It was just one word, but it was the beginning of something miraculous. It turned out that my son had been absorbing everything around him in silence, storing it away, waiting for the right moment to break free of his cocoon of quiet.

It was as if the world had suddenly opened up to him, and he was eager to explore it, to express himself in a way that had always been his.

From that day on, he began to speak more. His words came slowly at first, like a stream thawing after a long winter, but they came, filling the silence that had once been so daunting. Each word was a victory, each sentence a triumph over the predictions that had shadowed his early years.