On my son Andrew's 15th birthday, I whisked him to a shoe store near our home in Toronto to get a pair of sandals. We knew the exact style and size he wanted, and arrived right when the store opened. Andrew is nonspeaking autistic and prefers shopping when it's not busy.
"Size 41 of those black slip-on sandals, please," I told the clerks.
Andrew slipped his feet into the shoes with no protest or head banging (signs of distress we have seen in the past). A perfect fit. We boxed them up, paid and thanked the clerks.
"It's Andrew's birthday today. Fifteen! Got our new shoes and now we're off to celebrate with family," I said.
"Happy birthday!" they said. "Have fun!" What comes next only happens when you act on intuition, when the voice inside says to stop and do things differently. Instead of having Andrew point to the "thank you" symbol on his picture chart, I hold up his letter board.
For 10 years, Andrew has used a picture chart to communicate. The images represent important and common words: people, places, food, greetings and activities.
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Denne historien er fra February 2024-utgaven av Reader's Digest US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Election Day Memories - Stories about voting by the people, for the people
A Convincing Argument When my boyfriend and I were finally old enough to vote in our first presidential election, we spent months debating with one another about our chosen candidates. We were quite persuasive, as we discovered when we got home from the polls and learned that we'd both voted for the other's initial choice.―SHERRY FOX Appleton, WI
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