What 1 Girl Realized About Her Nonverbal Classmate That Many Completely "Overlooked"

Carly Jade is a sixth grader in Houston, and even though this girl is nonverbal, she's still like many other kids her age: she wants friends and for her peers to accept her. However, according to Carly's mom, Shannon Sommers, these simple yet paramount wants are often "overlooked" because people either don't realize or don't do anything about it.

"Carly may not be able to speak her mind but she definitely shows her feelings with gestures and sounds, she also hears and understands what is said around her," Shannon wrote on Facebook.

It only took one kind girl to truly see Carly and make a major difference for her and her family. Shannon posted a video of the pair at Chuck E. Cheese's that captures not only Carly's pure happiness while hanging out with her first friend but also the girls' special connection.

"When we learned of a classmate, named Zoe, who took Carly under her wings, we were more than overjoyed!" Shannon wrote. "We share this video to show everyone just how important it is to treat everyone equal . . . and how it captures what words cannot describe."

Zoe, who is in the seventh grade, first met Carly during a classroom visit designed to create inclusion and the pair instantly clicked. "It's hard for [Carly] to hold her head up sometimes . . . and she's uncomfortable sometimes because she doesn't know her surroundings, and she held her head up high with [Zoe] and she responds to Zoe, because Zoe respects her and she feels that," Shannon told KPRC 2. "She's not awkward in front of her. She listens. She watches, and she imitates her so that she knows she is understanding what she's saying and that takes — that's hard for me to do sometimes. And to watch someone who literally was blessed into our lives, who just knows how to do it, is just amazing."