Progress is Not Always Seen in the Eye of the Beholder

As our ASD kiddo's grow, their needs and challenges will change. As parents, sometimes we may be so focused on the current challenges, that we forget about the how far they have come.

"Mom, I need your help!". Nugget was yelling from his room. I knew he was working on coloring a color-coded multiplication sheet. I answered him with, "How can mom help you?". He immediately corrected my pronoun usage. So I apologized and said, "How can I help you?". This has been a challenge for me. Still in a "baby-talk" mode", sometimes I forget in that moment, the progress he has made.

However, this immediately got me chuckling to myself, thinking back to when his speech was emerging. When he would fall down, he wouldn't say that he was okay, rather, he would say, "Are you OK?" echoing what he had heard me ask him on previous occasions, whenever he would fall. At that time, I remember wondering how I would get him to understand proper pronoun usage. It seemed impossible as he would just always echo what I would say. Hubby and I would model for him the difference between saying "You", while I would point at hubby, and "me", while pointing at myself. Then we would switch. They would work on pronoun usage during ABA.

I can't tell you when he learned this difference, and I can't tell you that it was immediate. What I can tell you, is that sometimes we are so focused on what our children are unable to do, that we forget about what they have accomplished, and how at one time, we may have believed that progress would not be possible.....and then they prove us wrong.