Johanna's Blog

I am not a medical professional. The views expressed here are related to my own experience as a mother of a child with Autism. Everyone’s journey is different. I am sharing mine.

Even before Nido was diagnosed, we were eager for him to speak. His father was a late talker, which gave us some comfort in giving him time. Not every child follows the milestones laid out in Google. However, the diagnosis of Autism put us in headspace of, “if someone hurts him, could he tell us?”. As soon as we found Prompt Speech, in which the Therapist is hands on in guiding the mouth, lips, and jaw, we dedicated our time to making those sessions. Four times a week, we would drive from Greenwich to Manhattan. We did this from the time Nido was 22 months, up until the pandemic.

Meet Nido

We did it because we desperately wanted him to talk. Although some kids show improvement within a couple of months of speech therapy, Nido wasn’t that kid. He was able to communicate with a PECS book, and then an app on his iPad. The app showed us that he had a lot more understanding than we thought. It also told us that he can read. I remember his father asking me if I thought he would ever speak and my answer was always yes. I’m a big believer in making what you want happen, no matter what anyone says. A speech therapist once told me that if he didn’t have any words by the age of 3, the chances of him speaking was 0-1%. That kind of news from a professional is devastating. I kept it to myself, I never shared that with anyone, until now.

The reason for sharing it now is because Nido is talking. He began talking while we were quarantined, shortly before he turned 5 years old. I can’t tell you if it was because his Prompt therapist was guiding me via zoom, or if it was because he got older, or if it was me getting it out of him (we were home together the whole time). The one thing I can say is that I never believed that he wouldn’t speak. I’ve always wondered why people say that Autism affects everyone differently, yet they will generalize milestones. Every person affected is different. Nido is a person who will do things in his own time. I’ve learned that not all professionals have the answer. Your child is the answer. You believing in your child will determine the answer. I will never say that Nido won’t be the child that is on a baseball team. Last year I was convinced that he would never put his head under water. This past summer he taught himself how to swim and loves diving to the deep end of the pool and touching the floor.

A diagnosis of Autism is a scary one, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next. Nido is 6 years old. We’ve had ups and downs, just like every other family. The one thing that we’ve made sure of is that we make our home happy and we show him all the love and affection that is humanly possible. We don’t let his diagnosis be an excuse. He is a quick learner and responds to consistency. At the end of the day, even when we didn’t know much about this world, we kept who we were consistent. We kept our expectations consistent. I believe that is what has helped Nido to thrive.