I have updated my post with this year’s chalkboard.
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He is growing like a weed! Just look at his long legs!
What a fun way to do a first day of school picture from year to year!
I love that he is able to communicate enough to annoy you…ha ha ha…you did a fabulous job capturing the start of another adventurous school year for him and for you!
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Yes, he looks so big now, with his cool new hairstyle. And yes, how amazing that last year he was learning to use his communication device and now he seems to have mastered it!
I grew up with a sibling with Tourette’s and echolalia and I very clearly remember the summer of Omelette du Fromage when that was almost the only thing they said all summer long (thank you, Dexter).
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He’s definitely mastered this, lol. “Store store store store store store store store…” - another favorite of his that can get on my nerves over time. Especially if he gets upset when I tell him we aren’t going there, then proceeds to continue to let his wishes be known by pushing “store store store store store store store store…” 
@Immaculata, he has been making a ton of progress with his device! He’s so smart and I’m constantly impressed by his ability to remember where certain words and phrases are as well as how to get to them - sometimes he has to go through multiple folders to get to a word. I’m also impressed by his ability to use his device to communicate his wants in a bit of a more roundabout way. For example, he has a folder with ‘fun stuff’ that I add content to. I like to try and think about what things he would say if he could talk, so one of the folders I added is titled ‘Robot’ and it has a few robot related phrases. The other day, he was in the robot folder pushing the robot words, while also trying to get our attention, which indicated that he was pushing the buttons with a purpose. At first, we couldn’t figure it out, but then my husband realized that he wanted his robot toy and was using the robot words to try and tell us that. Since learning to communicate with the device, he has transferred that same concept to his toys and will repeatedly push words on his toys to make requests.
Has the echolalia lessened as your sibling has grown or is it something that’s always there?
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That’s some huge progress!! So he doesn’t just understand what you teach him (such as “store”) but he’s actually teaching you guys things now. He’s attached the robot word to the robot toy and he just needs you guys to understand that that robot words mean he wants to play with it.
My sibling has always been able to talk, but they used to have so many different verbal tics and echolalia that it used to be hard to communicate with them.There was so much verbal “clutter” that it was hard to follow what they were actually trying to say (I’m not sure how to say that correctly in English). There was so much repeating of your words, verbal tics, repeating of stuff they’d heard on TV, made-up words that actually meant something, but no one else understood. Things significantly improved during and after puberty, and they’re still improving! Sibling is nearly 30 now, and an accomplished artist, no echolalia anymore and tics are mostly non-verbal.
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He always looks so happy, and your writing is perfect!
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That is a gorgeous chalkboard and cute little fella too!
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Thank you, everyone!
@Immaculata, I feel like he’s done a pretty good job of training me, lol. I think your term of verbal clutter does a good job of describing the communication issues. That’s great to hear that your sibling has made so much progress over the years!
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