Friday, April 15

Will is learning to read!

What...what's this? A post about something other than an adoption or Eli's transition home? (Well, hey, I do have four children after all. FOUR. Holy cow!) See, there they are. Count them watching TV together. One, two, three, four. I still can't believe it.



Anyway...........today when I picked Will up from his ABA school, the teacher let me know that he had mastered all of the word to word matching he was doing....that he is really attending to the details/letters of the words, and next up is matching pictures to words! READING!! I can't tell you how excited and even emotional I am about this. I've known for a long time that he was going to be a reader, at least on some level. Most children with autism perseverate on things. Will chose to perseverate on letters very early on. If you ask me, if you are going to perseverate on something, letters are a very good thing to pick. Numbers would be high up on my list as well. ;)

But that wasn't always the case. When he was diagnosed at two weeks old, I had no way of knowing if this child would ever be able to walk or talk, let alone read. At the moment I was chased down by the pediatrician in the NICU, my hopes and dreams flew out the window, and I was devistated by what a chromosome deletion might mean.

Six years later, in kindergarten, my son is beginning to learn to read. And I couldn't be prouder.

6 comments:

  1. That is so exciting!!!! Isn't it weird to count 4??? I'm stil counting and it's been six months!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am so happy for you and Will! 4 kids - amazing!
    Beth

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah for Will!!! Very cool indeed! You have a right to be proud,Momma...and so does Will!!
    Robin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heather, are they using a special program with Will? My 8-year-old (w/ASD) started using the ALL program this year. It seems to be working.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Janet, I have never heard of the ALL program. I need to look into that one! Right now they are just beginning to have him match pictures to words...basically some sight word training. Thanks for the tip, though! I'm off to google it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is AWESOME! Way to go, will! :)

    ReplyDelete