Daniel has been really enjoying his iPad this past week and a half. Being home and iced in, it’s been nice for him to have some familiarity to his day. We just bought Stories2Learn this evening along with the iPad SD/Camera USB dongle. So a week or two, I should have a review of that.

iReward

When we first looked at the iPad option, I thought without a doubt that iEarnedThat was going to be our token board. I loved that it had puzzle pieces, ended up showing the reward, and had the ability to use it for multiple kiddos if needed. (You never know with two Autistic boys in the house!) What a shock when I bought it, added all the pictures of his rewards at school first, and showed it to his teachers. I couldn’t undo. You had to completely delete the goal and remake it each time you wanted him to work for that reward. I was devastated.

I had seen iReward, and while the only real difference I had seen in it and iEarnedThat was a price, and the neato ending with your completed prize, I had really dismissed it. How wrong I was!

This app may not be a spiffy looking, but it does many things with ease. First, it works excellent as your typical token board! At school, they’ve always used a little board with velcro’d pennies and laminated pictures for the reward. Quite honestly, this app is exactly that! Except, instead of pennies, there are stars, or smilies, or check marks. You can reset the rewards so it’s not one time use. This is great for ‘our kids’. The rewards are displayed with an image of your choice (so yes, you can add your own photos!).

It’s made it really easy to help him earn his rewards. It keeps track of the stars, so you don’t have to keep it open the whole time. And Daniel loves to click his stars (he prefers the red stars) once he’s completed his tasks. It was seamless change from lo-tech token board to this. I highly recommend it for those looking to replace their lo-tech solutions. It is available on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Grembe, the company that produces iReward, also has several other apps. They also seem to be taking baby steps to developing for Android. One only hopes that iReward will be ported over for Android users!

Grembe’s iReward Demo:

We are in day 2 of ice/weather days. The Super Bowl is in 5 days. And the power has gone out twice this morning.

The boys are handling school being out relatively fine. I taught them how to play Uno, Go Fish and Blokus yesterday. They were most excited playing Go Fish. While we played Blokus, the most amazing events occurred. Daniel lost his first tooth! I expected him to freak out when it happened, but he didn’t! On the contrary, he was ecstatic! He asked if he could take it to school to show his friends. He said the tooth fairy was going too come and give him a prize. He was even able to get across that a new tooth was coming in its place.

Unable to understand it though, Stephen freaked out because he hasn’t lost his teeth yet. A year younger, he has already seen many of his classmates lose their teeth. He has wanted to lose a tooth for two years now. I couldn’t even come up with a way to console him. “Just wait…” doesn’t cut it in Stephen’s world. Any ideas are welcome as I know Daniel will lose another tooth before Stephen does one.

This morning though has been a flop. Power went out once before the boys woke up. No school again. And I decided to sleep in and just let them play the PS3. Just a few minutes ago the power went out again. Needless to say, they both freaked! Stephen quickly recovered, but not Daniel. His game had turned off wich destroyed his world. Then he tried to turn on a light to prove to us the power want out. It didn’t come on. His iPad wasn’t charged which made everything else fall apart more. He said he wanted to go watch tv but I had to destroy that hope.

He stayed so convinced that even when the power did come back on, he refuse to believe it. He finally calmed down, but nothing I could do consoled him. Twice now, in two days, I’ve been unable to console my kids.

Now, I realize this is the first time they’ve experienced a power outage since they were toddlers, so that had a lot to do with that. And I realize it was the first lost tooth. But it is horrible to see them both upset and not even be able to help them. I rubbed their back and said it was going to be okay, but in the end, none of it helped and they calmed themselves down. Is that a testament to my parenting skills, or a sign they are growing up? I don’t know, but I don’t like it either way.

I DO NOT SUPPORT AGE OF AUTISM

Edited for my glaring mistake. (Reversed names)

I felt it was needed to place that disclaimer at the top as I know the title could lead one to believe I support them. I went for the sole purpose of planting the seed of doubt in parents who may have been on the fence. I had 3 invites on Facebook to go, so I took the opportunity even if it meant my sanity (lol, just kidding!).

Dan Olmstead started by talking about Occam’s Razor. For those that don’t know, Occam’s Razor:

is a principle which generally recommends selecting the competing hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions, when the hypotheses are equal in other respects.

OR

simplified:

Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred.

