Well, Its been a couple of days, and I suppose I should catch you guys up on whats been happening. Monday was the first day that I watched Yannik alone. In the morning I got him ready for school, fortunately Leigh was there in the morning so any speed bumps I had I could call in the calvary for. Well I suppose before I go into details I should roughly give my run down of Yannik and I's relationship thus far.

It is hard to describe Yannik in words. Autism is such a spectrum disorder, that it is hard to know what you are dealing with until you meet a person. Yannik is a sweet kid, and a good person to start with (as far as special needs children go). Yannik is severly autistic, and things that we take for granted everyday, I"m slowly realizing is far from his reach and probably always will be. Yannik has minimal verbal skills, and by that I mean he can't put two words together, but occasionally he will say something (always a single word) and repeat it multiple times. So he can say things like yes, or no, or go away, or toast. However this sort of thing is about the limit (at the moment) of his ability. Autism is however very visually oriented, so he has learned (i guess adaptive is a good word for it) adaptive sign language. Basically a simplified form of signing, and he knows basic commands in sign such as again yes, no, beach, swim, toilet, etc. As such that means I also must know these signs and also be able to recognize his (which are always slightly different forms of the original sign). While Yannik is a very low functioning individual, it has been my joy over the past week to see some of the things he can do. It always takes me by suprise when all of a sudden I realize he knows how to put his own shoes on, or he knows how to chop vegetables. A good example of it is the fact that Yannik as soon as he was put on a bike, could ride it. He has great balance, and nows how to control the bike. That being said, it took him years to understand the brakes. He used to just jump off the bike when he started going to fast. And the gears he doesn't understand. We have to say, "Use your thumb", or "Use your finger".

So, upon my arrival, Yannik refused to make eye contact with me. I would catch him staring at me through his periphals, but when I looked at him he would turn away. He know something was different, and that I wasn't just a guest. But he didn't know what it was. Over the next couple of days he slowly started to acknowledge my presence. At one point he walked over and looked right at me, and met my gaze (which was major progress). On friday I believe it was Leigh asked him, "Where Wes was?" and he offhandly pointed in my direction. This was the first time he had truly acknowledged my presence. It should be said that Yannik has two stereotypic behavior's they are called. He will look down at his chest and beat it like a drum quite commonly, and the other one is that he bites his hand. When he is upset or uncomfortable, or maybe he just wants attention (who really knows) Yannik will bite his hand. You can see on his hand how just beneath his thumb is covered in scaring from where he has bitten till bleeding. So as a newcomer to the household, and me at time getting in his space, (for example trying to put a belt on him for school) I have become the reciever of many a hand bitting. Leigh and Christoph say not to take it personally, and I don't, but is rather hard to see it repeated a lot. I am fortunate, in that he seems to be extremely more accepting of me than he has been of other Manny's (as James would say). Or so I am told. Its also nice, that I am able to see him do it to his parents and others so that I know its not just me he does it towards. So all in all, this action hasn't been bad, and we can tell him to stop or bite in his room, and he commonly listens.

But I digress. So Monday, I got him ready for school, and got a couple of bites from him, but in general it was not to bad. That afternoon I was alone with him for about an hour and a half. Since it was my first day, we kept it simple and he watched DVD's and played on his computer, and I made him some toast. It was fairly simple. That night Leigh returned from a seminar on caring for low functioning teens, and said it was extremely relevent to us, especially with me just beginning. We decided should be there in the morning to help him get ready so at first he only associates me with fun activities. So Tuesday she got him ready for school, and I watched him when he returned. That afternoon we listened to music, (which he loves to blast at full volume, like any normal teenager) and we did some "dancing" if you will together. He looked at his books, and played some computer as well. At one point however he did take me by the hand and pull me to his room which was really neat. It was the first physical interaction we had had. That afternoon Sharon his behavioral physcologist came over and she went over some things.

I seem to be rambling on and on. All in all, the past couple of days have been rather normal. Not to much excitement at the moment. I went into downtown at night for the first time last night. I went to a sushi bar, and it was all on a little conveyor belt, which was NARLY. Also New Zealand's dont believe in tipping, except in extremely good service, so that makes meals cheaper.

Tonight I will be going back into town to meet some people at a bar for drinks. Should be interesting. Wish me luck!