Trick or treat. With a voice.

Conner could have been a pirate, a ninja, even an angry bird but my child choose a ghost. Yes my practically five year old was a ghost for Halloween! It could have been influenced because for therapy they are making ghost noises and having him walk around with his hands straight out saying boo but at the end of the day, he was the best ghost out there!

Last year was the first actually Halloween my child dressed up and went out house to house. He shocked us by being the calmest kid in the group! He walked from house to house and was careful to only take one piece of candy. I don't know what it is about Halloween that made my kid so- well normal! So when this year came around I was so excited I woke up feeling like a kid again and couldn't wait til it got dark.

Now for the first year ever on Facebook their are pictures and sayings circulating about kids that cannot speak or kids with difficulties grabbing candy. Maybe there were pictures the year back and I'm just noticing them or maybe autism is becoming more known and understood. Hopefully people are understanding more- that would be my wish!

Because of these sayings I had an idea. What mom doesn't want to buy her kid a Halloween shirt to wear, but I wanted to be different. My dad had found a quote and I was going to use my creativity and make it a shirt- so I did! The shirt reads, " happy Halloween... Boo to you... I am non verbal... I cannot speak... If I could I would say... Trick or treat". Now this shirt was a hit! But let's back up- the morning of Halloween I showed my child this shirt. As I read it to him he was trying to copy me! He was trying and was actually making a different sound for each syllable!! He copied the entire saying but when I asked if he could say trick or treat, he said it so clear my heart melted. I immediately called my parents so they could hear him speak! For the rest of the day I kept asking for him to repeat it and he did- sometimes it wasn't that perfect but I don't care, my child was trying and I know he is capable of speaking.

Later we headed out the door to a friends house and now it was time to get ready. Conners costume had a mask- but I knew he wouldn't keep it on because it was a full face mask. So I painted his face white, put some black under his eyes and off we went. Yet again he walked, grabbed candy and this year he tried to say trick or treat.

Overall this Halloween night was yet another great night because he fit in and was accepted for being different. One older gentleman heard him say trick or treat with difficulty and his response was "hey he's trying and he's doing good at trying". For a complete stranger to be so kind was an awesome feeling.

I hope you had a fun Halloween and even more I hope if you encountered a child having a hard time saying trick or treat you didn't treat him differently. Enjoy these few photos from our night!