How do you give your child medical autonomy when they struggle to communicate? How do you determine their preferences when they cannot explain their inner thoughts to you? How do you help them when they cannot tell you where their pain is?

These are the questions that keep today’s guest, Suzi Bubion, up at night. Her son, Oliver, is nonspeaking, and this struggle to communicate is one of the biggest challenges for Suzi’s family as they help Oliver navigate his disabilities.

In this episode of The Rare Life, we’re digging into how we long to know our nonspeaking kid’s inner thoughts, how their challenges to communicate affect their medical autonomy, and why, at the end of the day, so many of us would give anything for them to be able to tell us exactly what they do –and don’t– want.

Also, huge thank you to our sponsor Functional Formularies! They make incredible, nutritious food for our tube-fed kids that’s easy to access and use. Honestly, if our kids are eating Functional Formularies formula, they’re probably eating better than us!

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