My Three Children And Autism Spectrum

My cup overflows today. I am so grateful for all Little Giant Steps has done for my family. My oldest son has had 3 perfect behavior days at school in a row this week. When we started Little Giant Steps we wouldn't have been able to get 20 minutes of good behavior from him. Now, he sits in our adult Sunday school class and takes notes.

What shines through now is how smart and gifted he is, instead of others just getting hung up on his behavior. We have been working for over a year on his low arches with the activities Jan suggested. He was walking barefooted this morning across the grass and when I sent him back to the house for his shoes he left his wet footprints on the sidewalk. I was looking at a good profile of what a footprint is suppose to look like instead of the imprint of a whole foot being on the ground. It was very encouraging to see this progress. Also these past four months has seen the transition from me having to be in the room with him to make sure he carries out my instructions; to me being able to call him to me, give him 2-3 instructions and him carry them out independently. Just this week he has started to do some of his routine jobs without being told to do so. Wow!! God is just so good.

I was thinking about my other son today as well. He could not relate to anyone outside of the family before we began working the Little Giant Steps program with him. When we went over to our friends houses, he would sit and play by himself (line up all their toys). I have been doing program activities with him for over a year now. He is interacting with friends, not always in the right ways, but I am just happy to see him have friends. He has started noticing and talking to people when we are running errands. He has been joining in when we play family games. In December, for the first time, he played a game all the way to the end with us! I can remember thinking that he would never get to this point.

I have been doing some of the activities with my daughter from Developmental Foundations. She has just made a leap forward! An OT that had worked with her 4-5 months ago saw her last week. She was amazed at how much progress she has made with her motor skills. My daughter will not have to deal with some of the academic delays that my boys have had and I know it is because of the Little Giant Step activities that we have done with her.

We had no family life before starting Little Giant Steps. Life was so overwhelming for the boys; it took all our energy as parents to just survive each day. The greatest gift for us has been being able to laugh and play and enjoy one another as a family. Indeed, God has blessed us beyond measure and I am so thankful that He led us to Little Giant Steps. M.L., Dallas, Texas

 What can I do to help my child remember things?

        For short term memory, auditory processing activities can make a huge difference.  First, you owe it to yourself and your child to check his auditory processing by using our free Auditory Processing Test Kit. Just order it online and you'll get it in your email.  Then, take about 2 min. and test your child.  If your child is six and they can only remember four digits, then they are functioning two years below where they should be. What can you do to bring up their auditory processing abilities?

1.   This booklet will help you to understand more about Auditory Processing. It also contains many helpful activities for different ages that you can incorporate into your daily routine, which, if done for four months, twice daily will yield a huge increase in their processing ability.

2. Also, playing the "listening" game using the digit span cards we've created (however you can make these yourself), but most just order them because they contain instructions of their use, and just make it easier for the parents at a very low cost.                                                                                                                             

 3. Lastly, just having your child listen to audio books, stories, studies, etc.  will help short term memory develop.We have a wonderful CD called "Info To Know" made just for children. This CD will provide short, intense listening times for great memory of important information.

Check out our website under the category: Auditory . You will discover many resources available that can literally change your child's learning experience for the better.  Remember, this intervention lasts a lifetime!  Your child's true potential can be realized if you will act now.