Thanks to Gary James over at A4cwsn, Andrew received his iPad2 in the mail yesterday. If you haven’t heard about Gary, then let me be the first to introduce you to a true miracle worker. A father who has special needs children of his own, Gary is truly making a difference in our children’s lives by providing as many of them as possible with this amazing technology that is giving a voice to non-verbal kids like Andrew, as well as providing special needs children everywhere the opportunity to learn and function at levels never thought possible before!

What started out as an informative website where parents could watch video reviews of apps geared towards special needs families (an invaluable resource in and of itself, as these apps can often be costly and may not be appropriate for a particular child’s needs) quickly grew to a movement, fueled primarily by Gary’s passion for enriching the lives of children in our community. In a few short months he’s managed to give out dozens of iPads and hundreds of apps, and by God’s grace, Andrew is a beneficiary of this gentle giant’s ginormous heart.

To learn more, check out this informative and detailed interview on blogtalk radio.

Then follow Gary on Facebook and Twitter and show your support for this incredible man and his vision!
So like I said, the iPad2 arrived yesterday.

It was super hard, but we waited for Daddy to come home before opening the box!

Andrew was enamored from the get go.

We’re still trying to decide on the most appropriate communication app for him, but we uploaded the ones we had purchased in anticipation of this amazing device and got to work. We started with Dexteria, an app that focuses on fine motor development, then gave Dr. Brown’s Autism Colors, Autism Letters, and Autism Shapes a try. Andrew did great and really loved the verbal praise (Dr. Brown’s apps are fond of saying “Cool Beans!) when he got the answers right. We rounded the evening out with Brain Parade’s See,Touch,Learn and had a great time looking through all of the beautiful pictures. It was an awesome way to spend the evening and I know it’s just the beginning for Andrew. I truly believe this technology is going to be revolutionary for our little boy and I promise to update you on his journey.  After all of the excitement, Andrew said “night night” to his new ipad2.

And then he went to sleep.

I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.

It was liberating and it felt so good and I think I have this year’s Christmas cards all picked out!

Thank you Gary James.

You rock.