Toys, movies, games:

We are late to the party.

“Pervasive Developmental Delay”.

That’s when your kid doesn’t keep up with other kids,

when your kid doesn’t care about things when peers do.

The good news is they can keep moving forward, at their own pace.

With interventions.

So we all hope for and work toward:  not “never”, but “eventually”.

John has renewed interest in and growing love for Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

John spent $20 of his chore money on a new Sheriff Woody at the Disney store.

The old Woody’s expressive language was broken, and John wanted those sentences.

So we started planning a purchase.

We counted out the tangible paper money from his wallet (he carried in his pocket).

He carried out the bag from the Disney store.

Everything 3-dimensional.  Real.  Analog.

A real shopping neural pathway.

He helped me with replacing batteries, so Buzz had sentences again.

Recently, for the first time, he actually picked up and played with a Brain Quest deck.

Developmental delays don’t mean “never”.  They just mean “later”.  “Sometime”.   “Not now”.

John wanted hair gel.   An age-appropriate interest, right?

He wants a phone because the other kids have one.

We were with friends at a restaurant, and the boys all were playing with portable devices.

He wanted to match the kids.

I can’t fault him for that.

I did make him give me the complete sentence, to request my phone.

His face lit up like sunshine when he had what the other boys had.

He knew he fit in.

Our kids of delays are aware.

He knows when he doesn’t match peers.

And he surely showed the joy he felt the very second he knew he did match peers.

We see this with percussion binders and drumstick bags.

So I keep piles (“centers”) of toys around, with the every-single-day hope he will pick up something and play with it.

Peers who come over to our house are priceless.

They show him how to play.

(“oh, so that is how you play with that toy…..!”)

Cuddling:

Weekend mornings, a little more time for reading together, so we start the day with some forced cuddling.

I tell him we are practicing for when he is a man, and may be glad  he can.

He does flail around some, which just adds 5 more minutes to the intervention.

We also practice forced cuddling/hugging during movies on the sofa.

I usually have to sort of sit on him, and then he shifts to a more comfortable position.

He gets the idea, and usually warms to it.

I always try to make this physical connection with him during the final cliffhanger in any movie.

(and be sure to turn on captions!)

Peace be with us,

Gayle