We can get Sal to sit down if he wants something. Like his toothbrush. He understands he needs to sit before he can get his toothbrush and if he starts to stand, he’ll have to give it up.

But that’s something that is linked with a “reward”. So it seems easier for him to be able to link the cause-effect together.

How does that map onto things that don’t have a reward? How do we train around that?  Yesterday for instance, he wanted to turn on the television. We told him no television. And he looked back at us. And he slowly tilted his head in the direction of the television. Then he signed please. Then he stood straight up, looked us in the eyes, and nodded, very slowly and deliberately, “yes”.

I had to turn away cause I was laughing. It was pretty cute. Moms pointed out that he was not merely repeating our words back to us in signs - as we said no (shaking head) and he was saying yes (nodding head).  So in some ways, he is pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about.

In other ways, he often knows what he doesn’t want to hear either.