Back to School!!!

Jordan met all his goals for summer break, according to his summer school teacher. She was very proud of Jordan's accomplishments. He worked on making eye contact with people who are speaking to him and acknowledging his understanding of their words. For a child who perpetually looked upwards to the point of rolling his eyes almost completely back into his head, these are huge accomplishments. Answering "yes" and "no" questions with switches is a recent addition to his previous method of clucking his tongue and/or using body language to communicate. Relearning communication skills has been an ongoing process during the last several months. Jordan has done amazingly well to learn to communicate as well as he had done. Remember he only turned three years old in April 2007. Following directions is also an area in which he is continuing to make progress. Jordan can understand a series of commands and often make his body follow the commands. He also worked on his fine motor skills by playing with small toys. He continues to perfect these skills by grasping and releasing objects upon command. Jordan's hands were continually locked into a a tight fist only a few months ago. Being able to play with a toy without a switch is a huge feat for him. Little movements that we took for granted prior to Jordan's acident take on a miraculous air after seeing how hard he has to work to regain that control. Over and over again, we see Jordan start to develop a new skill in painstakingly small increments. He steadily works on his new skills at what seems like a snail's pace until he is able to really put it to use. We are so proud of him.