My wife dragged me to yet another symposium, about yet another program that might help our son, Sam. For fifteen years we’d tried a lot of treatments, therapies, and programs, flying across the country and internationally, sparing no expense. What worked wonders for other families barely moved the needle for ours.
At the symposium, she recognized a young man before I did, a neighbor from our town of Fallbrook. I had met him about ten years earlier, when he was a boy of seven, bouncing on his toes, flapping his hands, making excited sounds. Now he was a teenager, and he still presented as profoundly autistic, much like our son. A coach held up a letter board and asked if he wanted to say hello. Still bouncing, still flapping, still making those sounds, he reached out and poked at the letters. It was slow, and it took real effort. Here’s what he spelled: “Hello, fellow Fallbrookians. How are the life and times of Sam Britton these days?”
I felt amazed. I felt confused. But the feeling that took up the most space was shame. That eloquent sentence had been in his head the whole time. I had been looking at his disability when I should have been looking for his ability. I had known him for years, but that day, I met him for the first time.
There, we finally learned about apraxia, a disorder that causes a gap between intention and action. Sam’s mind knows exactly what he wants to say or do; his body won’t always carry it out. It has nothing to do with intelligence.
The experts told us Sam had a learning disorder. They had it backwards. It was apraxia. Once Sam began communicating by spelling, a new chapter opened in our relationship. Here is an example:
What is real richness?
THE REAL RICHNESS ISN’T RELATED TO MONEY
YOU MIGHT BE RICH BUT POOR IN SPIRIT
The experts said Sam would be limited. Instead, after the president of a leadership society at Harvard heard our audiobook, he invited Sam and me to present at their authors’ series this fall.
About the Author
J. Brad Britton has spent four decades in sales and leadership development and twenty-five years as the father of an autistic son. Sam, an unreliable speaker, communicates by spelling on a letter board or keyboard. Together they wrote Real Words with Sam, an Amazon bestseller in nine categories. Follow @RealWordsWithSam on Instagram and YouTube.
"The real richness isn't related to money. You might be rich, but poor in spirit."
– Spelled by Sam Britton