On a daily basis it seems Nathan’s progress is quite slow. But we just had our 3rd monthly Son-Rise Program team meeting and I’ve realized that Nathan really is defying odds. After a month, Nathan has progressed from stage 2 to stage 3 in most areas of the Son-Rise Program Social Developmental Model:
http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/media/pdf/developmental_model.pdf

Some of his biggest improvements are from stage 2 of communication: being able to express wants (that was acquired between the 1st and 2nd monthly meeting) to stage 3: being able to share experiences and construct original sentences. Nathan now points out that his volunteers are wearing necklaces, earrings and other jewelry. He once pointed out that I was “wearing Humpty Dumpty shirt” (it really did look like an egg face on my shirt). As he was eating tonight, he pointed out, “The shrimp is pink.”

Before the son-rise program (3 months ago), Nathan wouldn’t care less about what you were doing and had minimal eye-contact. Now, he constantly seeks attention. During the day he will come up to us (parents, volunteers and nanny) several times saying things like, “Are you ok?” He expects us to echo his words back to him. So it is as if he was saying, “Please notice me. And in your sweetest voice, please express your concern for me.”

Tomorrow’s another day…I wonder what else we will discover next month.