I didn’t speak at all until I was almost four years old. Before that my parents made sure I could communicate by learning to sign key words so I could request the things I wanted, and later I used picture cards to string together short sentences. I don’t remember this, but I’ve seen the home movies. I had choices based on the words I knew and the cards that were printed, but I had to work within those limits to communicate. When I started speaking, I started to read at the same time. I could speak words, but my ability to converse was almost non-existent. I could respond or request things but I had to be prompted with what my mom called “scripts.”
This personal story is found in 'The Earth Edition' of AwareNow Magazine: www.awarenowmagazine.com
Written & Narrated by: Tal Anderson
Music by: Sol Rising
Produced by: Awareness Ties
Topics: Autism, Masking
