Here and there, you hear them. A sound that is almost a word. Or a word mixed into a jumble of other random sounds. They're not consistent, they come when you least expect them and so infrequently that you often think you're just hearing things.
But they are there.
Slowly but surely, Sawyer is beginning to say a few things. For the longest time, I've been so jealous of his teachers and therapists at school. They swear they hear actual words coming from his mouth. Bread. One. Two. Three. Animal. Random things. Usually appropriate, either a repetition of something you've just said or an identification of something he sees or wants.
Today, I heard one.
It was early this morning. I had just come in from my night shift at work. The boys were in the sun room with their cereal and milk, watching cartoons. I tried to switch to Disney, which the twins like better, but Connor complained because he wanted to watch the new Cat in the Hat show on PBS. We switched it back. And then Connor complained again when it went off just a few minutes later and they started previewing the next show - Super Why! That's one the twins have always loved, and it's one that helped Xander start his spelling obsession.
And that was the word.
Superwhy.
Quick, all together like one word. And right out of Sawyer's little mouth. One minute he was dancing and making his usual vocalizations, the next he stopped and that one word emerged.
Superwhy.
It's so exciting. There are so many things you don't know about autism. It effects every single child differently. Some kids talk from the beginning. Some never do. Others, like both of our boys, lose language. Some are just late talkers. Some will go on to regain lost language. Some regain language but always have very scripted language. You just never know.
With Sawyer's diagnosis of classic autism, speech was not, and still is not, a total guarantee. These few words here and there may be all there ever are. They may disappear again.
But they offer hope. And it's so reminiscent of Xander a year or so ago, when those one or two words would be sprinkled in so infrequently and inconsistently (but always appropriately). I still remember them. Garage. Applesauce. Apple juice. One, two, three, four.
Words. Such simple little things. But sometimes, so much more.
