eSpecially Ben

Inspirational and beautiful story. The Long Brothers

In the last week, my husband lost his jacket and cell phone and Logan lost his winter coat. I have looked in lost and found at Logan's school, called lost and found at Ryan's school and I have grumbled and mumbled quite a bit over these missing items. Today I went to the YMCA's lost and found, hoping to find Logan's jacket. As I complained to the person at the service desk about my family's great skill for losing things, I watched her take out items from the large bin. Something caught my eye. No, it could not be. "Uh, could I take a look at that gray jacket? I think that one is mine." Sure enough, my gray zip-up hoodie was in the lost and found bin. As always, I am humbled...and glad to find my favorite jacket.

I have so much to write, but I think I have been afraid that if I do put it down, it will be real and perhaps too overwhelming for me to deal with right now. It has been almost 2 months since Ben has started using the NOVA Chat 10 , a communication device on an Android platform. Like an iPad, but different. The results we are seeing from Ben using the device have been incredible. He is making choices about his meals, activities and location. Having these options and ability to choose must be liberating for him. When we decided to order it for him, this independence was all I had in mind. Then, a few weeks before Christmas, Ben did a curious thing: using his hands and feet, he put down his two foot plates on his wheelchair deliberately. From then on, I asked him to do the same thing and he would. This piece of communication resulting in an action started me thinking. We added reading comprehension questions to the device. We read a children's board book and then asked Ben a