The Most Wholesome Plane Story Ever?

A passenger shared a story from her recent flight where she was able to help calm a child and create a new way of communicating for the child and his father—one the father had never heard of or knew how to do, until now.

Sometimes people do the sweetest things on flights, whether it’s a passenger playing with a crabby baby so their parents can get some sleep, helping someone with a wheelchair, or even bringing drink coupons for the person next to you for no reason. But on a recent international flight, one woman offered up the ultimate act of kindness, giving a man a new way to communicate with his nonverbal son.

Here’s what happened, as told by the passenger, speech-language pathologist and developmental neuroscientist Rachel R. Romeo:

I just had such an affirming experience. On my 8hr intl flight back from a conference, I sat next to a father/son. In broken English, the father began to apologize/warn me that his ~10 yr-old son had severe nonverbal autism, and that this would like be a difficult journey. 1/

— Rachel R. Romeo (@RachelRRomeo) August 28, 2019

Before the flight even took off, the child began exhibiting challenging behavior—like yelling and hitting. The father could only apologize; he didn’t know his son’s preferred communication method. So Romero gave it a go:

I tried to see if he was stimulable for a communication board. I started by pulling up some standard images for basic nouns on my computer but I could tell that screens really bothered him. So I summoned my god-awful drawing skills and tried to create a (very!) low-tech board. 4/

— Rachel R. Romeo (@RachelRRomeo) August 28, 2019

By the end of the flight, he had made several requests, initiated several times, & his behaviors had reduced quite a bit. The father was astounded – clearly no one had ever tried an AAC approach with him. I gave him the paper & showed him how to use it, and he nearly cried. 6/

— Rachel R. Romeo (@RachelRRomeo) August 28, 2019

Father and son could finally communicate in an effective way.

What’s the kindest thing you’ve ever seen on a flight? Let us know in the FlyerTalk Forums.

[Featured Image:  Shutterstock]