I try to say ‘I love you’ as often as I can because I know the power that these words pack.
Like yesterday when Ollie, our 3 year old neighbor said ‘I love you’ and is said ‘I love you’ back.
Like when Deborah and I say it to one another…or when it’s repeated to family and friends…
How even after we stop saying the words…their echoes never end.
When I was teaching…Chris, a 16 year old student, to my classroom was referred.
Chris was nonverbal…he would grunt and groan and point to things he wanted…
but he could not say a word.
Chris lived with his grandparents…his surrogate Mom and Dad.
and as frustrating as it must have been for him to communicate…he rarely ever got mad.
This was around the time the first augmentative communication devices were created…
We were able to get one for Chris…and, man, was he motivated.
He would press a button to tell us things he wanted…mostly food and drink
and occasionally he’d tell us about the weather.
He could even make a simple sentence by stringing a few words together.
He learned some simple expressions…Like ‘I love’…’I want’ and ‘I need’ to name a few.
With his machine he even learned some manners…like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ too.
When I explained over the phone how well Chris was doing with his machine
his parents had a skeptical reaction…
So I invited them to come to school and see their boy in action.
Before they came I asked them to send in pictures of themselves…I wanted to program his pad
thinking it would be great, when they came in, if he said ‘hello’ to Mom and Dad.
Such is the nature of teaching…you never quite know what your students are going to do…
When his parents came in…he did say ‘Hello, Mom and Dad!’
Then added, completely on his own…‘I love you’ too.
Immediately his mom began to cry…her husband caught her as she dropped down to one knee
and when her tearful eyes met mine she said, ‘I never dreamed he’d say those words to me!”
The next time I met with his parents…his mom said to me with the biggest smile…
“He uses his machine to talk so much…sometimes we ask him to be quiet for a while.”
I think that’s why I’m a believer in saying ‘I love you’ as often as we can…
with our neighbors…with our friends…with our family…
whenever we are near them…
Knowing, when it came to those three words,
it took Chris’s mom 16 years to hear them.
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