a Disney miracle for our son with autism :)

[kvnchapman]

Love this sweet story! WDW is magical for our family, too. Last year DS (2), who has done lots of work to overcome some of his spectrum challenges, initiated his first hug with Tigger at Crystal Palace. With tears in my eyes, I thanked Tigger for spending extra time with "Bean" and told him how much it meant to us. Next thing we knew, Tigger reappeared with cards for our twins, along with a manager who had a set of Tigger plushes for our little guys. That week, he also uttered a 2 word sentence on the boat at Epcot. A significant milestone for us!! Disney is super magical. So thankful for our happy place.

 

[minkydog]

I'm copy/pasting this from my facebook a few days ago, so please forgive any typos, as I posted from my iPhone.


So we experienced a miracle tonight. Noah (ds5, with moderate non-to-limited-verbal autism)has never in his life done any greetings. We can't get him to wave, say hello or goodbye, or anything of that nature. So tonight we rode the Nemo ride at Epcot and he loved it. We went right back in (it was close to closing time and hardly anyone there) and the 2nd time, I said, "Noah, let's wave to Nemo!" and he waved! Kept doing it the whole ride. We told the CM's what had happened, and they were super excited, and told us to keep riding as many times as we wanted, so we took him through like 8 more times. By the 5th or 6th time, he was waving at all the characters, AND saying "Hi Nemo! (and Dori and Marlin and Bruce, etc.) I was bawling by then of course. lol. After the 8th or 9th time, the cast members met us at the end of the ride, along with the engineer and supervisor of the ride. They had brought Noah a stuffed Nemo doll, and they all talked to him and took pictures and stuff. I can't properly express what a huge thing this is for us. Not only for the amazingly huge breakthrough Noah had, but also the outstanding people who work here. I've before never experienced the welcome and helpfulness that we've seen every single day from the Disney staff. This is truly a magical place. ♥

And this is my update today:

Our little Disney miracle has definitely stuck. Noah has been waving and saying hi and goodbye consistently since it happened. Praise God!!! Oh and a cast member totally made my day the day we left. We went back to Nemo and rode a few more times, and she remembered us. She was so excited that we came back, and she said all the cast members in The Seas had been talking about him all week! The best part - she said if she had ever needed validation for her job, we were it! ♥

That is amazing! I'm so happy for you. We never know what little key will open our kids' minds and there's no predicting what happens. I know those castmembers realized that they were witnessing a miracle. How awesome to be a part of that.

 

[pampam]

Love this sweet story! WDW is magical for our family, too. Last year DS (2), who has done lots of work to overcome some of his spectrum challenges, initiated his first hug with Tigger at Crystal Palace. With tears in my eyes, I thanked Tigger for spending extra time with "Bean" and told him how much it meant to us. Next thing we knew, Tigger reappeared with cards for our twins, along with a manager who had a set of Tigger plushes for our little guys. That week, he also uttered a 2 word sentence on the boat at Epcot. A significant milestone for us!! Disney is super magical. So thankful for our happy place.

Happy tears again. Good talking, Bean.

 

[I Love Pluto]

I LOVE happy stories such as yours.

THANK YOU so very much for sharing. I hope you have continued blessings to your family!

 

[Pooh2]

Beautiful story! Best wishes to you and your son!

 

[SA mom]

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your stories.

I was really worried about our first trip to WDW. At age 6, one of my daughters still wouldn't say her name. What if she got lost or hurt or...?

After reading all the great stories about kids with Autism and how many make huge gains at WDW, we took the plunge. I was skeptical about making any kind of gain, but I wasn't scared to take her anymore.

Her social development in that one week was more than in the previous 6 years. For the first time ever, the four of us were talking about the same thing! We had CONVERSATION!

We immediately booked our trip for the girls 7th birthday. Best birthday ever!

Your story reminds of me of that incredible trip and what a difference Disney World has made in the lives of our family.

 

[Mom2six]

I'm so happy for you that your trip was such a miracle. Your post made me cry! When we went in September it was so good for my son (4). He rode Its A Small World with us and I cried the whole time - I never thought I would get him on a ride at all and our whole family was able to ride together. It was so special.

 

[KPeveler]

I'm copy/pasting this from my facebook a few days ago, so please forgive any typos, as I posted from my iPhone.


So we experienced a miracle tonight. Noah (ds5, with moderate non-to-limited-verbal autism)has never in his life done any greetings. We can't get him to wave, say hello or goodbye, or anything of that nature. So tonight we rode the Nemo ride at Epcot and he loved it. We went right back in (it was close to closing time and hardly anyone there) and the 2nd time, I said, "Noah, let's wave to Nemo!" and he waved! Kept doing it the whole ride. We told the CM's what had happened, and they were super excited, and told us to keep riding as many times as we wanted, so we took him through like 8 more times. By the 5th or 6th time, he was waving at all the characters, AND saying "Hi Nemo! (and Dori and Marlin and Bruce, etc.) I was bawling by then of course. lol. After the 8th or 9th time, the cast members met us at the end of the ride, along with the engineer and supervisor of the ride. They had brought Noah a stuffed Nemo doll, and they all talked to him and took pictures and stuff. I can't properly express what a huge thing this is for us. Not only for the amazingly huge breakthrough Noah had, but also the outstanding people who work here. I've before never experienced the welcome and helpfulness that we've seen every single day from the Disney staff. This is truly a magical place. ♥

And this is my update today:

Our little Disney miracle has definitely stuck. Noah has been waving and saying hi and goodbye consistently since it happened. Praise God!!! Oh and a cast member totally made my day the day we left. We went back to Nemo and rode a few more times, and she remembered us. She was so excited that we came back, and she said all the cast members in The Seas had been talking about him all week! The best part - she said if she had ever needed validation for her job, we were it! ♥

Awesome story. Disney CMs really can make so much magic!

