Jennifer Briggs

This week we got 37 hours. Sarah made up a new word, unintentionally, as she tried to say “envelope.” Her new word is “empty-lope,” referring to an empty envelope. She is pointing out when things match, sometimes correctly and sometimes not. When we eat she says we have matching forks. She also says “matching pants”… Read more »

This week we got 22 hours of Sarah-Rise time (sort of low by my current standards) but we also had an outreach with Becky Blake where she stayed in our house for a few days and worked with Sarah and taught us new things to do to help Sarah. Then we went camping for a… Read more »

This week we clocked 30 hours and 40 minutes of Sarah-Rise. Sarah had many moments where my jaw dropped at her learning, creativity, and spunk… – driving the little toy car that she can sit in and telling me she is driving to the yogurt maker (she is temporarily off yogurt again) – she has… Read more »

This update is for the past two weeks. Two weeks ago we got 30 hours of Sarah-Rise time and this past week we got roughly none. Some interactions certainly had that energy but we were vacationing in Cape Cod with college friends so we didn’t do any official time. Sarah’s imaginative play is wonderful. Before… Read more »

This week may have been our biggest yet, or at least close to it. 44 hours. This was thanks to many things going as planned, my newest volunteers all now doing 2 hour sessions (training starts with shorter sessions), and my mom J. (Mom-Mom) visiting to help since Carl was away. Mom-Mom not only does… Read more »

This past week we got 30 hours. As I write, Sarah is listening to her latest favorite song “video games” by Lana Del Rey, whose name she pronounces perfectly. Last night we had ratatouille and Sarah pronounced that clearly (with some pauses) too, after a few attempts that weren’t quite clear such as “rabbit-too-ee.” This… Read more »

This past week we clocked 34 hours. It is interesting how sometimes this total number feels small to me but when I go into the Sarah-Rise room and set the timer for 2 hours I think “wow, that’s kind of a long time to focus exclusively on one person.”  I am continually deeply amazed at… Read more »

This past week we had 25 1/2 hours of official Sarah-Rise time and lots of lovely moments. One afternoon Sarah and Amy were playing together, sort of hugging and wrestling at the same time. Sarah spontaneously gave Amy a zerbert (aka a raspberry) on her cheek. During a SR session with me she promptly reciprocated… Read more »

This update is for the past two weeks. We got 23 hours 2 weeks ago and then this last week was 15 hours and 40 minutes. Pretty amazing that Carl and I can leave the country for a week and the program still continues. Everyone is alive and well, and Carl and I had an… Read more »

This week we got roughly 29 hours. We’ve had some exciting moments, but the salient feature of this week for me has been lots of thinking. I have been thinking a lot about time. We are giving Sarah the gift of our time. Our Amy volunteers give the gift of their time. What do I… Read more »