My sister-in-law Lyndsie told me the most amazing story this weekend about her son, my incredible nephew, who has had seizures his entire life and is severely delayed. He has some similarities to people with severe Autism with his language impairments, stimming and sensory sensitivities. I couldn’t help but think of him after I read Carly’s Voice and watched videos about how she learned to communicate with her family. I told Lyndsie that I really thought my nephew could learn to type like Carly someday and told her about Carly’s book and so she listened to it. She’s awesome like that.
This weekend when we were together she said to me, Bryn, Carly’s Voice made me see that I needed to listen to my own son’s voice. Like so many parents who love their children with severe special needs, they often make many necessary decisions in their life without consulting them, don’t we all. Well, last week her other two children started a snow cone shack business to earn money for the summer and as you can imagine she became momager and found herself spending long hours in the hot sun helping her kids with this endeavor, not the kind of environment you would want to take your child with special needs to, especially one who needs mom's extra care and attention. So my wonderful father offered to watch my nephew during snow cone mania. No big deal, right, my nephew loves grandpa’s house so it was a natural solution.
Well, fast forward to the next snow cone sales day and Lyndsie thought of Carly’s Voice and how she explained in her book how so many times she felt left out of family activities because her parents assumed she just didn’t care whether she was a part of them or not, after all, no one could tell by looking at her she was inside her body having emotional intelligent thoughts, but she was! So Lyndsie thinks, I am going to ask my son if he wants to come with us, instead of just taking him to grandpa’s house, which is the most convenient thing for me, and so she did. And you know what he did when she said, “Do you want to go to grandpa’s house?” He signed all done and patted his car seat. He wanted to stay with his family and be part of the new family adventure. And when grandpa came by a short time later to see if after a half hour of snow conesville he would want to go with him back to grandpa’s house, he again, signed all done and patted the blanket he was sitting on. I. LOVE. IT!!!
This story amazes me! And do you know why my sister-in-law heard her son’s voice more clearly, because she had an Autism Shift and she was looking for it. One simple book did that and now she will forever change the way she interacts with my sweet nephew, and so will I! She is a wonderful mother and I am so grateful for her and my nephew who constantly touch our lives for the better.
Is there someone in your life that you can share The Autism Shift with? This message is powerful and can completely shift the way someone looks at an individual with Autism and special needs and there might be someone you are thinking of right now that could use it. So go ahead, pass the shift message along, and be part of the The Autism Shift! And don’t forget to contact me with your shift worthy stories. I’d love to hear them!