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'I am ugly crying:' 5-year-old with autism says first word in McDonald's drive-thru

A mom in Athens, Alabama shared a video of her daughter’s first word on Facebook in a viral post. Her daughter, 5-year-old Taylor Blankenship, has non-verbal autism.  

ATHENS, Ala. — A 5-year-old girl in Athens, Alabama, gave her mom the surprise of a lifetime during a trip through a McDonald’s drive-thru.

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Briana Blankenship shared the video of her daughter, Taylor, saying the word “mama” for the first time.

Blankenship said that Taylor has nonverbal autism and has never spoken until now:

I am ugly crying in the McDonald's parking lot and the employees probably think I'm crazy. In the drive thru I suddenly heard Taylor say MAMA. For those of you that don't know. Taylor is 5 and has nonverbal autism. She has NEVER said a word.EVER. As soon as she said it I grabbed my phone and started recording. I'm pretty sure I held up the drive thru line but there was no way I wasn't getting proof of this. I can't explain how unbelievably grateful and ecstatic I am right now. #AutismAwareness #BigWin *Edit* I need to add here that I own the rights to this video.

Posted by Briana Blankenship on Monday, April 30, 2018

“I am ugly crying in the McDonald's parking lot and the employees probably think I'm crazy. In the drive thru I suddenly heard Taylor say MAMA.

“For those of you that don't know. Taylor is 5 and has nonverbal autism. She has NEVER said a word. EVER.

“As soon as she said it I grabbed my phone and started recording. I'm pretty sure I held up the drive thru line but there was no way I wasn't getting proof of this. I can't explain how unbelievably grateful and ecstatic I am right now. #AutismAwareness #BigWin.”

The 5-year-old has been in speech therapy since she was 3 years old, WXIN reports. Blankenship said the next word the family hopes to hear is "dada."