Thursday, June 12, 2014

The power of comprehension

This morning Baduka woke up early. A little too early for my liking, but he's cute, and I needed a cuddle. I'm so happy he did though, because I finally had some one on one with him, to answer one of my questions about that beautiful head of his.

A few months ago, we realized he taught himself to read. But we weren't sure if it was all just memorization, or if he actually comprehended what he was saying. He can read books cover to cover. He can read signs, and text messages over my shoulder. He has a large vocabulary of words, and a play list of songs he sings all day long. But it's hard to tell what's just memorization and what's not, because he doesn't have normal, spontaneous speech. He can read the boxes, bottles, and labels, but he can't say, "mom, I'm thirsty." It's confusing, and a lot of times, very frustrating.

As we were laying cuddled up, I decided to test him. I opened a blank text, and typed in, "kiss mom". He read it out loud, smiled and kissed my cheek. I typed, "touch your eyebrows". He read it out loud, smiled and touched his eyebrows. I continued, with hide under the blanket, get a book, sing wheels on the bus. He did all of them.

I was in tears, even now I have goosebumps up and down my arms. I called Daddy, he didn't even know what to say, it's that amazing.

We got up to get ready. In the bathroom he turned on the light, I typed, "turn off the light please." He did. He climbed the stool, I typed, "feet on the floor, please." He climbed down. I typed to him, to brush his teeth, and wash his hands. He did that too.

We got to school, and I was telling his teacher about our morning. She looked so surprised,  amazed, and happy. I hope he doesn't pull his stubborn act, and not do it for her.

After dropping him off, me, Dizzy, and the New Kid went to Target. Yes, that was me, the Ecstatic Autism Mom buying a label maker, labels, and more lamination. This kid will be able to read his entire house soon.

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