To put it short and succinctly, they believe that mercury is the simpler explanation. I don’t think they read the actual principle, as you will see later on in this piece. They compare Autism to Crop Circles to make their point of Occam’s Razor. That because genetics is complicated *They showed a slide of the complexities of genetic research into Autism* that it is more like the theory that Aliens created the Crop Circles. However, they equate Vaccines and Mercury to the two drunk guys in a truck creating them. (Note: I thought that was pretty funny that they called themselves two drunk guys.)

They then went into the fact that Kanner was the first case studies. They gave two theories why these were the first case studies:

1. That Kanner was such a genius that he finally recognized the disorder.
2. That Kanner was witnessing the first ever Autistics.

They, naturally, would believe the second. However, I propose a third theory. That there was literature on the subject dating into the 19th century which did in fact show Autism, but with no actual label placed on the characteristics. (Note: Again. They didn’t read the actual principle of Occam’s Razor that the least assumptions is the accepted one.) They go on to state that by the 1930s there had been in all of human existance been 100 billion people roughly. That if there were that many people, then surely we would have seen the 1 billion some-odd Autistics. (Hrm.. Could it be that before 1900 that life expectancy was less than 40 yrs of age? Or that many of the disabled were put into institutions? Or they went on to have happy adulthoods like happens even today?)

When it came down to it, they didn’t just blame vaccines, but mercury in any form. They started out explaining mercury and arsenic as treatments for syphilis. Then said how the researchers into syphilis treatments went to making biological weapons during WWI. Then when the war was done, that’s when they came out with thimerasol and ethyl mercury that was used as an antifungal in plants and trees. I think we all see where this is going. Mercury was put into antifungal form for crops and lumber, then of course, thimerasol in the first inoculations.

They then showed us how 8 of the Kanner 11 had been exposed to the mercury. Most of it is pure conjecture, but I do agree that the two parents that worked with the antifungal powder (one they can prove researched it, which is more than they could say for the others) could have easily brought it home. But this assumes of course that the first 11 were the first 11 in existance. The whole basis of their book and argument (as said by them!)

They then went into incidence rates rising. Lots of charts to show when incidence rates rose. Some more to talk about prevalence with special interest spent with Brick Township, NJ. It was all rather boring by this point to me. Same old arguments.

The Q&A

(This was a question during the end of the presentation and not part of the actual Q&A.)

Person 1: “Didn’t they take thimerasol out of vaccines?”

Blaxill: “No! It’s still in the flu vaccine which is given to pregnant mothers and babies as young as 6 mos.”

Me: “That’s not true. The one before age 2 does not contain thimerasol.”

Blaxill: “Yes it does.”

Me: “No it doesn’t.”

Person 2-5: “<I’m feeding your ego>

All the while, I have my hand raised. Blaxill keeps pausing at it, then turning to call on someone else. Eventually, Olmstead sees my hand and asks me. Sadly, I only got two questions in, but they were:

1. How can you say there was no Autism prior to Kanner when Dr. Down (of Down’s syndrome fame, 19th century) wrote about very distinct Autism characteristics?

• There may have been characteristics, but you can’t say that it was Autism because they don’t present particular cases.
• Europe was in the industrial revolution and this was the first time Down’s was reported.
• It might have been Fragile X and comes from the same time.

(Basically, just because it looks like Autism, smells like Autism, and quacks like Autism doesn’t mean it’s Autism. It could have been Down’s and Fragile X babies showing Autism characteristics. And it’s quite possible that Down’s and Fragile X started because of Europe’s introduction to the industrial revolution.)

2. Can you turn it to slide #26? Which one is it? You had numbers, can you switch it? Describe it and we’ll know what you’re talking about. The one with prevalence from around 1950 to present day. Yes? (Me getting annoyed that he wouldn’t switch it for those WITHOUT photographic/cinematic memory!) What do you say is the reason for the rates changing? I noticed the incidence rose after DSM revisions (~1984 and ~1995).

No. We went with current DSM criteria. (Well how are we supposed to know that if you refuse to go back to the slide and show us your data?)

At this point, he cut me off saying he needed to get to other people’s questions. I had several other questions:

1.  What is your explanation for the rate “increasing” even with no thimerasol?

2. What do you think of the survey out of England that shows rate of Autism in Adult Men to be roughly 1%? (Not including anyone who had mental health or were institutionalized)

3. What do you think you’re doing by saying Autism is either defective or sick? What do you think how you affect those on the Spectrum by characterizing it like that?

