Sandy

Back to the autism thank yous.....

When your child had autism, anything you go to do is a little more tricky.  Even going to church.  Jesus may have said, "Suffer the little children unto me...." but there are quite a few people who would prefer we suffer with our kids at home.  I remember when I signed Sam up for our church's children's liturgy program I was very nervous.  I approached the woman who was running it and explained a million things in a single breath about autism and my baby.  At the end of my ten minute ramble I asked her if she worked at our local children's hospital.  She informed me that she was in charge of the speech pathology department that specialized in developmental disorders.  At which point I asked, "So do you think you'll be ok with Sam?"  She was generous enough to respond with a very patient "yes" as opposed to a whack on the back of my head.

About that same time, Sam qualified for a county program that allowed me to take him to speech therapy.  I had no idea that autism was a specialized field.  I had no idea that speech therapists needed to have special qualifications to be in the field.  I started to figure it out when the first person I took him to said that she didn't use pictures, she just taught the kids to talk.  I thought to myself, "If it's that easy, why isn't there a line out your door?"  I also didn't like that she needed to wipe the powdered donuts off her face.  I'm just funny that way.  Since I had no idea how to find a speech pathologist, and Sandy seemed to know a lot of them, I asked her, "Can you recommend somebody for me?"  Looking back, I think she was worried about us wandering the streets in search of speech services because she hooked me up immediately with somebody she just hired.  Flash forward, that is what led to Sam getting his dynamic screen communication device.  Which is one "thank you."

Sandy took Sam under her wing at church too.  He was fully included during the liturgy program.  When he was ready, she was a key player in helping us navigate Sam making his first communion ( Click here) which is another big "thank you."

As if that weren't enough....when life's little surprises required me to decide toot sweet what I wanted to be when I grew up, Sandy was very supportive.  Twenty years ago, when I was an undergrad, I majored in fun.  I have the grades to prove it too.  Speech language pathology is a competitive field.  Undergrad programs may have 50 students.  The school may not have a graduate program at all or may take significantly fewer grad students than they do undergrad students.  Surprisingly, "You can trust me now, I drive a minivan" is not enough to get an acceptance letter.  You have to back it up with some updated grades, a good GRE score, and solid letters of recommendation.  Can you guess why I have to say "thank you" again?

The reality is that sometimes, one person can have a tremendous impact on your life in a million ways you never expected.  Sandy, thank you for helping me find Sam's first knowledgeable speech pathologist, thank you for helping him get his voice (twice!), thank you for helping me find my inner speechie side, thank you for encouraging me to apply to grad school, thank you for a letter that I'm sure helped me get into school, and thank you for the million things that you have done over the years for me that I couldn't even get to because this post is already so long!