I’m going to try and keep this short. Can I possibly do that? Hmmmm… let’s see. Must get this out of my mind…. before the sharpness of the detailed emotion I am feeling from today … will somehow become softer, less vivid and less impactful.

We take Noah to Wenatchee almost every Wednesday for one hour of occupational/sensory therapy to help his autism. This day was a roller coaster of emotions as another therapist was in the car and my rather spirited 4-year-old daughter also came for the ride. Fun. Fun. Fun. It was tense. It was loud, it was stressful…

Yet when we arrived at Ohana OT in Wenatchee, Noah was SOOOO excited to see his “buddy” named J, we will call him. J is much older and much bigger than Noah. J has Down Syndrome and is mostly nonverbal. Over the last four visits, Noah & J started out hiding from each other, so we had to make sure they were in separate rooms. Then began a friendship of sorts, Noah & J looking to make sure each of them has arrived, repeating sounds with each other, smiling at each other and even wanting to play on equipment next to each other.

Noah’s social communication skills just shot through the roof and we were all in shock. These two boys hid in a closet together and came out laughing! I was crying, the other mom was crying, the staff were big balling babies… but we all knew something amazing was happening. There were endless smiles, and laughter and talking… lots and lots of talking from Noah. Patient J was more excited than he had ever been according to his mom. At one point, Noah went into J’s room and said, “Hey J, come on man -- lets go play, OK?”

This went on, and Noah proceeded to comment or have a conversation with anyone around him. He told the receptionist he thinks the flower in her hair is pretty. He told the assistant that the “basketball is cute with pink and purple,” then asked, “where’s the Spiderman ball?” Smiling…

Noah went around the room and made sure to say goodbye to everyone. He really was conversational. My heart is still pounding, this is best gift for Mother Day EVER! -- Kathryn Jones, WAAA Member