Dear Dr. Solomon,
My husband and I have two daughters, Zoey, 4 and a half and Autumn Sky, 2 years old.
Zoey is autistic. After a healthy pregnancy, she was born on her due date. From the beginning she had trouble transitioning to her new life. Her first year (and beyond) quickly filled with appointments of all kinds: blood draws, ENT doctor appointments with two rounds of ear tube surgery, and regular visits to an ophthalmologist resulting in eye patching one eye everyday for two hours from the age of just nine months. In the back of my mind I began to wonder, “could a part of this also be autism?” At fifteen months old our local Early On started making weekly house visits and advised us to see a doctor at our local children’s hospital. Without hesitation, that doctor diagnosed our daughter on the spectrum two months after her second birthday, and she mentioned The P.L.A.Y. Project as something we may consider looking into.
Just two days later I saw a PBS documentary called ‘Autistic-Like: Grahams Story,’ which highlighted floortime. The next day I called my mom to fill her in and within a day she ordered The P.L.A.Y. Project DVD online. P.L.A.Y. was now in our home
s. Soon after, my mom was excited to see The P.L.A.Y. Project offering a free seminar at a church in Indiana. After going and LOVING it, she submitted video footage to The P.L.A.Y. Project and won a free admission to another P.L.A.Y. seminar at the University of Michigan in the summer of 2012. She encouraged me to go, which I did, and I have since been to two more P.L.A.Y. Project conferences in Ann Arbor.
Nothing has given this 34 year old mom of two more motivation, hope, and encouragement. I always return from your sessions with a full body of truth on how to approach and interact with my daughter. It also works very well relating to my younger non autistic child, as well as to other family and friends. Quite honestly, other parents often say, “wow, you play GREAT with my kids!”
Recently our local Elks Club approved our family for a grant to use towards a therapy of our choice. Of course P.L.A.Y. was my top pick. We are three home visits in and love seeing the video footage as well as reading the critiques and reviews. In my heart, I feel P.L.A.Y. is the #1 therapy available and it can easily be seen in the way that my daughter responds. It certainly does take time and effort (especially since she is deep in the “sweat equity” stage) but it works! There is absolutely nothing in the universe better then seeing your child smile, laugh, and reach for you to open and close circles of communication. Absolutely nothing.
Without a doubt we are having FUN and that is the best part!
Again, thank you.