May 2, 2023
My Autistic Boy Said ‘Cars’ Just for Me
Something happened yesterday. Something huge. But I missed it because life was happening.
I had a baby crying and on my hip. The stove timer was yelling at me reminding me that the asparagus was done. We needed to get to Miracle League Sports. My middle son had baseball practice.
And that’s when it happened. During all of that.
My son Cooper said the word car.
Which I guess doesn’t sound all that great. Everyone can say car right?
Well, my boy is unique. He is 12 years old. He has a diagnosis of nonverbal/nonspeaking autism.
When he was four years old a very important doctor told me he would most likely never speak. She said…‘it’s time to prepare for a life without words.’ She also said..’game over.’ Which crushed me in a way that’s hard to share ever today.
She was wrong though. Her crystal ball failed her because he does have a few words. I would say 25 or so. But they come and go, here one day, gone the next. He uses them mostly with his dad and I. I sometimes wonder if that’s because not everyone takes the time to listen to him.
See the words come out slow sometimes and all jumbled together. Hard to make out.
His favorites are mom, dad, cookie, paper, snack, Sawyer, Harbor.
You most likely wouldn’t be able to understand him if he said them to you. And that’s okay. Because he’s trying. He’s trying harder to speak than I’ve ever tried at anything in my life.
But yesterday, in the middle of prepping dinner and holding a baby my son said…
‘MMM-AW-MMM, CCC-A-RRR-S.’
I didn’t know what he was saying at first. So he repeated it, while staring at me. And then again. When I still didn’t understand he turned his iPad screen towards me and pointed to Lightning McQueen and said Cars and then covered his mouth and gasped.
Cars.
Again, probably doesn’t seem like all that big of a deal right? But what if I told you he’s never said a new word unprompted. That all of his 25 or so words were picked by me and practiced over and over again for countless hours. Every syllable. Moving his mouth. Modeling. Prompting. Until one day, at age 8, it clicked.
He agreed to give it a go. This whole talking nonsense.
But this one, this word, cars, he said on his own. I didn’t ask him to say it. I didn’t teach him to say it.
It didn’t hit me until this morning. I was replaying the scene while lying in bed when I realized, he said a word, a word that he wanted to say, on his own. A word that he wanted to tell me.
He did it.
It’s funny. I think of all the tears and worries and fears that I’ve had over the last 12 years. Paralyzing me at times. But the silver lining is I can remember his amazing achievements. All of them. Because they stood out so bright through the hard. Leading us through.
These moments, they get me through.
My boy said cars. Just for me.
Finding Cooper’s Voice is a safe, humorous, caring and honest place where you can celebrate the unique challenges of parenting a special needs child. Because you’re never alone in the struggles you face. And once you find your people, your allies, your village….all the challenges and struggles will seem just a little bit easier. Welcome to our journey. You can also follow us on Facebook.
What a beautiful testamony.God healed your boy…just like he healed my grandson..his first word was banana…he was 2..before that all he could say was aaa..and point toward something..Praise God for this glorious testimony..and he’s not done yet…