January 8

We have now been back in the swing of things at home for about a week, at the level I was doing before the Christmas break. That means some days we get none and some days I get 30-60 min depending on Amy's nap and Carl's work schedule. This week I think I've had about 4 official sessions and then some additional time with Amy around too. I feel like I'm getting back in a groove I didn't quite realize I had lost. This groove involves extra love and enthusiasm for Sarah's accomplishments and more requesting of her in the speaking department.

We visited my family for Christmas and my mom noticed a definite improvement in Sarah's presence and connection and eye contact compared to when she saw Sarah in October. When I did a short SR session in Philly my mom also noticed an improvement directly after the session. By the time our travels were done I wasn't sure I was seeing anything new but I wasn't doing any sessions with her.

When watching her favorite movie of late (Mickey's Christmas Carol) she makes eye contact frequently to share what she sees or what she is repeating: zzz-duck (scrooge mcDuck), up-st duck (up stairs duck/ scrooge is going upstairs), oooooo (when Marley/Goofey makes an oooo sound). She giggles a lot with the ghost of Christmas Past and with the Ghost of Christmas Future and Scrooge falling into the grave. Physical humor gets her every time. She also claps when there is the dance party at Fezziwigs and sometimes says "s-c paee" (music party).

When Amy was very upset yesterday Sarah came over and gave her many kisses. Sarah has always been loving and affectionate so I don't know if this is because of SR or not but was adorable in any case.

In the SR playroom she has had very good attention and eye contact the past few sessions, which was notably missing during our first few sessions back after vacation (though this may have been due to putting some new toys in there that were too absorbing).

This week is the start of when I have volunteers coming to watch Amy and/or do SR time with Sarah. I am super excited!!!!!!! To reenergize myself when I start to doubt I have been watching testimonials from parents who have used the Son-Rise technique and it is really amazing how much it has helped so many kids go from being severely autistic to being social, verbal, "normal" people. Again, we don't know where Sarah will go and she isn't severely autistic at all but I know I lose my temper much less when we are doing Sarah-Rise/Son-Rise.

I hope you are all enjoying this brand new year.