A Happy, Happy Day

At three, my youngest grandson was effectively mute except for a few catch phrases, uttered apparently without context . On a bad day he mostly screamed.

Speech therapy didn't help, they began to teach him sign language , until a Ritalin prescription at four got him speaking in sentences,that ,and daughterly patience.But literacy progress remained slow, almost no headway in reading and writing.It's wonderful to see the strides he has made in the last year, in the last six months. That he can take turns with other children, with good grace too.

Yesterday he played a complex game with us and won. Ok he had help. But he was taking turns, not squabbling( unlike some of the other players), sat still(within reasonable parameters). He wrote his score, under instruction( '20' that's a two and a zero). Some achievement for a kid, with no binocular vision (uncorrectable because his brain couldn't redadjust when lenses were tried.)

He finished the evening watching 'Lost' reruns , swaddled tightly, as autistic spectrum children favour, in any loose bed coverings and furniture upholstery. Face as bright with enthusiasm and intelligence as I have ever seen it.
Fell suddenly asleep. When we awoke him fearing the bad temper that would normally arise from his failure to cope with sudden change-

he said: "This has been a happy, happy day." and went to bed.