Yesterday was a beautiful day here in NY.  My mother and I decided to go sit outside to enjoy the sun.  Alex, overhearing us, jumped off the couch saying that he wanted “outside” too.  That was astounding enough.  Generally speaking, he’s only too happy to lie on the couch lethargically!

Out we went.   Half joking, I asked him if he wanted a basketball.  Alex, you see, does not play with anything appropriately.  He loves balls, but only to essentially stim with them – flipping them in his hand, bouncing them by himself…

Yes, he wanted a basketball so I handed it to him.  He took it, walked over to the Liam’s basketball net, and started to shoot hoops. 

For 45 minutes, my son – who has never even had the coordination to throw a ball up in the air at the net, nor who ever had any interest in doing so – dribbled, took shots, took rebounds from Liam who was so excited that he just had to join Alex. 

He also got in about 50% of his throws!

Me and my parents, and Liam, stood there screaming every time he landed a shot.  It was unbelievable.

Between the writing last week, this yesterday, and the new sounds he’s managing (he’s finally gotten a Y a couple of times, and even a TH), I have to believe something is happening to reduce his dyspraxia. 

Stay tuned.

As I know I have reported before, 9 months ago Alex had never written in any kind of meaninful way.  If you handed him a crayon, the most he’d do is scribble back and forth.  Two years ago, we spent an entire year just trying him to write Xs and Os, but finally gave up because he made no progress.

This week he wrote, independently, 9-8=1.  It was not even copied from a model.  It’s not the neatest thing in the world, but it’s certainly legible.  He also wrote 9-7=2, perfectly legibly.

I’ve shown it to multiple people and more than one has suggested framing it.  I think that’s a reasonable idea.