An unexpected development

There is an event coming up that H. would very much like to attend, but it just isn't going to work this year. As you can imagine, this is very disappointing to her. There was a lot of processing going on today. 

The fact that H. could express a desire and then express genuine emotions when that desire couldn't be met is no small thing. It's even a bigger deal when these things happened without any prompting, coaching, or disassociation. While I'm sorry H. has to experience disappointment, I would be pretty thrilled about the expression of need and disappointment if it stopped there. 

There was more to this process, though. H. wrote three "stories" (her term) that she brought down and read to us to help her express her needs and disappointment. This is so huge I need to say it again. 

She wrote a story.
She was able to read the story to us long after she had written it.
The story expressed need and feelings. 

I was totally floored by this. I didn't expect it and it is a brand new skill. Development definitely doesn't stop because someone is older than 18. 

I did have to chuckle to myself a bit, though, because one of the stories began: "Youse guys". The Chicago accent seems to weave its tendrils in surprising ways, even if your parents don't have one. 

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