (such a long day at Play Land at Chick-Fil-A and all). So it was a really good day. Tony was really happy and was able to work very cooperatively with the few tasks we did.