A Very Special Playdate!

We had an amazing opportunity this week to have a playdate with another child with SM who also goes to the Smart Center.  It was such a neat experience to see how the two of them interacted with each other.  It was also soooo wonderful to talk with another mom who understood what we were going through and understood how playdates work best with an SM child.  I had talked to Thomas about them visiting ahead of time and he knew that she also went to Dr. E and had trouble using her words sometimes.  A strategy we have learned is that having a planned activity can help with their anxiety and it also gives good opportunities for hand over/take over and choice questions, so we had them make cupcakes together.  The little girl also brought over some of her trains, so they had something to discuss.  Thomas wanted to come to the door to greet them when they arrived, which he never wants to do .  Both of them did great with choice questions and I was really impressed with how willing Thomas was to talk about many different things.  When they left he waved and said bye and said “Thanks for coming.”  He said he wanted to have another playdate with her.   What a wonderful experience for all of us.