A mum has described the emotional moment her severely autistic teenage spoke for the first time.
Miriam Gwynne's son Isaac, 14, has non-verbal autism and requires round-the-clock care. But when Isaac's school was visited by other children this week, something happened that has given his mum fresh hopes for his future.
Miriam, 46, was stunned to receive a phone call from one of his teachers to tell her that Isaac had said the word "hello."
Miriam, from Hamilton, said: "Children from another school had come to visit Isaac's special needs school. Isaac is very familiar with the kids and he always flaps to show he is excited to see them.
"His class is entirely non-verbal, so they everyone was so stunned when Isaac said "hello".
"The teacher said everyone just fell silent. She was so excited to tell me.
"When I heard what he said it made me so emotional. I started crying because it was just such a special moment."
Miriam, who is a full-time career to Isaac and his twin sister Naomi, began to think about what had prompted Isaac to say they word before realising he had recently become obsessed with CBeebies show BBC show Something Special and its main character - Mr Tumble.
She continued: "Isaac has his own iPad and he loves music and listening to Youtube.
"He went through a phase of constantly playing the Mr Tumble theme song and he sings "Hello, hello, how are you?" We have all been sick of hearing it because of how much he plays it."
Allan Johnston, the creator of the popular children's tv program, has now reached out to the mum after hearing the news about Isaac.
He said: "I cannot explain how wonderful that is. Around 20 years ago, I created the series Something Special in the hope that it would help children with additional needs find their voice.
"I also wanted to give them their rightful place on national TV. So when I hear the series is still helping families, it makes me smile.
"Thank you for making me smile. "
Miriam hopes Isaac's story will help inspire other parents to not give up despite the challenges they face.
She continued: "It just makes you think that anything is possible. A hope that I've always had is to be able to show others that they are not alone, encouraging them to keep going despite whatever circumstances that they find themselves in."
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