My husband is the president in Nampa of the local affiliate of Toastmasters International. He took Jeremiah to the club today and told him he may have the chance to speak during their session of "table topics"; this is where members and guests are called upon to briefly speak about a subject impromptu for 1 to 2 minutes in front of everyone.
After his dad spoke and then finished, the table topics master turned the groups' attention to Jeremiah and asked in a big voice "Jeremiah, would you like to speak tonight?" Jeremiah turned to dad for a moment sheepishly, and then with a few prompts stood up and spoke in front of the group!
He said how he liked to do things with daddy, to hunt, fish, golf, play "ship", and other games. Jeremiah talked for an official 30 seconds (all speeches of members and guests are timed for the record), and then he finished with a flair that took the breath away from all the members: when he finished he stopped, outstretched his arm toward the podium and acknowledged the table topics master honorably saying "Mr. Table Topics master" !! The applause was stupendous and Jeremiah sat with a smile that would shatter the midnight into dawn...
There was a first-time guest (who doesn't even know of Jeremiah's autism) who was last to be called upon. When he was asked if he would speak or pass (he was a guest), he said "well, I can hardly back down now after what Jeremiah has done".....
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
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