Krista's Wedding
We went to Krista's wedding Saturday night. Krista is one of Joseph's beloved ABA tutors. She was a beautiful bride. The boys behaved very well, for the most part, and we had a nice evening. The boys also looked devestatingly cute in their Christmas sweaters.
We were able to meet another of Krista's families. Their son Ben, like Joseph, has always signed and never spoken, although he isn't and never has been hearing impaired. He is 13 or maybe 14 now. He has started to speak. Just in the past six months. What a story! His speech isn't clear, but he has a lot of words, I think she said hundreds. She credits the language he developed signing. And he never voiced sounds, although the speech therapists tried and tried, he just started to use whole words. He now uses the words he knows as he reads, and signs the rest of the words. He is a marvel. He isn't close to being "typical," but what a great improvement. He still signs most of what he wants to say, but he can use his voice, and I bet he gets more and more vocal over time. The autisim spectrum is such a mystery. I don't expect that Joseph will follow the same path, but it does reinforce the hope that we all have, and the hope that never goes away, that he will continue to develop more and more language in some form.
2 comments:
Your boys look adorable - and I can just imagine Joseph giving her a big hug (was there a wet kiss for her too??)!
The stories of children as they grow and develop are amazing. Autism is such a wide spectrum and it is a good reminder that we cannot keep (any) children in a box with our expectations. There is always hope that they may, one day, in some way, surprise us!!
They are so cute in their matching sweaters. And what a wonderful time of learning and hope for Ben and his family.
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