A Cyber-woohoo for WayJay

By Liz Adair

I missed my turn to blog last time. I thought I had the base covered, but I had a confluence of people and events that particular weekend that squeeed blogging out of the picture. Because of that, I wrote an essay earlier in the week so I'd be sure to have my blog for today, but I got a phone call last night, and I really need to do a cyber-woohoo, so I'm going to do it here.

I have a four-year-old grandson, Wayne Jr., that the family calls WayJay. He's an intelligent little boy, very mechanically inclined, but because he doesn't yet speak, the world has been frustrating for him. His family was part of the happy confluence that knocked my last blog off line. I blogged about him on Liz Sez.

His family has just moved to Reno, and as part of that move, they enrolled WayJay in all the programs available that he was elegible for. By happy chance (and we wonder, was it really chance?) they had moved to a state that, right now, offers lots of help to the families of autistic children. One of those programs offers the child intensive help with therapists several times a week in-home during the summer.

Last night, my son Wayne called and reported that WayJay had been trying to open a bottle of yogurt drink and wasn't able to do it. He brought the bottle to his dad, set it down on the table beside him, and said, "Help." At the same time, he did the ASL sign for 'help'.

This is a monumental event. He's parroted words before, and surprised his folks with random-but-meaningful words, like the time I wrote about on Liz Sez, but this was the first time he used speech to solve a problem. We're all delighted, and that's why I ditched the other essay and invite all my ANWA friends to join me as I say WOO-HOO!!! Way to go, WayJay!