My Nonverbal Boy Says a Word

Grab a tissue for this one.

My son Cooper doesn’t say a lot verbally. I bet if I was to count, he maybe has 20 or words that he says out loud.

He’s 13 years old and carries a diagnosis for nonspeaking autism.

But that doesn’t mean he’s quiet. Or doesn’t communicate.

He has lots to say. Just in his own way.

Sometimes with gestures. Or by spelling words. He even uses scenes from movies to tell us things.

He mostly communicates with us about his Christmas list. And his dream of taking the Amtrak train to Chicago. He has us write all the important things on his white board or a brightly colored piece of construction paper.

Names of people. Places he wants to go. All things Christmas. And his birthday.

He wants his dreams in his hand.

His best friend Dexter has been sick for a while now. And Cooper hasn’t able to go see him. There have rules at the PICU.

It’s been hard on him. He doesn’t understand and I don’t know how to explain it in a way that he could understand. Because I don’t even know if I truly understand.

I bet he says the name ‘Dexter’ 100 times a day to me. You may not be able to understand him because all of those letters are hard for him to string together. But I know. So does his dad.

‘Yes, buddy, Dexter.’ That’s our reply.

Today, we saw a video of Dexter walking at the hospital. It was unbelievable.

Cooper gasped. He clapped. He kissed his hand and touched the phone.

And he looked at me and said Dexter and pointed to his white board.

I knew what he wanted me to write.

Visit Dexter.

And then he touched me arm and plain as day said…

SO-OOO-N.

He said it in three separate parts like he always does. As if he is plucking the letters down from the sky.

He’s never said the word soon before.

Never. I guess he’s never at a reason too. Not one like this.

But the soon part matters. Especially when it comes to seeing his best friend.

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And a fun video. :-)