Little K has autism. In the scheme of things on the spectrum, authorities would class her as low functioning. She is nearly 11 and doesn't have a lot of words, but she is not what I would class at totally non-verbal, and in the past 18 months her word skills have increased a lot. But a lot of what she says is still hard, very hard to understand.
Like a lot of autistic children (and maybe adults) she get frustrated and acts out, and of course, as she gets older and bigger that can be more of an issue. I know it has caused moments of despair for her parents (my daughter in law K and her ex-hubby R) and for my daughter too. My daughter B became Little K's Aussie Mummy nearly two years ago, and it is so great that Little K has three parents in her life that want the best for her.
Recently I Skyped with my daughter and saw her shed tears because she wants to help K to be able to better communicate and was worried that it might never happen. They were about to meet with Little K's school to look at other ways of increasing her skills and looking at speech programs that could help. But no-one knew how Little K would react, whether she had the skills to understand and if she did how quickly would she learn.
So last weekend I got this video. Little K had learnt she could ask for chips, and was pushing, chips, chips, chips to indicate she wanted more than one chip. B showed her she could push just one more button and get the same message across. It only took her being showed once and this is the result.
Then today I got sent this video. It's short and sweet but you can hear her joy at the end, and now she can communicate so much more and I believe she is also trying to mimic the words as she pushes the buttons.
The journey my Alaskan family is on, will continue to be hard, but I hope above all hope, that small steps like these make it easier, especially for Little K, for though I too have only known her for a short time, she is a beautiful and unique child full of potential.
If this is not inspiring, then I don't know what is.
Thanks for popping by xxx
Wonderful, wonderful news. Happy tears here. And if I am leaking the flood of happiness must be immense for Little K's entire family (which of course includes you).
ReplyDeleteThanks EC. Yes I was leaking lots of happiness today. It just is so inspiring to see the steps forward and the dedication of my daughter and daughter in law in making sure they do all they can to give Little K the best tools to cope with and live in the wider world.
DeleteJust a small clarification; we've never doubted her ability to understand but, as parents, we've often doubted our ability to meet her needs and provide her with the right mode of communication. We're seeing lots of growth right now in terms of language and literacy. Her new favourite trick is to read the title of the Dora episode she is about to watch out loud. She's so determined to show off that she won't start watching the episode until she gets an acknowledgement from us that she has been heard, understood and is correct. A little ego boost goes a long way!
ReplyDeleteThanks honey, your words do so much more justice to the story than mine. I'm so happy to hear she is reading the Dora titles now too. So much happening so quickly, and I get such a thrill when you send me the little videos of her progress. xxx
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