17. Wow, I blinked. Gabe’s been doing pretty well lately. After gaining a better understanding of his anxiety, along with treating some attention issues, he’s in a pretty good spot. He can still get a little stuck and throw some hard fits every once in a while, but he’s doing better at working through them more quickly and having better self control. We’re trying to work on new motivators. He’s finally passed the imaginative play phase and finding new hobbies. He still loves to play all forms of Bingo and is getting pretty good at Uno. He’s recently picked up Dominos. He loves asking me what’s for dinner multiple times a day, thinking my answer will change. He also asks me what every word means in Spanish. He still loves dogs, cats, and babies more than anything. He still loves to watch baseball. He’s obsessed with going bowling. He loves going for a drive to look at the city from Devou Park and see the bridges. He asks to eat cheeseburgers and donuts for treats whenever he can. He needs to work on his table manners because, like most teenage boys, he knows how to make himself burp. He loves Taylor Swift. He wears his headphones and sings at the top of his lungs. You can’t stutter while you sing, so it’s pretty good speech practice if your ears can take it. He’s pretty amazing. continuing to work on independent skills. We are currently focusing on zippers and fasteners, not just when they are in front of him, but when he is wearing them. Also, pouring milk from the milk jug into his cup. And, bed time routine independently. He’s doing pretty well with that one, but getting the soap out of the pump in the shower can be tricky. He’s walking longer distances and can do a wall sit and squat better than anyone I know at the gym. He’s typing pretty well and can write out some really good ideas. He started doing some job training work at The Point. It’s early, but he can totally do the sorting activities they ask him to do when he wants to. Finding that motivation has always been the key with Gabe. He’s getting there though.
Here’s a writing excerpt Gabe wrote about bowling this past spring. This is 17.
