When my son Lucas was first diagnosed with autism, I thought speech was everything.

How would he tell me what he needed? How would he make friends? How would he navigate the world? Like many parents, I became fixated on words because I believed they were the key to everything else.

I was wrong.

In this episode, I talk about what happened when I stopped focusing on speech and started focusing on communication. From picture exchanges and communication devices to gestures, routines, and receptive language, I learned that being understood is far more important than speaking.

I also share why parents sometimes become attached to specific milestones, how our own fears can cloud what our children actually need, and the moment I realized that my son's success wasn't tied to verbal language.

Most of all, this episode is about acceptance, connection, and understanding that communication comes in many forms. My goal was never for Lucas to speak. My goal was for him to be understood.

And there's a big difference between the two.

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