4. Why do you think that Autism is just seen as “quirky” and “antisocial” adults? Do you realize there’s a lot of us who weren’t diagnosed until adulthood who are significantly disabled?

5. What’s your explanation for the same data being shown in Asperger’s studies as Kanner’s studies done roughly at the same time? Or the text that shows Asperger describing Autism in the early 1920s?

—-

The dinner afterwards ended up me talking with Olmstead, a close acquaintance and another “Warrior Mom”. I finally got some of them to concede that at least in my family, it does seem to be genetic. Olmstead asked what my dad did, I can only assume to figure out how I became AS and my brother ASD.

I didn’t get home until 11am. I couldn’t calm down until 1am. And I woke up at 7am. While that’s plenty early for most, it’s not for me. So I’m leaving you all here. Hope you enjoy my wrap up of last evening.

Today is day 2 of school for the second semester. I’m happy to report that Daniel’s regular daily schedule has been set up in First-Then. The Morning Routine that came with the app has been modified to what we use. I will be adding his After School and Bedtime Routines to First-Then this afternoon. I’ve been setting up his Token board in iEarnedThat. We have tried using My Choices Board, but have decided that Daniel’s language skills are past the point of needing it. Though, I do plan on using it when he becomes frustrated as those are times he loses his communication skills.

I will be meeting with his Special Ed team lead as well as his instructional aide to train them how to use it throughout his day. As soon as they have a form to remove liability to the school, he will be able to start taking it to school. Within the next few weeks, we will be adding Stories2Learn and I will train his Speech-Language Pathologist at school on how to create those.

Daniel has used his iPad daily, even out and about. We did run into an unforeseen issue when his internet connection dropped out unexpectedly, resulting in a meltdown.  But we all know that inspite of it being a game changer, it does not mean the iPad is fool proof for all situations. I will be working on getting a few movies converted to watch on the iPad so we won’t run into that problem again.

I will update again after the training session on Friday. For now, thanks to all who have helped. If you’d like to continue to support iHelp Special Needs get iPads in the hands of Disabled children, please visit their website. All Apps linked above also credit their company. If you’re a parent of a Special Needs child, iHelp also has a giveaway for an iPod Touch 3G (previous version). I can’t thank Jennifer enough for all the work she put into helping us get the iPad, especially in time for Christmas!

To give a timeline, April 2010, iPad + Wifi was unleashed upon the world; Daniel turned 6 yrs old; and what was to come was still unknown. In June, Shannon Rosa wrote on BlogHer about the iPad and her son Leo. Shannon had had the amazing luck to win an iPad through a school fundraiser. From then, I researched and researched as much as I could about the iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and the apps to go along with that help children with Autism. My husband and I also sat down and decided this year for Christmas he was going to have something to help him. We researched all of our options.

Then the last quarter of this year started. We realized that we were going to have to move out of my mom’s house. The environment had not only become unhealthy for he and I, but also for Daniel and Stephen. So all the money we had saved had to go to the move. While it was the best decision I ever made, it was also the most difficult as it came down to spending the whole of our Christmas savings. So I started searching for other options. I contacted Julie Liberman, SLP through Twitter, despite knowing her in real life, about if certain grant programs would fund an iPad. The resounding answer was “NO!!!!”

Julie didn’t stop looking and listening for a way we could get an iPad. Then one day, Shannon Rosa posted A Guide to getting your Autistic child an iPad. She first pointed to HollyRod4Kids iPad Fundraiser (think about donating to this worthy cause). I scoured their website and realized we didn’t qualify. Daniel was verbal, and living on my husband’s income, we didn’t make under the $35k/yr required. But hope was not lost. Shannon detailed that there were sites that you can fund raise on your own. I looked at both she recommended and chose our option. I talked to my husband about it, and he said that he was okay with it.

Thanks to my readership here, my contacts within our local Autism community, plus good ol’ fashioned friends and family, we started to raise money. We started with $25, then $45, before we knew it, we were above $200! I tweeted, I blogged, I updated my facebook and wrote “Note” after “Note”. I was surprised at the people who took notice. There were so many along the way that retweeted, posted the story to their news feeds. I was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of those in the Autism community that reached out.

