JANET RUTH HELLER
Mark’s Progress II For my nephew Mark had trouble opening his mouth and some sounds posed obstacles for his lips and tongue.
When Mark was a toddler, doctors predicted that his autism would prevent him from learning to speak.
But Mark worked hard, encouraged by his parents, his sister Karen, and skilled therapists. They proved the doctors wrong. Mark began with hand signs, then mastered phonemes and full syllables. He struggled with words like “Karen” and “home.”
Mark lagged behind his grade in language skills. But he kept pushing sounds into phrases, then three-unit sentences: “I want pancake.” continued overleaf
© Janet Ruth Heller 2024 January POETRY & WRITING © liveencounters.net
