Teanna worked with him on jumping from a high point to the floor. She set up a big thick mat and had him jumping onto a bean bag. He was scared at first, but after doing it a few times he liked it. Emmett has a hard time jumping with both feet off the floor at the same time. He normally does hops instead of a true jump. They also worked on finger painting and trying to keep the paint on his fingertips as long as he can stand. He normally wants to wash his hand after each dip into the paint, which can be exhausting in itself. He was doing pretty well this time.
At home, we are working more on dipping foods, like dipping a cracker into yogurt and eating it. This mixes textures and tastes. The goal is to move up to ranch dip or ketchup so he can try dipping veggies or meats. We are also mixing raisins in his yogurt to mix textures.
We are working on Emmett staying by the table during meal time. His food can only be on the table, but he walks around the table or runs into the living room between bites. Teanna feels he is doing this because meal time is stressful for him so he feels like he needs to walk away for a bit. He is also a mover in general. Teanna wants us to try making a 'perimeter' around his seat with masking tape and telling him that if he feels he needs to get out of his chair, that's fine as long as he stays within the space we made for him. We can slowly make this 'space' smaller and smaller until he is staying in his chair. This idea seems silly, but I'm willing to try it if it helps. Plus, we can take masking tape anywhere to family dinners. :)
I had Emmett's first parent/teacher conference this week. It lasted two hours and was pretty draining. We went over the progress report, tests, and the IEP goals. We didn't make any new goals because Emmett is still working on the goals that were put in place at the start of the school year. The progress report and test scores were hard to look at because there isn't much development yet. He doesn't understand concepts like rhyming, alliteration, or the direction words move while reading. He doesn't understand most open-ended questions and will repeat the question back to his teacher instead of trying to answer it. Emmett has not made any friends yet. I think this was the hardest part to talk about. I was hoping after being in school for two months he would try to socialize. Not the case. He likes hanging around his teachers, but avoids the kids. He will play by himself unless an adult pushes him to try and play with someone. This makes me so sad. I believe his classmates are trying to socialize with him, but he is not reciprocating. However, he has been touching kids' backs, hair, or face, which is a way he's communicating, but it's not appropriate in the classroom.
There are things his teachers are impressed with. I should have stated these things first! He knows all upper-case letters and most lower-case ones. He can count to 20 and knows what each number looks like written down. He knows 3 out of 5 shapes. The other thing his teachers are impressed with is how observant he is. He knows every child's name in his class and where they sit in morning circle. He knows right away who is absent before his teacher takes attendance. I think this is really neat. I just wish he could take his knowledge and concern for each child and use that to socialize. Hopefully, he will soon. I can't wait for the day when Emmett asks me if so-and-so can come over to play.
