A Language all His Own

XiMeng was born with cerebral palsy and one result is that he is very delayed in language development.

But that doesn’t mean he can’t communicate — he has his own way of expressing himself.

For example, XiMeng is usually the first child to tell me what the animal is on the pictures I show to the class. When it is a bunny, he will point two fingers of each hand and jump like a rabbit; when it is duck, he will put his hand in front of his mouth to imitate a duck’s mouth.

During snack time, when XiMeng sees that his classmates’ cups are empty, he will point to their cups and act as if he is drinking water to alert us teachers. And he can count from 1-10 using his fingers only.

What is most delightful about XiMeng is that he is able to communicate his sunny disposition—he smiles more than any other child in my class. I am very happy that though XiMeng cannot speak like the other children, he can use his mind to share with others what he thinks and how he feels.