Never Underestimate the knowledge of someone with communication challenges.
Today I ripped the seat of this chair. I sat back down to see if it was still useable since it was in the front portion of the chair. David saw the rip. David analyzed it and we had the following conversation:
David: “Mama”
Me: “what’s up buddy?”
David: “broken?”
Me: “yep Mama broke the chair”
David: “Broken Chair?”
Me: “yeah buddy Mama broke the chair” David: “Mama broke chair up?”
Me: “you want Mama to get up”
David: “ok”
I got up and went to sit somewhere else.
A few minutes later I went to sit back in the chair to see if he’d say anything to me. As soon as I sat down he looked at me
“Mama broken chair off!”
He saw the chair was broke and didn’t want me to sit in it. He knew it wasn’t good. He may talk in fragmented sentences but never underestimate the knowledge that he has stored up. He knows and understands much more than he is able to express.
Never talk about or in front of your child like they don’t understand or know what you are saying.
I was guilty of it for a long time – nothing malicious, but I had a lot of preconceived notions about what autism meant. I was blind to the fact that just because someone doesn’t always use their voice doesn’t mean they have nothing to say, and just because someone isn’t looking you in the eye doesn’t mean they’re not listening.
David hears everything.
You start to see what someone is really capable of when you start assuming they’re capable. Give everyone the credit they deserve. 💙
Hurricane Heffners 