Exceeding Expectations

Consistency and patience pay off.

- Bea Moise

I have always accepted any deficits Jacob has, and I celebrate anything that he can do. I have a rule, however, that I will at least introduce new things to see how he will respond. If he doesn’t do it, at least we tried. So when he was 3 years old, I decided to introduce Jacob to getting himself dressed.

It initially was hard and very frustrating because he didn’t do anything. He would just stand there. I would say, “OK, this is the shirt. These are your pants. Put on your shirt and then put on your pants.” Each night I would put his clothes on his dresser so he could get dressed the next morning on his own. The next morning, I would go into his room, and the clothes would be where I left them, and I would help him dress.