Eat Applesauce
We keep applesauce pouches on hand for Jude. She usually wants potato chips or goldfish crackers. She likes salty snacks like her dad.
At a minimum, applesauce contains some resemblance to fruit and it’s the most healthy-ish thing Jude will eat.
With her sensory and texture issues I don’t understand how she can go from crunchy to mushy, but here we are.
This week, Jude was at home with me one afternoon. She wanted something to eat. She sat on the couch next to me and held up her empty chip bowl. I think she may have grunted or squealed to get my attention.
Instead of speeding to the pantry, I handed her the new AAC tablet. She selected “eat”.
I got her some chips. It really is her favorite snack. I thought she’d be good to go and I could get back to the laptop and finish some things.
When I sat back down she had a confused look on her face. Still holding the tablet, for the first time in 12 years, it felt like she could truly vocalize her preference. Without showing me. She told me.
“Eat Applesauce”.
That’s the first phrase Jude ever “said” to me. The first in 12 years. I didn’t hesitate. I got her an applesauce pouch. She ate it and then had two more.
My mind keeps spinning. Somehow in 12 years Jude learned to read. There was no indication of that other than pointing to shows she wanted to watch on the Hulu channel guide.
We’ve had therapist and evaluators share that she is at a two-year-old level in terms of intellectual growth.
But then . . . applesauce.
Jude read and selected a compound word. In context. By herself.
The miracle didn’t happen the way I imagined, but it’s miraculous nonetheless. I selfishly wanted Jude to wake up and say “dad”.
Instead we’re at “Eat Applesauce” on an AAC device.
And I’m praising God just like she’s speaking.
Because He made a way, she is.
God continue to unlock Jude’s brain help her continue to communicate with us and others. Thanks you for making a way even if it’s not what I had imagined.
AAC, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, devices help individuals with unique conditions or challenges with speech. Teach your kids how to accept others using AAC by letting them watch this segment of Carl the Collector on PBS. Paulo’s character is even voiced by a non-verbal young man.