One Florida family has experienced an incredible Christmas miracle after a holiday light display inspired a 13-year-old nonverbal teen with autism to speak for the first time.
According to TODAY, Kaitlyn De Jesus was admiring her neighbor's incredible Christmas decorations when she felt compelled to verbalize her joy, moving her shocked mother to tears.
"The neurologist who saw Kaitlyn said she was going to be nonverbal for all of her life," her mother, Marisabel Figueroa, told TODAY. "I refused to accept that."
While Kaitlyn could manage to speak with visual prompts, she'd never spoken more than two words to anyone. But that would all change when she got a look at some dazzling Christmas lights.
Every year since 2007, Mulberry, Florida resident Don Weaver has used music and over 200,000 twinkling lights to turn his house and front lawn into an awe-inspiring Christmas spectacular.
Every night at 6, Kaitlyn sits in a folding chair to watch the light show and usually expresses her delight through dancing and foot-tapping.
"She got up from the chair and started singing," Marisabel said, adding that her nonverbal daughter then began making observations about the lights "out of the blue."
"She said, 'Mom! Look at the blue lights. Look at the snowmen. Santa's coming,'" Marisabel recalled. "I started crying. I couldn't believe it."
"This woman came over to me and goes, 'I've never heard Kaitlyn speak,'" Marisabel said. "I was like, 'Well, I'm her mom and I've never heard her speak unprompted like that.'"
"At Mr. Weaver's house she comes to life," Marisabel said. "She's like this whole new entity. If only Christmas could be around all year."
h/t: TODAY
