'My son has an amazing mind' - mother explains incredible way she communicates with son born with cerebral palsy
Chantal Bryan, 40, knew her son Jonathan, 12, couldn’t speak, but she had a gut instinct there was a way to communicate with him… My son Jonathan started secondary school last year, and like any parent, I was anxious. But I needn’t have worried – he’s already a bit famous there. He came home recently and told me about some boys being jealous of the attention he got from Year 8 girls! Jonathan is bright – cleverer than me – and his poetry is amazing. But he’s not a wise sage all the time, he’s a naughty 11-year-old underneath it all, who is fun to be with. Although it could’ve all been so different, he was silent for so long. In 2006, Jonathan was born with cerebral palsy and renal failure. We’d been driving to a country pub and another car smashed into us, and although I was fine, it caused a placental abruption and Jonathan was being deprived of oxygen. He had to be delivered by emergency caesarean and was born blue and lifeless. In the first few days he didn’