AN ‘UNSTOPPABLE’ youngster has answered his parents’ Christmas wishes by learning to talk.

Kelly and Ivan Rosbotham were told by doctors that their son Finley would never be able to walk, crawl or speak after he was born with part of his brain missing.

But the two-year-old has defied massive odds by speaking his first words - as well as starting to walk and run.

Finley now has a vocabulary of twenty words, including ‘Mama’, ‘Dada’ and ‘Lala’ - which is what he calls his big sister Ellie.

The Accrington youngster also says ‘ho ho ho’ whenever he sees Father Christmas and points to baubles on the tree and says ‘bobble’.

He is now to start nursery in January for a few hours a week to see how well he interacts with mainstream youngsters.

Finley, who has severe Cerebral Palsy, was born paralysed down one side and doctors warned that his development would be limited.

Last year specialists were concentrating on teaching the youngster sign language and using a computer to communicate, as his mouth muscles were not developed enough to speak.

But now they are amazed he has begun to speak.

His family attribute his success overcoming his condition to therapy at Accrington’s Holly House, which is where Finley will continue to spend most of his week.

Mum Kelly said: “It is such a massive turnaround from what they were talking about last year.

“They were telling us he would have to rely on using his iPad to talk to us and sign language. He will still use the iPad a bit, but now he can use it at nursery until his speech catches up with the others.

“The sign language has definitely brought him on, because it gave him a way to communicate.

“However it’s not the best method because he struggles to use his left side. Walking, too has given him loads of confidence and he is even running now.

“When he began to talk, we could not believe it.

“In September he could not even say one word, now he says twenty. He has made all our Christmas wishes come true. He is absolutely unstoppable.”

Finley’s severe cerebral palsy meant he could not sit or hold up his head for the first year of his life. Doctors also warned his parents Kelly and Ivan that the two-year-old would never be able to move the left side of his body to walk or crawl.

The couple were also told it was doubtful that he would ever talk because a section of his brain that controlled motor functions as well as speech was missing.

Finley however began intensive physiotherapy, plus speech therapy, at Holly House.

Since making startling progress with his speech, therapists have drafted up a new 12 month programme aimed at developing his speech abilities further.

Therapists say young children can train other parts of their brain to do the job of missing or damaged sections.

Holly House, based at Accrington’s Acorn Health Centre offers special tools and a play centre geared towards children with special needs. Staff work with the child and teach parents play techniques to use at home to push children’s abilities to their fullest potential.