It was a year ago this month when my son Nicholas licked ice cream off a spoon. It was the first time he’d eaten anything by mouht in two years. And he actually liked it and wanted more. He has always struggled with anything near his mouth. For a few months following that he showed real interest in touching, licking, and even nibbling different foods. After a while though, he stopped. This always happened. It’s a constant battle and something he has gone back and forth with.

At that point I decided to give him a break from feeding therapy for a few reasons. He wasn’t excited about feeding therapy, therefore he wasn’t developing new skills. Also, communication needed to be a priority.

I didn’t want him to disfavor his therapist or therapy in general, plus I feel like it was confusing for him to work on different skills (communication and feeding) with the same person. And I think he was getting enough nutrition from his formula, so it was OK to hold off on feeding therapy for a bit.

We were getting to a point where communication needed to be our focus. Nicholas was starting to get really frustrated with us because we did’t know what he wanted. He would have meltdowns and self-injure until we figured out what he wanted. We needed to concentrate on how he was going to communicate with us.

We decided to take a break from speech and feeding therapy altogether for a few months. Now, I realize it was probably the worst time to stop because communication is what he needed to work on the most. However, things were becoming too much. Nicholas had so much going on and I wanted him to take a little breather, then start fresh. It gave me time to work with him just one-on-one, which really helped. I think he really liked taking the time off.

The biggest thing I worked on with him was using signs for a definitive ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When we try to teach Nicholas new signs, he just uses that same sign for everything: ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘more,’ ‘all done,’ etc. What I’m trying to implement is help him understand he needs signs for different wants and needs. Right now, we are starting with just a few. Anything more than that is going to be too much and confusing.

He’s doing awesome with signing and has been using it at school. His teachers are working on picture cards which help him choose between something he likes and something he doesn’t like. This could help with a speech device later down the road. His teachers say he is doing well with the picture cards.

When Nicholas was diagnosed with autism 1.5 years ago, one piece of advice they gave us was to just work on one thing at a time. I’ve never really understood that because there’s so many things we need to work on. I’ve learned that Nicholas gets overwhelmed with everything we try to help him with and teach him. It’s been really good just focusing on one thing. I’ve also learned that when he’s ready to do something he will do it.

Something we have found that helps, when all the little things to work on do add up, is to work on them for five minutes a day. It’s amazing what just a few minutes of practice will do. We practice standing independently after diaper changes. We vocalize back and forth everyday. We name our body parts numerous times throughout the day. Every little bit helps.

Welcome to Voices of Special Needs Blog Hop — a monthly gathering of posts from special needs bloggers hosted by The Sensory Spectrum and Mommy Evolution. Click on the links below to read stories from other bloggers about having a special needs kiddo — from Sensory Processing Disorder to ADHD, from Autism to Dyslexia! Want to join in on next month’s Voices of Special Needs Hop? Click here!