Imagine going to bed one night, waking up, and losing one of your most important skills.
This happened to young Ross Griffiths when he was just 16 months old.
He went to bed one night, and woke up the next morning to discover that he had lost all ability to communicate.
His parents, Becky Lane and Craig Griffiths, recall the moment they found out.
“At 16 months old, he went to bed fine, said ‘night night,’ went to sleep, and when he woke up the next morning, he couldn’t talk,” said Becky.
“He always used to shout for mum and dad when he woke up, but that morning, he couldn’t and he just cried and cried…he used to bang his head because he got so frustrated when he couldn’t tell us what he wanted.”
Over the next three and a half years, his parents have been helping him learn to talk again. And all the time, they haven’t known what caused their son’s lack of communication.
But now, he’s been diagnosed. He has a genetic condition called 15q11.2, which means that a tiny piece of his chromosome 15 is missing.
This has left him not just unable to talk, but also prone to mood swings.
Now 5, he’s making progress with his speech, and has learned to communicate at home with sign language.
He plans to go to meet Santa and use sign language to communicate what he wants for Christmas. He was too shy to use sign language outside of school or home before, but now he’s been inspired by the video of the Cleveland Centre Santa signing with another child.
His speech is better, but he’s still behind.
“His speech has come on a lot, but he’s still very difficult to understand and is two years behind where he should be.
“For three years, it was like teaching a child how to speak again, and he really only started to form words in January this year. He was so scared to use his sign language outside the house, but when he saw the video of the girl signing with Santa, it showed him he didn’t have to be embarrassed.”
Ross’s parents hope that he will continue to make progress, but in the meantime, hopefully telling Santa what he wants for Christmas will inspire him to keep fighting.
