Giving Children with Autism a Voice

If you have followed me on my blog, or on Facebook, you know that Autism as touched me in a deep and personal way.  My son, Collin, has Autism.  Autism is a part of our everyday life, be it good or bad, for 15 years, Autism is a real life factor for us.

I struggled writing this post....truly struggled...it is a very personal subject to me, not personal, in that I want to "hide" it from anyone, I am an open book, ask me about me and my son, and I will tell you what I know, what I have learned, and how I deal with it.

It is personal to me, because in many ways, Autism, is my "normal'....it is just who I am, it is what I do, it is why I do the things I do on a daily basis....it is second nature to me...it is hard to explain...really hard to explain...but I will do my very best.

What is so hard for me is that Collin is on the "high" end of the spectrum, while he does have is little "Collinisms", he for the most part, is a pretty typical.  Well, typical if you consider Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, typical, or Forrent Gump, or Rainman.  He is just Collin, we love and except him, for what he is, who he is, for what he can do, and what he can not do.

What makes this sooo hard.....is that I feel GUILT....deep seated, real guilt....Guilt because, I know how very lucky I am.  Lucky to have a child with Autism, who CAN talk....who has had years and years of Speech Therapy to help him "find" the words to communicate.  It breaks my heart to know that there are mommies out there who will never hear those words, that every mommy deserves to hear ' I LOVE YOU MOMMY!"

Heart broken...totally and completely HEART BROKEN.


BUT...this post is not about me....it is not about Collin....it is about

GIVING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM A VOICE!

Ten days ago, I received a message from Melissa, she asked for my help, and after hearing about the program she helps run...I jumped in with both feet...yelled from the roof top...and did all I could to help her, to help children with Autism, and to help those mommies hear the words they deserve to hear.

Melissa helps run an organization called  Cookies for Ipads:giving children with autism a voice!

They are a group of mommies, who bake cookies and sell them, they then use 100% of the money raised to buy IPads for children with Autism!

This is the description of their group (Taken from their Facebook page)

I am the mother of a 5 year old adorable, full of life, little boy who was recently diagnosed with autism. After major research and hearing this and that, I have found that the Ipad is key for his advancement. We started a fundraiser for him, but for nights on end, I found myself not being able to sleep while thinking if the needs of others. So, I realized God was saying to my heart that it truly ...is better to give than to receive! SO, from that point forth I thought, do what you do best and give. I bake and I bake good!lol So, from there I invited several friends and they invited and so on and so on to do a bake sale. Here we are just a group of mommies, their friends, and their children's therapists who have decided to take this need by force. Research has shown that Ipads are a superior force in the lives of a child on the spectrum with special needs. We believe a child can become greater than they already are with one of these devices. However, these devices are not cheap, so we must do all we can do to provide to these little angels a tool that could change their lives! We are not a non-profit or a for profit organization. We are just mommies wanting to give our children a voice. May these cookies be as sweet as the need that they are providing.

In August of this year, they will be celebrating their one year anniversary, and having what they are calling "The Worlds Biggest Bake Sale" on July 28th

I used what resources I had, and put out an "All Points Bulletin" and humbly asked my cookier friends, to check out the page, and consider joining in!

And once again, they did not let me down, I think the last I heard over 27 bakers, from all over the county are sending cookies for this organization.  I am truly amazed and thankful that so many are joining in.  I can not wait to hear how it goes, and how many Autistic children will be getting IPads because of the generosity of others!

Now...I could not ask others to make cookies and not do any myself....so I fired up the oven, mixed some glaze...and started making cookies...Puzzle Cookies of course!

When Collin saw me working on so many puzzle cookies, he asked what they were for, when I explained where they were going.....he wanted to join in also..so I gave him a dozen cookies, some glaze and some sprinkles...and he started decorating too!  THIS is why I love Collin...he has a very kind and giving heart!

***Collin loves working on cookies, but just to keep it real, I did outline these cookies, but he flooded them and added the sprinkles***

He used a pair of tweezers to place on the sprinkles...that's my boy!

Collin said that he needed his OWN lable for HIS cookies....so this is what he came up with!

 This was a great cookie project to work on and this is such a worthy cause, that is near and dear to my heart.  I encourage you to like their Facebook page to see some other the other amazing cookies that are on the way to the bake sale, you will be amazed!

Thank you Melissa, for letting me help you and your organization, and thank you to all the bakers who heard the call...and turned on the oven, make some great cookies, and sent them to Ohio....there are no words to express how truly thankful I am!

Hugs

Kim