What's working?

So what's working and what's not? That is a really tough question- because I have no idea. Is it speech therapy? Is it ABA therapy? Is it diet ? Is it his age? Is it nothing? Is it all of the above combined? Everyone has an opinion as too what single thing is causing the change in Robbie- good and bad. I don't know what is causing it- Or if it is only one thing and not a combination of many.

What I do know is Robbie's vocabulary has tripled- at least- in the last 8 weeks. His eye contact has improved -for the most part- and -sometimes- he seems to be able to communicate when eye contact is hard. Today we made huge progress with "I" versus "We" versus "you". For the first time- Robbie said " I did it" - instead of "we did it". while it needed to be prompted 85% of the time- we have been working on "I want etc" for 6 weeks and he has never said it. Once again- it must seem like such a small step- especially as I watch Lexi- our 1 year old- master so many words already. But for us- the association of "we" vs "I" is HUGE!! Many days I am very hopeful- but today as I hear my son repeating word after word and following direction as he never has- I feel unbelievably lucky. I have been hearing " Give me a smooch" from Robbie for at least 2 weeks- probably 10+ times a day. How awesome is that?!! Who doesn't want a "smooch" from their child. Some days are becoming filled with more good behavior than bad. However other behaviors are becoming more apparent. Obsessive- compulsive or stiming behaviors?- We're not entirely sure. Sometimes they seem like seizures- which are really scary. We are learning every day how stress especially- seems to affect Robbie and hopefully how to alleviate that stress. Helping Robbie is the goal :)