In his novel, The Rescue, Nicholas Sparks describes the grief
Denise Holton experienced due to her child’s serious learning
disability. Denise, a young, single mother, had sacrificed
everything for her four-year-old son, Kyle. The doctor who
tested Kyle read the results of the report to Denise: “The child
is severely delayed in both receptive and expressive
language…probably central auditory processing disorder (CAPD)”
(p. 10). Taylor McAden asked Denise, “Why is language so hard
for him?” She explains: “They talk a lot about language delays
in children, but…it’s usually just one aspect of a bigger
problem—like autism.” (p. 117). Denise worked with Kyle on
language skills for at least four hours a day six days a week:
“Some days he said everything she asked him to, some days he
didn’t. Some days he could comprehend new things easily, other
days he seemed further behind than ever. Most of the time he
could answer ‘what’ and ‘where’ type questions; ‘how’ and ‘why’
questions were still incomprehensible. Conversa