Speech delays are one of the top concerns of parents today.
Language delays are one of the most common types of developmental delays.
Based on surveys, about one out of five children will learn to talk or communicate through words much later than other kids in the same age bracket.
This may also cause them to be frustrated if they can’t express what they want or feel.
Parents may also feel frustrated because of social pressure their child is being left behind or need therapy to learn how to talk.
This is what Jayla Henry felt.
Jayla is a content creator that has over 600K followers on TikTok.
One day, she was filming her bonding moment with her 4-year-old son, Braylon, when something unexpected happened to them.
“Every time I watch the clip I start crying again,” Jayla said in her interview with TODAY.
The said TikTok clip garnered over 7M views as of this writing and is being shared all over the world.
Jayla said that when Braylon was just 18 months old, they already diagnosed him with a speech delay.
“He wasn’t even babbling at that point. He would just point at things,” Jayla recalled. “That’s when we realized something wasn’t right.”
The good thing about early detection was that Braylon qualified for early intervention services.
They began working with a professional speech-language pathologist in Michigan.
When they moved to Dallas, Texas this September, Braylon’s therapy stopped and both Jayla and her husband, Anthony, “took on the job” of practicing their son.
“Braylon is so determined,” Jayla said. “He never gets frustrated. He’ll just keep repeating a word until he gets it right. He’s an avid learner.”
Jayla knew his son will talk soon.
Before, Jayla recalled a little girl asking why her son talked so funny.
She would then translate Braylon’s words so other people could understand.
Just lately, they started understanding the words that her son was saying.
One day, little Bray saw cookie cutters, so he asked his dear if they could bake Christmas cookies. She said yes.
Jayla never baked cookies from scratch before, but she couldn’t resist her little boy asking for them, so they tried.
While they were mixing all the dry ingredients, Bray hugged his mom and said, “Thank you, mom!”
Bray’s mom was so surprised by the sweet gesture and then he did it again.
This time, Jayla stopped mixing and gave her son a warm hug as well.
Then he kissed her on the cheeks and said ‘thank you’ for the third time.
Bray held his mom’s face close to him and whispered, “I love you, mommy!”
Oh! How sweet when her son said those beautiful words to her. You can even hear the happiness in Jayla’s voice.
Then, we see her wipe her tear while saying, “I love you so much.”
She couldn’t stop giggling with happiness as her son gave her another hug.
It was all unexpected and priceless.
Jayla’s message for all parents who are going through the same situation, be strong and believe in their children.
“I went through a period where I wondered if it was my fault. Did I not do enough? I had a lot of guilt. And I know there are other moms who feel that way too,” she recalled. “That’s why I’m so open about his speech delay. We need to normalize talking about the things in our life that aren’t perfect.”
Watch the beautiful story below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
@jaylabrenae5 It’s an even sweeter moment for me knowing I used to pray for the days my son could tell me he loved me due to him being speech delayed. I’m in awe right now😭❤️ #momlife #sahm #mommoments #sweetestboy #toddlertalk #beautifulmoments ♬ janes love song – Miya
