Was so!

Sometimes, autism makes its way through the woods in tennis shoes, other times, it stomps around in giant's boots. It has been stomping lately and a visit last week to the DAN doctor showed some concerns that her gut is not healing like it should be. That being as it is, I have once again been divinely startled. Those times that God flashes out his love to me like a strobe light always takes me off guard. I am always surprised that He could care. I have been trying to convince everyone around me that angels were sent to aid me last week, but no one believes me....ok, it could have just been plain ordinary humans doing something they didn't understand the significance of...but really isn't angels so much more, well, startling?

Last week, I had to make it to the grocery store in order to get something to eat for supper. It was 4:00 in the day and by this time, Skye, my two year old, is far beyond the reaches of good behaviour. It is also a difficult time for Scarlet. I went to Price Choppers because it was close and cheap, unfortunately, I forgot to secure a 25 cent piece as dues for my cart. I never have the right change when I am at those pay for your buggy kind of places. I did manage to find dimes and nickels enough to equal 25 cents and I was hoping to find someone who would trade money with me. This particular afternoon, there were not many people in the parking lot and the carts were located just outside of the store. A couple of people came in and out, but I was still trying to unload my girls without incident. As I was mustering up the courage to take on this shopping task, mentally working out all the possibilities, I noticed a lone FREE cart sitting sideways on the sidewalk. Instantly I sped into action, whipping of the seatbelts in Skye's car seat, whisking her like a monkey to my hip, running to Scarlet's side and heaving her out of the door with my free hand. This was the amazing race and I was going to win......a free grocery cart!!!! Except, a nice little lady, who had no one to help out of her car, managed to rejoice in the conquest of the aforementioned grocery cart just as I rounded the corner of my van yelling "quick feet!" to Scarlet.

I was not able to corner anyone for change so I decided that I should just hurry through the store, get my three items, and get home....maybe not a realistic challenge. I realized as I grabbed the grocery basket, that I now had no hand left for Skye. Scarlet can never be let loose in a grocery store, it is certain mayhem. Skye, is two and very capricious. We tried getting pears into a plastic bag, Skye who I just discovered was shoeless, was running around looking for things to eat on the floor, Scarlet was looking for stray produce to grasp with her eagle like swiftness and I was remembering why it is impossible to get pears into a plastic bag with just one hand. The realization was dawning that if I kept this endeavor up, I would likely be legend in Price Chopper lore for many years to come.

I let go of Scarlet in order to at least fill my bag with pears, she ran away, I ran after her leaving Skye squatting on the floor eating a grape and looking for a more interesting place in the store to discover. I grabbed Scarlet, tugged her over to her sister, threw skye on my hip, scolding her as I looked for my displaced basket and decided never to try this again. I was looking to make my way out of the store and was planning to stand and beg on the sidewalk until I found a buggy. I felt like crying, but big girls don't....I should have been praying, but God saw me without my screaming....or maybe he just heard the desperation inside my chest. At any rate, two women entered the store with a grocery cart and looked to be interested in shopping. I saw them because they were in the way of me getting out of the store. I was going to go beyond them, when they promptly left the buggy where it was and exited the store... I felt like a kid who had just found a 20 dollar bill laying on the side of the road. I looked around, looked around again, and realized that this was just a gift. It was God being God. I was divinely startled. I feel like I should have it tatood on my forehead "divinely startled". So, what do you think, angel or human....I've got my suspicions.

Springing forward

Life has been in fast forward these last couple of months. The introduction of the voice output device or "GoTalk" as it is named has been a welcomed and transformative addition to Scarlet's augmentative communication. Right now, I am the only one holding her back. As soon as Scarlet's speech therapists gave us the necessary pages to add to the device, Scarlet has sprinted out of the communication gate, never to return again. At first all Scarlet wanted was t.v. Now she is actively requesting, "eat", "drink", "ball", "brush", "book", "music" and "washroom". When Scarlet requests "book" I place a page into the device with pictures of her favorite books. When she presses those pictures, the titles of the book is said for her. She is beyond excited about this. At night, when we usually do our longer book readings she looks for the GoTalk as we near the end of her book in order to make another choice. It is funny, I knew which books were her favorite, but I didn't know which ones among those favorites would be her prefered books. It is just nice to find those little things out!
In addition, she is now able to choose which movies she would like to watch. She was getting horribly frustrated with her sing-along-song videos as they were always what we played for her. They had been her favorite for a while, but now, she wants Tinkerbell or Elmo. It is so exciting to watch her dance around with excitement at the power of choice.
If I were able to just let her request and immediately respond to her requests (which must be done in the initial stages in order for the device to be motivating) I feel sure that Scarlet would be communicating non-stop, just like her brother and sister. The great thing about GoTalk is that there is no whine voice... my silver lining.
An amazing thing is starting to happen with Scarlet this past week. As she is pushing the button she is starting to say the word represented on that button. "Ball" has come out very clearly and today she said the "T" part of the word "t.v." before pushing the button. We ran all the way downstairs to the "t.v."! I should also mention that she is using the GoTalk at school as well.
Scarlet is doing so well with the device that her speech therapist has ordered the next one up for her. She should be getting a better device in July and the great news is that it is leased through the government, so there is no cost to us. This device will allow Scarlet to have more communication capability. We have neared capacity with the GoTalk.
I can only say thank you to God for the progress we have been seeing, it is so exhilerating to watch Scarlet take off in this area.
Another great thing has been happening. Kinark, the government agency who will eventually fund Scarlet's therapy, has told me that she is now only number 10 on their wait list. This could still take months, but the end is near. Scarlet has been on this wait list since she was three years old. She will be six years old in July. This will mean that at least 20 hours of IBI therapy will be funded by Kinark!!! This is more therapy than we are now receiving. The more IBI the better for progress.
It has been such an amazing process to take each month and pray, saying "God, you know what we need!" then watch Him prompt someone to take care of Scarlet's therapy. He does truly take care of our needs through his people. We are humbled and awed every time.