Kimmy Garcia

A must read for everyone especially if they are working, or raising someone with special needs. From Jan 18th to today, my 8 yr old granddaughter who is severe autistic, non verbal, and severe sensory and I finished The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida in 2 hr and 27 minutes. Monica was very engaged and listened intentionally every night. Monica laughed, gasped, made sounds like hmm, while listening. At the end of the book, the author shared a short story about heaven and God, and she made vocal sounds I have never heard before. Still babble, but intentional babble to the story he was telling us. Audible has opened up an entire world for us. She cannot sit still in the daylight and be read to, or still still enough to read, but in the darkness of her bedroom for story time, it works. No fidgeting, just engaged listening. The book itself was, while a Q&A about this young preteen experiencing autism, it was a true look at Monica's daily behavior with autism. Even today, when we were on our way home from the grocery store, she dug her nails into my fingers, like I always thought it was a lash out because she didn't want to go home, I looked at her and said, I get it kiddo. I get it, let it out. She smiled, stopped the behavior, and signed with ASL "more" so I would tell her again that "I get it", I get that sometimes, even she can't stop some of her behavior, and like Naoki said in his book, people with autism hate letting people down, and being the cause of their frustration. I am in awe of what I learned about Monica, and the "aha" moments she had while listening in the dark. I have no doubts that while she was listening she was validated by words that she could never explain, but like she knew she was finally not alone. I am a happy wreck, because while it doesn't cure anything scientifically, Monica and I listening together in the dark silence of bedtime had changed everything. Like a sigh of relief on both ends that says, "We got this, we just have to take care of each other and acknowledge and maybe have a little more patience" Definitely worth the 2 hour 27 minutes spread out via audio book for several nights.