Parenting a nonverbal child is a challenge. The child develops other methods of communication, and parents grow adept at reading the signs. When your nonverbal daughter says their first word, it can be a shock. That is what happened to Precious Hill when her autistic daughter said her first word. Nonverbal does not necessarily mean quiet. Many nonverbal children will make noises, squeaks, squeals, and random sounds. Some eventually learn words and may even speak “normally” after years of speech therapy. But when your nonverbal daughter says that first word? That is something special. Precious Hill is a YouTuber and shares her family’s journey with autism on The Gentle Life. Mikko recently celebrated her fifth birthday. Although she has added many words to her vocabulary since that first “Baby,” she is still learning. Precious exhibits the patience of a saint and has gained the knowledge she needs to be the best mom for her daughter. Where a simple parent-child conversation might take you and me three minutes, it might stretch into 15 minutes for Precious and Mikko. Image from YouTube. Although autism is being more widely diagnosed recently, please don’t get lost in the “over-diagnosis” trap. The reason we are seeing more diagnoses is that we understand much more about autism than we did 30 years ago. Autism has many different levels, from very mild (high-functioning) to severe. A high-functioning person with autism, like Greta Thunberg, can become a public figure and cope well. In more serious cases, the noise of public spaces can trigger sensory overload issues. Precious is active on YouTube in sharing the family’s autistic journey. She takes an honest look at things that all parents think about, and her approach is refreshing. Please share. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post “When You Don’t Know How To React To Your Nonverbal Daughter’s First Word” appeared first on InspireMore.