We are almost half way through the casting section of Byron’s program. He seems to have hit a critical juncture where some functional use of the hand is really beginning to emerge. Tonight in a restaurant (with no video camera available), Byron held a piece of Papadam (an Indian crunchy bread) in his left hand, then brought it to his mouth and bit it– yeah! He did this several times. In order to release the bread he had to sort of do a tossing motion instead of dropping it, but it was just fantastic to watch. He has SO much more awareness of his left hand and arm.
They gave us another list of things to work on this weekend; using his left hand to open and close doors and drawers, finger pointing, grasping and releasing balls etc.
My highest wish for this experience was that Byron would realize that his left hand is there and works, and to learn to use it as an assist for most functions. I think we are solidly on the way there.
His speech is improving too. He will try to repeat and sound out most words that I ask him to, instead of giving me a blank stare or ignoring me the way he often did. His knowledge of colors is improving, he solidly knows blue, green, purple, brown and red; yellow and pink sometimes. He can repeat the numbers 1 to 10 both forward and backward as long as he is saying it along with you (and if you drop one out he will 9 times out of ten insert the right one.) He can also sing the alphabet along with the song. There is some evidence that by awakening the “wiring” to the hand and arm, it improves other parts of the brain as well. Very exciting stuff!
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