On Being Non-Verbal

Many times I have been asked by medical professionals, therapists, school staff and just people in general - Is Bryce non-verbal? How do you communicate with him?
Right now Bryce is non-verbal according to the "text-book" definition.

He does vocalize A LOT! He does shake his head yes and no. We can tell when he is thirsty, hungry and sleepy. We know when he doesn't want to do something or if it was Cohen's turn to pick a show on TV. Bryce let's us know what he wants/needs and of course this took time on our part to learn his queue's. Now that he is getting older, going to school and therapy without us - I do worry that someone else might not pick up on his signs. Even though - he does let you know if you aren't "getting it".

Over the years we have had multiple meetings in our home with various people discussing Bryce and his therapy or school plans. One particular meeting he started to get agitated, I looked down, he was making his "thirsty face" and I had Matt bring me his drink. He drank a ton and then was right back to being happy. The "person" meeting with me asked "Now how did you know he needed a drink." I thought in my mind - I am his Mommy - If I don't know by now how to read my son - then we really would have a problem.

The amazing thing about Bryce -even though non-verbal - he has a way of communicating that is so much more powerful than speaking. His eye contact and facial queue's tell you everything. Anyone that knows Bryce knows that he makes what he is feeling very obvious. Just about 99.8% of the time he has a full on smile. I swear that his face has to hurt by the end of the day. His smile is amazing.

At 3 days old they had called us down to the NICU at 3AM and told us that we were losing Bryce. The doctor had told us "there is nothing else we can do - we are just repeating things that have already failed." We were so devastated, but he did pull through that night. We were given the choice that very next day to stop treating him because he would have no quality of life. Matt and I refused to believe that - we (of course) decided that we would not stop his treatment because our little boy was choosing to fight. We both did pray - Please God just let him be happy. God answered that prayer. There is absolutely no doubt that Bryce is happy.

In the early days I did focus on wishing he could walk one day.... Funny how, as the boys have gotten older, that wish has turned more to - I wish he could talk to me. I wish I could hear his voice. Bryce tries so hard to talk and mimics your mouth movements as best he can. He is trying and that is all I could ever ask for.