Jade’s mission to help Christian, 3, talk to the world
A TEENAGER who taught her “locked-in” little brother to talk is on a mission to make sure he can communicate with the world.
Christian Kilduff, three, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and a brain injury after he was born not breathing.
His mother Diana was told he would never walk, talk and would have a poor quality of life – but with the help of his sister Jade, 17, he is proving them all wrong.
Jade enrolled in an evening class to learn sign language and has since taught him 70 signs and even spoken words. But that was not enough for Jade and she records daily videos with Christian, where they teach 17,000 Facebook fans a day.
She is petitioning the Government for sign language lessons in every mainstream school, so Christian can communicate with more people.
Jade, from Heywood, Rochdale, said: “My dream is for Christian to grow up and speak to whoever he wants. Even if everyone just learnt the basic signs at least. I’d hate a world for Christian where only a select few people knew enough signs to understand him. It must be so isolating.
“Because he’s so full of life and smiley people do approach him when we go out to the supermarket but then they realise they have no way of communicating with him. It’s then down to me to communicate between them which is fine but he’s not always going to want me to be his voice.
“I am determined to make a difference in the world for my brother and other children and adults with learning difficulties. He is our little miracle and he amazes us every day.”
Christian could not make any signs or words until Jade took up the course at her village hall, so she could teach her brother, then aged one.
She said: “It took him a while. The first word he learned was ‘finished’.”
She set up online learning channel SignAlongWithUs, which teaches followers a daily word.
In two months, Jade and Christian have amassed more than 17,000 followers and thousands of views on their daily videos.
Jade said: “I realised whenever people met Christian they would always ask me how to sign. I started filming to show a friend the basics. Then a family friend said it would be good to start a page so other people can learn.” Jade teaches little brother Christian sign language