Then the best news yet, iHelpforSpecialNeeds added me to Twitter. At first I thought it was an app, so I went to research. They’re better than the best app! They are a start up company helping families raise funds for an iPad for their Special Needs child. It wasn’t limited to nonverbal, or income, or Autism, Downs or MR. I wrote in and told them of our efforts. As we kept exchanging emails, it was decided that Daniel would be their Featured Recipient. Through Jennifer, the wonderful lady behind this start up, we will be able to get Daniel his iPad for Christmas! Thanks to GoodKarma Applications, we will have the First-Then App to load onto it. And in the weeks to come, we will get more apps to help Daniel through each day.

And as the title says, this is only the beginning! We will sit down with the Special Ed staff the first week back to school to train them to use the iPad for easy transitions. We’ll help him learn to navigate it over the rest of our break. Don’t worry. We will have plenty of pictures of him opening it on Christmas morning. And I will keep everyone updated on his progress with it. What an amazing journey, and this is only the beginning!

As you all know, I’ve been working hard to get Daniel an iPad, hopefully by Christmas. Since starting, we have raised over $300 to this end. There are other people who have said they will be donating, but at this time, we are no where near the $600 needed to buy the device, insurance, case and apps. We will be contributing to the cost as well, but we don’t have the $300 to finish out the cost.

Imagine my surprise, when last week, when iHelp for Special Needs (@ihelpspecneeds) started following me on twitter! I’m sure @SpeechTXJulie had something to do with that as she’s the one who showed me how to get started on this journey. So I wrote to the lovely people at iHelp about Daniel’s story and I received an email back saying that they thought my children were beautiful and that I was a great mom for thinking outside of the box! They want to feature Daniel’s on their website, even!

I know it’s hard this time of year to give without receiving something in return, so instead, for those still shopping for gifts, I ask that you shop through iHelp. The donations will go to fund Daniel’s iPad still. I know in my “There’s an App for That!” series, I’ve given links to buy apps. If you chose to buy apps, I’d also appreciate you purchasing through iHelp, as they have a great extensive list of Apps for Special Needs and a portion of those purchases will also go to the iPad fund.

I hope I’m not upsetting any of my readers by doing all of this. I just really feel that Daniel will benefit so greatly from having this device. He’s an amazing kiddo! And I know that he can do great things so long as he’s given the right support!

If you are a family with a Special Needs child reading this, know that iHelp for Special Needs wants to hear your story too, and to help you get your child an iPad. As well, if you qualify, please think about going through the HollyRod Foundation. If you’d rather support a nonprofit to get a tax deduction, I’d also recommend the HollyRod Foundation at this time.

I do apologize for the delay in getting this out. I have been working hard unpacking, with physical therapy, at the boys’ school, and trying to find sources to get Daniel an iPad.

When we left off, I presented you with apps to help children with Special Needs. Some of the suggestions were for apps made specifically for this population, and others that are meant for general use. So I hope that you all found those apps useful.

Today is more for the Autistic parent reading this blog. These are apps I either use, or feel would be useful for people with other skills sets than myself. While some of these may be used in children and teens, I feel that have greater appeal to adults.

1. Round to It – ($2.99) – This simple To Do app has multiple list support, options for creating gift lists, jotting down notes, and emailing those lists. It also shows things that are overdue and upcoming. So if you have trouble with executive functioning, it makes it really simple to look at and prioritize.
2. All Done! – ($1.99) – Another To Do list app. I think this is more for people who have a hard time with a lot of bright colors and getting overstimulated. I prefer the color options to Round to It, but the neutral tones with this app certainly will appeal to other users.
3. Relax – ($2.99) – This one is going to be useful for those of you who get overly anxious. It gives you a scene to look at and relaxing sounds to go with it. There are a variety of options (9) for whatever scene you find relaxing. They also update it with new scenes, including accepting requests from users.
4. Groceries Grocery List – ($0.99) – Probably the most ingenious app I have seen yet! This app lets you customized to your local grocery store and price! It has commonly bought groceries, gives you total cost of the groceries you need, and flags coupon or sale items. Absolutely amazing to me!
5. iPrompt – (FREE) – This is more for those of you who do any speeches or presentations. It’s a teleprompter. I love this option as I tend to shuffle and shake pages when I try to speak. So having this as an option is rather nice. It even has the option to control the speed at which your text scrolls, so no shuffling or pushing your pages to find where you’re at. Love this app, especially with as many speaking/listening sessions as I’ve attended thus far.

