Just have to Believe!

Please forgive any spelling errors, as it is late, but I promised to let you know about Raymond’s appointment.  Thank you all for your prayers!!!!  Well, down to LA we went, Big Roman, Raymond and I to meet with the therapists for the evaluation of Raymond’s use of the eye-gaze communication device.  I said in an earlier post that on some days Raymond will do very well and will select items with his eyes when requested by his local speech therapist with 60-75% accuracy, but some days he just struggles.  At home, we have been working on giving him choices regarding his needs, wants and activities.  Over the last 3 months, he has definitely had more “good” days than “bad”.  Also, as requested, we have raised the bar on the expectations and added difficulties to test accuracy for a device that Raymond has only used for 3 months of his 13 years.  Today in LA he really struggled to match items on the screen or select items when asked by the therapist that he has only worked with 3 times now.  He was not able to show the 75% accuracy they said would be required.  So, they are not able to recommend a purchase of this device at this time, but will suggest to the insurance companies possibly getting “another” trial.  But tomorrow, we have to send the device back to the Tobii Company, they only rent it for 3 months, and our 3 months was up last week.

We will wait for the evaluation report and see what the insurance companies decide….in the mean time, we will start to look into various grants.  The therapist sent us home with at least 3 possible grants that would cover assistive technology devices for communication.  When we got home….we continued to offer Raymond choices since we have one more night to use it.  I had to take a video; I wish Raymond had shown this ability earlier today.  Please watch it if you have a chance, it is a real short video, 41 seconds.  When you watch the video, you will see 3 items on the screen; the item in the middle is a picture of a paper clip, which is supposed to be an “incorrect” selection to test his ability to access proper choices.  Also in the video you will see a “red dot” appear on the screen when Raymond is focusing his eyes on the picture to select it.  In the video, Raymond is expressing a need that you and I have everyday….. 


 

We believe in Raymond, as so many of you do also.  We will continue to work very hard towards giving Raymond the ability to communicate.  Mark 9:23 “….If you believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”