 

[RellaSprinkles]

My eyes are filled with happy tears for you.. what a precious memory!

 

[kvnchapman]

Happy tears again. Good talking, Bean.

Thanks Pampam! Gotta love that Pixie Dust!

 

[kvnchapman]

thanks, everyone, for sharing your stories.

I was really worried about our first trip to wdw. At age 6, one of my daughters still wouldn't say her name. What if she got lost or hurt or...?

After reading all the great stories about kids with autism and how many make huge gains at wdw, we took the plunge. I was skeptical about making any kind of gain, but i wasn't scared to take her anymore.

Her social development in that one week was more than in the previous 6 years. For the first time ever, the four of us were talking about the same thing! We had conversation!

We immediately booked our trip for the girls 7th birthday. Best birthday ever!

Your story reminds of me of that incredible trip and what a difference disney world has made in the lives of our family.

love!!

 

[Bamagal]

That's awesome! That's the Disney stories I love to hear.

 

[iluvmickey2008]

That's wonderful!!! My son is non-verbal and just turned 5. Over the past month or so, he has made wonderful progress both with speech and understanding/listening to directions. A trip to Disney would certainly speed things up...now to convince my anti-Disney husband!

 

[kylmac]

So glad he had a Disney breakthrough! What a great story! We try to go to Disney at least once a year because our son just transforms and acts almost normal at Disney.
Elizabeth

 

[OhanaDreams]

Good job Noah!

The kindness and love that is at DisneyWorld infuses into our special kiddos. All that happiness helps them to overcome so many obstacles.

 

[Luv_my_Family]

Thank you so much for sharing! It is great to hear that Disney has been such a magical place for so many of our children. My son is now 21, and Disney continues to be his special and safe place. I get all teary eyed when I think about our Disney moments and breakthroughs.

I am grateful that are lucky enough to be able to visit Disney and that we can all share our inspirational stories!

 

[GusGus77]

That's wonderful!!! My son is non-verbal and just turned 5. Over the past month or so, he has made wonderful progress both with speech and understanding/listening to directions. A trip to Disney would certainly speed things up...now to convince my anti-Disney husband!

Just have him read this thread!!!

What wonderful stories and amazing moments for the children and families!!!

 

[LuvsTinker]

Wonderful!!!!!!!! Such a wonderful story.

I have a 12 yo son with autism. He loves WDW!

 

[carrie1626]

I'm copy/pasting this from my facebook a few days ago, so please forgive any typos, as I posted from my iPhone.


So we experienced a miracle tonight. Noah (ds5, with moderate non-to-limited-verbal autism)has never in his life done any greetings. We can't get him to wave, say hello or goodbye, or anything of that nature. So tonight we rode the Nemo ride at Epcot and he loved it. We went right back in (it was close to closing time and hardly anyone there) and the 2nd time, I said, "Noah, let's wave to Nemo!" and he waved! Kept doing it the whole ride. We told the CM's what had happened, and they were super excited, and told us to keep riding as many times as we wanted, so we took him through like 8 more times. By the 5th or 6th time, he was waving at all the characters, AND saying "Hi Nemo! (and Dori and Marlin and Bruce, etc.) I was bawling by then of course. lol. After the 8th or 9th time, the cast members met us at the end of the ride, along with the engineer and supervisor of the ride. They had brought Noah a stuffed Nemo doll, and they all talked to him and took pictures and stuff. I can't properly express what a huge thing this is for us. Not only for the amazingly huge breakthrough Noah had, but also the outstanding people who work here. I've before never experienced the welcome and helpfulness that we've seen every single day from the Disney staff. This is truly a magical place. ♥

And this is my update today:

Our little Disney miracle has definitely stuck. Noah has been waving and saying hi and goodbye consistently since it happened. Praise God!!! Oh and a cast member totally made my day the day we left. We went back to Nemo and rode a few more times, and she remembered us. She was so excited that we came back, and she said all the cast members in The Seas had been talking about him all week! The best part - she said if she had ever needed validation for her job, we were it! ♥

You have made my day with your posting.
Blessings to your family.

 

[jeremeyp]

Your story made me tear up. This is EXACTLY why I take my son to WDW as often as I can. He is 19 now, and has Down Syndrome. I have also seen a lot of progress in different skills/behaviors when we go. Especially when he was younger, it was the one place he could pretty much be just like any other kid and do the same things everyone else was doing. Our most recent "break through" was in ordering and "paying" for his own food. At home he would refuse to to hand a cashier money or say what he wanted. But at Disney....he did. No problem to go through a food court line, order his meal (after we'd looked at the menu together) and go thru the check out by himself (with me watching from nearby if course.)

The original post was wonderful to read, and so was this. I have a 6 year old son with Down syndrome (our only child). We took him to Disney World two years ago, and things went well, but it was pretty overwhelming for him. He also wasn't familiar with all of the characters. We are going back in two weeks, and he's really excited about it! He is non-verbal, but has learned to say "Disney" in his own way (Dee-Dee!). I'm really looking forward to see how he does there. All of the CMs were great with him (and us!) when we were there in 2010.