No one ever said it was going to be easy...

Cameron had his scheduled monthly visit with his speech therapist yesterday.  The last time she was here we worked with Cameron during his snack time.  The goal was to have him ask for the snack using a word or gesture before he was allowed to eat it.  He would get one piece of the food (Goldfish crackers at the time) each time he asked for it.  If he didn't ask for it, he didn't get it.  He did it sometimes, but by the end of it he was just mad that there was food within his reach that he was not being allowed to eat.  I was given the task of continuing to work on this with him throughout the rest of the month.

At some point in the month, Cameron started saying "cracker."  He would come up to me, say "cracker," and we would go to the pantry together and get a cracker.  I was ecstatic because not only was he using a word to communicate a want to me, but we were able to do it without him sitting in the high chair and screaming because he was hungry and I wasn't giving him what he wanted.  The therapist quickly burst my happy bubble when she told me that she still wanted to see him sitting in the high chair at a time designated for snack at some point throughout the day.  And here I thought we were getting somewhere.

She went on to tell me that she thought Cameron has too many things at his disposal throughout the day and that he is not using his words because no one is really requiring him to do so.  Her remedy for this?  Remove ALL the toys from our living room.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Not only does she want me to remove the toys, she wants me to get 2 clear plastic bins.  Throughout the day when Cameron wants a toy, one toy will go in each bin.  The bins will sit out of his reach and he will have to make a choice as to which toy he wants by either saying a word or pointing to the toy.  He will get the toy, play with it, then put it back in the bin when he is done.  Then we do it with two more toys.

In addition to this, she feels it would be best to put Cameron on a schedule.  She is making laminated cards that will have different tasks on them that will stick onto the schedule.  When he/we complete(s) a task, we take the card off the schedule.  This would include things like getting dressed, eating meals, going "bye bye," playing, bath time, and bed time.  The purpose, as I understand it, is that a schedule will require him to communicate more.  He will be offered choices throughout his scheduled day like, "Do you want to wear the blue shirt or the red shirt?" "Do you want to read this book or that book?"  The schedule is just a way of presenting him with different options and requiring him to choose between them.

While I absolutely see where she's coming from, I have to admit that this is stressing me out a little.  I have been playing it out in my head, trying to think of where in the world I can store all of these toys in our house so that they are still easily accessible to me, but not to Cameron.  I am trying to figure out where the plastic bins will sit so that they are out of his reach but still able to be seen clearly by him.  I am picturing early mornings when I am trying to get myself and 2 children out the door by 8am so that we can pick up another child and head off to pre-school.  The last thing I want to do on those mornings is wait for a not-yet-2-year-old to tell me which freaking shirt he'd like to wear.  At 7:30 in the morning, I don't care what shirt he wants to wear.  I just want him to get the shirt on!

Not to mention the fact that this is going to be a total shock to Cameron.  How do you explain to a not-quite-2-year-old that he now has to ask for his toys and will now be required to follow a schedule?  The answer:  you don't.  You basically have to suffer through it for a few weeks teaching him that things are now different and he is going to have to accept it and eventually adapt.  So goes the life of a parent, I suppose.

I want to do what is best for Cameron but I'm still trying to work all this out in my head and decide if this really is what's best for him.  I worry that putting him on a schedule will eventually make him dependent on a schedule.  Yes, he is on somewhat of a schedule now as far as when he eats and sleeps and even with that, if you deviate too far from it, he doesn't accept it very well.  I don't want to feed into that and make him even less adaptable.

Well, I've done what my husband hates most and given you a post full of my babble and lacking in what you all really come here to see.  And I've done it two posts in a row!  I guess he'll just have to start his own blog! ;)  Seriously though, I just like to post a Cam update every now and again so that I can look back years from now and remember everything we've gone through.  So if you've made it this far, thanks for sticking around.  You'll soon be rewarded with some cute photos!