I'm Hungy

Bambam came into my room this morning and said "I'm hungy". This is huge. I mean really huge.

Bambam struggles with feelings and emotions. That is probably an obvious statement. Most kids with an ASD struggle with these things. He never says I'm cold, I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm sad, I'm excited or any of those statements. Don't get me wrong, he's verbal enough to get his needs met. But instead of saying I'm tired, he'll say its bed time. Or instead of saying I'm hungry, he says I need snack. And as I talked about in my last blog, he never, ever says I'm hurt.

We've been working on this for months, possibly years. Each time he says to one of us that he needs a snack we ask him if he's hungry. We try to get him to repeat the phrase "I'm hungry, I need a snack". When we eat we pointedly say to him "I'm hungry, I need breakfast." Over and over and over again. And we've gone months with no indication that he gets it. Until this morning.

My kid came and told me "I'm hungy". Unprompted, unscripted, all on his own. And those are the two most beautiful words I will hear all day, possibly all month.