Had a mini success yesterday that I wanted to share with you, I say ‘mini success’ but in the scheme of things it’s pretty huge.
For a year and a half I’ve been working with a boy called Robbie who is autistic.
When I first met Robbie he spoke and engaged with others very little. It felt as though any interaction was an inconvenience to him that we wanted to be over ASAP.
He was a quick learner and picked up receptive skills at a surprisingly fast pace. But when it came to any social or communicative skills Robbie struggled and quite often ignored the instruction altogether.
Slowly but surely we built a strong bond and although it took time I was grateful that he decided to trust and engage with me.
Although, there was still an issue with Robbie rushing tasks so he could get back to what he was doing. And because he rushed, he was quite often doing things wrong. Like counting for example or reading.
Well, yesterday Robbie and I were working on one of his school targets. The target was to be able to write a short sentence…
I allowed Robbie to draw a picture first of all. Giving him total free rein to draw whatever he wanted (which he loved)…
When he’d finished I asked him to tell me about his picture. Robbie told me ” The car is red.”
I praised him for his great explaining about the picture then asked him to write the sentence “Car is red”…
I gently prompted him by giving him a pencil, then I sat back.
Then letter by letter Robbie sounded out the words in sentence, spelling and writing the first two words correctly…
Then when he got to “red” Robbie sounded out “r e t” and wrote the letters “ret”…
Pleased with his efforts I was about to praise him and take away the paper when Robbie shouted ‘D’ and firmly changed the “t” in red to a “d”…
Satisfied with him work he said “red” and then handed me his picture.
Now, correctly spelling and writing CVC words is a great achievement don’t get me wrong…
But what I was most pleased with was the fact that Robbie was now showing that he wanted his work to be correct. And that if he noticed a mistake he would self correct.
Which is such an important and fantastic skill for a boy like Robbie.
But, this was no overnight success.
I will say that again, this was no overnight success.
Like I said before it has taken a year and a half to get to this stage.
So I hope Robbie’s story has inspired you to keep persevering with those tough skills with your child.
If you are a parent or carer who is willing to persevere and put in the hard work with your child then my new paperback book might be just what you need to help you along the way…
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Speak with you soon, until then
Live every moment, Love beyond words and make a difference today…
Emma Ottaway
The Ambitious Autism Ambassador
P.S. Pre-order ‘A Guide To Unlimited Autism Success’ today and if at the end of it you don’t think the proven tips and strategies inside will help your child progress quicker than you previously imagined. Simply drop me an email and I’ll refund all your money… and you don’t even have to send it back to me.
