Yangyang 20m+1w: home visit #3

Today YY's special education teacher came to our home for the third home visit. It was during the hour before his lunch and nap time. YY was tired.

Last night we came back from Grandpa's dinner and YY went to bed an hour late, and this morning he woke up an hour earlier. We stayed home the whole morning and took it easy. We cleaned up the play area and played mostly in his room. When Miss Jennifer came, YY was ready for lunch and nap.

YY was unresponsive for the first half of the visit. He would stare at Jennifer, or laid on the floor expressionlessly. He stayed close to me and did not want to engage in any activities Jennifer proposed. Even when she was reading the Go Dog Go book with many cars, he would not turn the pages with his fingers. He used his feet or fists sometimes. During the visit, many times I had to suppress my urge to say, "he does this all the time; he can do this a long time ago". The only time YY showed a slight smile was when he decided to kick the ball while seated instead of throw it with both hands.

As soon as the official visit was over and when Jennifer started to clean up the toys and write her report, YY came to life. He played with his wooden toy vehicles, imitated sounds of animals and cars, and attempted to dance. I got the From Head to Toe book by Eric Carle, and for the first time he imitated all the movements in the book. I could hardly believe it! Just yesterday he could only do a few of the movements. Now he could turn his head, bend his neck, raise his shoulders (not convincing yet), wave his arms, clap his hands, thump his chest, arch his back (he was better at it this afternoon), wriggle his hips (too cute), bend his knee, kick his leg, stomp his feet, and wiggle his toes. I will have to tape him tomorrow. I was glad that Jennifer saw this. Otherwise she might think that he is truly retarded and does not understand any command nor imitate. :)

But he was only shy. Maybe too shy. He does not like to perform under any pressure. I wonder how much he could benefit from a classroom environment.

Yangyang goes to school tomorrow.