Last Wednesday he seemed a bit off in occupational therapy. The therapist asked if something was hurting. He shook his head "no". Then she asked if he was sad. He nodded his head "yes". She asked if he was sad because something hurt, no. I asked if he missed his regular caretaker, no. I asked if he missed certain friends, yes. He didn't nod to all friends, only a few special ones.
One of his friends is getting married. I asked him if he thought he would get married, he shook his head no. I asked if he thought Daniel should get married. He nodded yes. Now I tell him that he has to work hard to get better so that he can get married too.
The therapists are giving him more choices for activities. Forcing him to think about what he likes and doesn't like is important. For example, sometimes he chooses to "play" the card game "Taki" and sometimes he chooses the iPad. To "play" Taki, he has to sort either by number or by color. He is getting to the point where we can put out colors and numbers and he has to choose how to sort his card: either by color or number.
Swallowing is still an issue. He still has to work on opening his mouth. The music therapist has given some exercises to practice opening his mouth to music, which have really helped.