October 7th- Lussyana and Liam

“Silence is often misinterpreted but never misquoted.”

Unknown Author

“My son Liam is 10 years old and has uttered only a few words in his life.  When Liam uses words they have meaning and the words he chooses are extremely important.  We are listening and we hear you, Liam.

Liam rarely speaks but when he does the words he uses are strongly connected to his feelings.  Because Liam’s speech is rarely occurring and random when he speaks it brings us great joy and we take time to think about what Liam is communicating.   Liam speaks to communicate his feelings, but it really tells us more.  If we are getting close to dinner time Liam will say, “burger”.  Liam really loves burgers and sometimes he will extend out the word saying “bababababurger” Liam is not telling us he just wants a burger for dinner.  He is telling us he is really hungry and excited to eat so we better get moving.   He is saying stop whatever day to day task you are doing and focus on dinner.  Liam will then sit at his spot at the table waiting patiently, prodding us along.

Another example of Liam speaking occurs on the way to visit his cousins.   Liam recognizes the driving route and will randomly say, with a long-extended tone, “Dyylll.”  He is so excited to visit his cousins and the extended “y” “l” of his cousins name tells us he is bursting with excitement to play with his cousins.  The time we spend with family and friends is awesome and we should get excited about it.  When it is time to go home Liam may utter “nnnaa”.  His no has an inflection that really tells the story that he does not want to leave and is having a great time.  His words are few, but he makes a big impact with them.  Saying goodbye is hard to do.

At the end of a long day Liam is ready for “sleeeppp”.  Liam loves to go to sleep and when he is ready, he lets us know.  He lays his head on his pillow and a big smile warms your heart.  An Irish proverb says, “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.”

Although Liam can speak, he usually doesn’t.  He prefers to listen.  He loves to listen and engage in self-stimulatory behaviors like shredding paper.  One of his favorite shows is Pingu. Pingu is an animated character whose popularity came from its lack of real spoken language.  Nearly all dialogue is in an invented grammelot “penguin language” referred to as ‘Penguinese’.  There is so much noise in the world today.  Living in the 21st century, it is rare to have silence.  The world we are living in can sound a lot like Penguinese.  In a world that begins to sound like noise, I am listening to Liam.

Helen Keller said: ‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.’

Liam’s few words have impacted us in a big way.  We are listening with our hearts.”

– Lussyana, mom to Liam

Liam enjoys literacy tutoring and Destination Discovery