These are all I have for “adult only.” I’ll bring you another installment of There’s an App for That! (Everyone Edition) later this week. Hope you enjoy these!

And boy are there! In my last blog, I listed just a short snippet of apps available for iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad that help children on the Spectrum. I thought it’d be wise to list more, those for Autistic children (this post), those for Autistic adults (next post) and those that can be used by all (last post). If I offend by suggesting something as just for children that can be used by Autistic adults, I do apologize. I’m going more “generally” for kids than for adults. So without further ado, my list.

For Autistic Children:

1. Free Apps
   1. Autism Xpress – An app that shows basic faces. The colors are vibrant and the pictures, inviting.
   2. Talking Tom Cat – This cat copies everything spoken to it, then repeats it aloud for you to hear.
   3. Model Me Going Places – A group of simple social stories for your child to read about going to different places. While I think the concept is good, I prefer the customizable social stories other apps (below) provide.
2. $10 and Under Apps
   1. PBS Kids – My Journal – ($1.99) – This app has two parts. Created by PBS Kids under the Mister Rodgers Neighborhood Brand, this little app has stories that can be read and have multiple choice answers about responding to different things. Then you can also have your child create their own personal journal entries with simple words and pictures.
   2. First Then Visual Schedule – ($9.99) – Allows creation of personal picture schedules. It has some preset images, but you can also talk your own, and add your own voice over. Also the layout is visually appealing to me.
   3. iReward Chart – ($2.99) – There is a lite version to this app, so if you’re not sure, you can always try that out! It’s a chore + reward chart. The free version only allows one child to be add, the paid version you can have multiple children. As well, you can have as many or as little chores as you think your child can handle. Each are fully customizable, as well as the rewards.
   4. Social Stories – ($6.99) – This app contains 2 sets of 6 stories for young and advanced learners. There is also an option to create your own, but I suggest using their Stories 2 Learn app for that (below).
   5. Kindergarten.com’s ABA Cards – ($0.99-$1.99) – I’m giving you their website as they have a whole series of ABA apps for identification, problem solving, receptive learning and more. Each type is a new app, which means while they are each priced low, if you get all of them, it will be over $10.
   6. Larry the Talking Bird – ($4.99) – Much like Talking Tom Cat, Larry repeats what you say. You can also play a tune on the piano and Larry will sing it back to you. I’m not sure that extra feature is worth the price tag for me, but it might be for you if you have a musical child.
   7. iWriteWords – ($2.99) – There’s a limit to the preset words, as well, you can’t work on a single alphabet letter, only as the alphabet as a whole. However, that said, this app (haven’t tried) seems like a good investment if your child is still learning to form letters correctly. They also seem to write “correctly” much like the Handwriting Without Tears program. It also gives more spots to hit than HWT does. Definitely recommend.
   8. Sight Word Flash Cards – ($0.99) – Otherwise known as Dolche words, this app has flash cards for most readily used Sight Words. This is great for beginning readers, or those having trouble with spelling.
   9. Tell Time – ($1.99) – This simple app has 3 stages of learning to tell time. We haven’t gotten to this yet for either of the boys, so I have not used it yet. However, recent discussions on some lists made me aware how difficult it is for non-visual learners to learn to tell time. For those, I think this app would help gain that skill.
   10. Sentence Builder – ($3.99) – With 3 skill levels, pictures to help guide, this app helps learn to make complete, and grammatically correct sentences. It offers a range of pronouns, adjectives and verbs to construct a sentence.
   11. My Choices Board – ($9.99) – I had not seen this before, but very much want to use it now! My Daniel uses choice boards all day at school and at home. It requires us to take a picture, laminate, then apply velcro to any new toy or game he likes. This app you can do the same thing without creating binder after binder of PECS and pictures. If you’ve ever had to go through that process you know how tedious it is. If not, consider yourself lucky! At least now I know “An App can do that too!”
   12. abc PocketPhonics – ($0.99) – Many schools now days require their children to learn both Sight words and by Phonics. This app has children listen to words and pick out the sounds they hear to spell. I think the game-style interface makes this less grueling and instead makes it fun for children to learn.
3. Over $10 Apps
   1. Look 2 Learn – ($24.99) – This AAC app is listed under for children as I think some of the other apps are a bit more robust for adults. However, it does allow for customization, adding your own pictures, and adding a voice.
   2. Stories 2 Learn – ($13.99) – Unlike Social Stories (above), S2L is solely for parents and teachers to create social stories. The use of your own pictures, words, and voice create truly customized social stories for any use.

