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[Silence]
>>I remember a client that I worked with,
he was a young man he was in first grade
and he had just moved
to the school district where I was working.
And he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy,
was non verbal in a wheelchair.
And he had been exposed to an augmentive communication device
in his old school but he hadn't brought it with him
because it belonged to the district.
And it took us six months to go through the process
of being able to get a device for him.
When the vendor brought it in and set it on the table,
you could just see, he knew immediately what it was
and he recognized how to use it,
he began showing off for his Mom.
And communicated to her using his own little sign,
he showed her a sign that he'd been using all summer she said
and she couldn't figure out what it was and he communicated
to her that it was ice cream.
And she said he's wanted ice cream all summer
and I didn't know what it was.
A few weeks ago I was driving home and I was really kind
of buzzing from a day at work
and I thought I don't know why I am so excited and I looked back
at the day and I'd had an autistic child communicate
that he needed to go to the bathroom effectively
and appropriately for the first time.
And I had an older girl who has never spoken say her first
sounds and, you know, those types of moments,
we get to be a part of that.
We get to live in other peoples lives
for 30 minutes or an hour at a time.
And it's moments that they will remember forever
and we get to be a part of that.
And it's just, it's a blessing and a gift.