This Wednesday my young son’s school will be holding a jog-a-thon fundraiser, with 25% of proceeds going towards the purchase of iPads for children with autism.

As the head of the parent organization that’s spearheading the fundraiser, I wanted to reach out to the kids at this tiny private school in the heart of Orange County, California, and hopefully convince them that true change begins with compassion and understanding, and inspire them to make a difference in another child’s life.

The kids range from preschool to seniors in high school, so I needed a way to appeal to all of them.

Slideshow time!

With some help from my husband, and some adorable children belonging to some amazing fellow autism parents and bloggers, I was able to put something together that I think resonated with the student body.
Special thanks go out to my husband, who helped me edit and put together the final touches, as well as to some amazing fellow autism parents who sent me touching, beautiful photos of their incredible children using their iPads:

Jim Walter of Just a Lil Blog

Flannery Sullivan of Living on the Spectrum:  The Connor Chronicles

Lexi Sweatpants Magnusson of Mostly True Stuff

Sunday Stilwell of Adventures in Extreme Parenthood

Kristin McCarthy Macchi of Running to be Still

Beth Glidden Andersen of  Maternal Instincts…flying by the seat of my pants

Anne Spence of Glass Half Full

The iPad has truly been a miracle in our non-verbal son Andrew’s life and he continues to learn to express himself in leaps and bounds with this priceless technology.

Seeing this device in the hands of those whose lives could forever be changed by this powerful tool would be a dream come true.

There are so many more Andrews out there, and they deserve a voice too.

 

Kids helping kids.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

 

 

 

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13 Replies to “Autism and iPads slideshow: Inspiring young people to make a difference”

  1. It was beautiful! You did a wonderful job, and thanks to everybody that helped you! I was so touched by the slideshow…it really got me crying! But again you have that power, you make me cry pretty easily with your beautiful words! :o)

  2. This is beautiful. Thank you so much for including my son! I hope you raise TONS and TONS of money to help so many children. When we got Nik’s iPad, his whole world changed, expanded.

  3. BEAUTIFUL…. just beautiful!! I agree with Geovana. I am constantly in awe of your gifts and talents – as a writer, mom, and seemingly all around cool chick!! This is such a moving video and I was in tears by the end as well. I hope that your tireless efforts continue to be blessed. 🙂 Thanks for all that you do to give children with autism (and their parents) a voice.

  4. Beautiful! What an amazing job you and Mike did on this slide show! I have seen first hand the positive impact that an iPad has had on the high school students at my school. I wish you the very best for a successful jog-a-thon!

  5. Hi Jo! Izzy and I just watched this together and we both thought it was amazing. Just beautiful! We wish you all the best with your fundraiser. What a lucky group, with you as their leader.

  6. Awesome. Wonderful to see such a great use of technology. Where can I send a donation. And where does the othe 75 percent Go? To other school needs?

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