This is it for now. My next installment is my very short list of apps for adults on the Spectrum. Stay tuned! And please take the time to donate to our iPad fund for Daniel. Though I only listed one above that I expressly want for him, many more of these would also be useful for him, both at home and at school.

In my last blog, I spoke of our accident, our move, and how thankful I am for what I have. But the grim reality is setting in. We have next to no money for Christmas as all the money we saved now has to go for the apartment. The move is very needed because of tension brewing within my mother’s house. With the boys both slightly regressing, my need for more therapy, and many other things, we decided it was more important to move out than to have a large Christmas.

The one thing we were hoping to get for my Daniel was an iPad or other tablet. We had already spoken to his teachers and the principal, and they all gave the thumbs up for him to bring it to school and use it as part of his program. This was a huge hurdle we managed to jump over to now have no way to provide him with the tablet.

Many of you may have read Shannon Rosa’s blog on how the iPad has helped her son Leo. As well, there’s a wealth of other articles (some chronicled on our fundraiser page) on the benefits of having an iPad as there are many applications for social skills, sensory skills and even adaptive curriculums. Most prominently known are the Augmentative and Assisted Communication apps as well. There are groups who are raising money for iPads for those with AAC needs (see Holly Rod Foundation and Danny’s Wish), but for children like Daniel, who is verbal but could use the help for transition, social and sensory needs, there is no place for families to turn.

Shannon Rosa’s latest blog suggests setting up your own fundraiser campaign. While I normally don’t like to ask other people for money, with our current situation being as it is, and how much I *know* the iPad will benefit Daniel, I have chosen to create a fundraiser. For those of us on the Spectrum, we know what technology has done for many of us. We are better connected, feel more at easy, and even more productive and independent. With the amount of apps created for those on and off the Spectrum, I know we will be giving Daniel those same tools to succeed.

Stories2Learn helps create Social Stories. iWriteWords gives a simple interface to learn to write correctly (and much in the same form as Writing without Tears). First Then Visual Schedule gives an easily recognizable visual schedule so that there is no “unknown” variable to what’s coming next. iRewardChart helps teach doing chores and creates a reward system that is fully customizable for each child’s needs. I could probably keep going for paragraph after paragraph with all the apps that have been created, but I think I will leave it at these.

If you feel you want to and CAN donate, please visit our GiveForward donation page. Or donate straight from the widget on the right side of the screen. Thank you for anyone and everyone who’s taken the time to read this, whether or not you are able to donate.

It’s been nearly a month since I last posted, and I do apologize for that. A couple of weeks ago we were in a car accident. While none of us had to be in the hospital, that doesn’t mean we weren’t injured. My husband and I have sustained injuries to our back and neck. But it is Thankgiving, and I feel I must give my thanks.

First, I thank my husband for standing beside me, no matter what happens. While this is traditional in any marriage, there are so many who do not stick by their spouses. I feel truly honored and loved that you stand beside me.

Second, I thank my kids for trying so hard. Despite it not being apparent to me, many people have seen growth in my children. This is great. It means we’re doing the right thing. But when people who haven’t ever met your kids say how well off they are, I must tip my hat off to the boys. While my husband and I support them, they are the ones making the strides. So thank you to the two of you.

Next, I’m thankful that we are finally going to move from my mother’s house. It’s a step we’ve needed to make for a while and kept getting caught up in the “Is this good for…..?” game. So in a week’s time we will be in an apartment where we plan to stay for the next 2 yrs to get our credit score up, and then purchase a home.

Last, I’m thankful to all of you in the Autistic community. You have stood behind me, picked me up, and urged me on. Without all of you, I wouldn’t have the courage to write my book, advocate for the sake us all, or change the world. And I do believe that we are all going to be able to change the world, one community at a time.

So once again, have a great and happy Thanksgiving!