I didn’t have answers when people asked why my nonverbal son was clapping, making sounds, or doing things they didn’t understand.

And that wasn’t because I was embarrassed.

It was because I genuinely didn’t know.

Over time, that changed. Not because someone explained it to me, but because I started paying attention. What looked random wasn’t random. What looked confusing actually had a purpose.

And once I understood that, something else clicked.

This isn’t just something my son does.

We all do it.

We just don’t do it out loud. We don’t do it in public. We don’t let ourselves.

This episode is about stimming, what it really is, and why the difference between my son and the rest of us might not be what you think.

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I used to think the hardest part of raising a nonverbal child was what he couldn’t say.

I was wrong.

This week, I talk about something I didn’t understand for years and honestly, didn’t even believe in at first: receptive language.

There’s never a moment when my son tells me what he’s learned. No updates. No explanations. One day he just knows what something means, and I’m left wondering when it happened.

It finally clicked when I lost my voice.

I thought I could just gesture, point, and figure things out without speaking. It didn’t work. Because my son doesn’t just communicate without words, he understands them.

That realization changed everything.

This episode isn’t about what he can’t say. It’s about everything he’s been understanding this whole time and what I almost missed because I was focused on the wrong thing.

It's Here! Get the book – “Hi World, I’m Dad: How Fathers Can Journey to Autism Awareness, Acceptance, and Appreciation” on audio, digital, or print.

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My son Lucas just turned 15, and I’m still catching my breath. He’s nonverbal, he has profound autism, and in my head he’s always been my “baby” — the kid with the same songs, the same books, and the same comfort routines. Then I look up and realize he has a mustache, he’s tall, and I’m standing there saying “go potty” like time hasn’t moved at all.

This week, I talk about what that moment brought up for me as his dad. I get into why I’ve always hated the “mental age” shortcut and why Lucas isn’t “really five” just because some parts of his life look younger to the outside world. He’s 15. He’s a teenage boy. And like everyone else, he’s fully himself.

I also talk about something that surprised me recently: Lucas’s receptive language. When I lost my voice, I learned pretty quickly that we can’t do life through pantomime alone, and that he understands far more than I sometimes stop to realize. It made me think about the words I use with him, the respect he deserves, and the reality that my little boy is growing into a young man.

It's Here! Get the book – “Hi World, I’m Dad: How Fathers Can Journey to Autism Awareness, Acceptance, and Appreciation” on audio, digital, or print.

Follow Us On TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Also, be sure to read the blog that started it all - Hi Blog! I'm Dad.