ABC's and 123's

Day 2 of step one went well. Lastnight after supper, S wanted to play his DS (remember that it was taken away yesterday morning for inappropriate behavior). When he wanted to play it lastnight we said, "if you say DS, we will give it to you." And so it began again... but this time, there was only whining! Hmmm... progress? I think so! We were consistent with our offer and didn't give in.

On our refrigerator, we have a Leap Frog "word whammer" and all of the letters of the Alphabet. S loves this and can spell his name without any help. All along this journey of "no talking" he has consistently said "E" and "A" while brushing his teeth at night. We thought that we might try getting him to sound out other letters of the alphabet. He hasn't given in to this until lastnight. When were trying to get him to say "DS" in order to get his game back, I then went over to the refrigerator, put the letters D and S together and said, "S, can you tell me what these letters sound like?" He shook his head. I tried again... "S, what does and 's' sound like?" Gosh darn it, he said "sssss"! Wooo Hooo! Okay, one down... one to go. What does a D sound like? Eh, uh! No way... again... "what does a D sound like?" What did he do? He did it!! Oh my god, I think I'm going to pass out! Way to go S! He got his DS back and was thrilled!

Now mind you, although this is a great accomplishment... I don't want him getting used to just sounding out letters to get what he wants. But it's a start. Next time, he'll have to say DS in the proper manner.

This morning, he wanted two "yogurt drinks." He had already had one, so in order to get the other, he had to say "please." He wouldn't and therefore didn't get it. But... he didn't complain, he just walked away.

The mind is a strange and wonderful thing... the psychology of all of this is really intriguing me (among many other not so intriguing emotions). It's also amazing though, just how much will-power one little person can have. I can't wait to see what we can accomplish today!! I'm so looking forward to a break-through! Slow but steady...