. . . and the tears flowed

The past month has been nothing short of amazing.   We have been concentrating on toilet training.  Willingly letting other things, like therapy and academics, slide while we work on this ONE major project.  At home, at school, and at therapy, the day has revolved around the bathroom.  And?  It's working!  After six years of trying everything under the sun and being met with a brick wall, James is getting it and the time we spend in the bathroom is less.  He is finally understanding that the quicker he goes, the faster he can get back to whatever he was doing. Occasionally he still has "accidents," although they are intentional now.  He doesn't want to stop playing and go inside to the bathroom or stop watching the movie that just started. James has even been staying dry on the two hour ride to and from the Jersey shore. And his grandparents' 50th anniversary, fancy-restaurant party? Dry dry dry!!!!

So to my amazement, James goes and shows me a little something he has been working on while I thought he couldn't handle anything but the bathroom.  James' grandparents bought him an iPad and communication application.  So far, we are only using it at home and at therapy, outside school.   At home and in Occupational Therapy, we are only using it for identification.   His speech therapist, on the other hand, has gone further, using it so he can respond to questions about the books they read.  James has even succeeded using images that don't exactly match the ones in the book, just pulled from the existing database in the application.  Yesterday, the therapist added two puzzle activities but didn't have time to load the images along with the words.  Buoyed by the success with the book, she tried it anyway.  She held up a puzzle piece and asked: "What animal is this?"  James pressed the correct animal. Again and again.  Floored, she asked, "James? Can you read?" "Yeah," he said and nodded.  She showed the occupational therapist, she showed me.  James didn't waver.
MY SON CAN READ WORDS.