Speech Pathologist Meets Nonverbal Autistic 10-YO On Plane, Makes A Tremendous Impact On Him During The Flight

Life works in mysterious ways. But sometimes everything just falls into place. When speech-language pathologist (SLP) Rachel Romeo was returning from a conference on a long international flight, there was a father and son sitting next to her. Little did everyone know, Rachel and the little kid couldn’t have had a better passenger to travel with.

The father explained that his 10-year-old boy had autism and was nonverbal. He then apologized to Romeo because the 8-hour flight was likely to be difficult for his child and those around him. But challenging behaviors began even before take-off. The boy was “screaming, hitting me, and grabbing for my things. The father repeatedly apologized, but did little else,” Romeo wrote. However, the situation began to change when Romeo started using principals of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), a series of ways to communicate without speaking out loud, to help the boy tell her and his dad his needs.

More info: Twitter