Dazzling Christmas light display inspires nonverbal teen to speak her first words

(Image credit: iStock)

last updated 18 December 2019

Every night in December, Kaitlyn De Jesus and her mother, Marisabel Figueroa, walk to their neighbor Don Weaver's house and admire his impressive Christmas light display.

There's music and more than 200,000 bright lights, and Weaver makes sure De Jesus, 13, is able to soak it all in; he sets up a special chair so she can spend hours looking at the display and tapping her feet to the beat. The Mulberry, Florida, teenager was diagnosed with autism at age 3, and her mom was told her daughter would be nonverbal. "I refused to accept that," Figueroa told Today Parents.

When De Jesus sees visual prompts, she will sometimes speak, but usually no more than two words. Last week, she surprised everyone when she suddenly got up from her chair in front of Weaver's house, started to sing, and then began telling her mom about the blue lights, snowmen, and Santa that she saw in front of her. "I started crying," Figueroa said. "I couldn't believe it." Weaver and their other neighbors were also stunned — and thrilled — to hear De Jesus speak. "At Mr. Weaver's house she comes to life," Figueroa said. "She's like this whole new entity. If only Christmas could be around all year."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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