Tell me about it

In school this year, they are concentrating more on having Jacob do more comprehension work, which he very much needs.  He can read so well...he is in the accelerated reading group (even among his typical classmates)...but he often has very little idea of what the words he is reading actually mean. 

We also have noticed over the past year that he is thinking a lot of things and does not have the words to tell us what is on his mind.  You can see the wheels turning and he tries very hard with the language he has, but he gets so frustrated.  It is heartbreaking at times, and we spend many hours doing our version of charades. 

So in his home therapy, they started a new program called "tell me about it."  They pick an item and Jacob has to tell three things about it.  It was very scripted and difficult for him at the beginning but now after a few months he is getting the hang of it.  I am starting to ask him to tell me about all kinds of things.  It is AWESOME to see his mind working and him trying to figure out the right way to explain something.  :)

I think the home program and the school focus are really making a difference. Many people have commented that his language is getting better, and his teacher called me the other day from school in tears because he was "answering comprehension questions at grade level!!!"

I have a little video demonstration I wanted to post here for friends & family members to see...and to remind me later of how he was doing at this point in time.

He was playing with some putty and mostly stimming with it (which you see at the beginning of the video).  Since he was so interested I had him describe it to me....