Philadelphia August 22 -- 29th 2009

Hi guys,

The plane trip was great. The flight here was at night, the skys were pitch black and all the lights lit up the sky. I was good on the plane because I like to watch everything, it keeps me very busy.

Monday Morning August 24th 2009,

This was our first day at the institute and first stop is the optometrist. Thats me and my grams on top - great picture mom! First off I met a new friend Anna, she is from the U.K. she is one of a twin. She is so beautiful, she said hi to me with facilitated communication, I was excited because it showed me how easy it was to use FC to communicate with people. Then while we were waiting for the doctor to come in we saw Calem, he is another friend I met last trip, he is from

La Verne California.

First they checked to see how my eyes were. Last time my left eye was weaker than my right.. This time my left eye was considerably better so they said I probably won't need to be wearing my patch on my right eye anymore during the day. So we are taking these results back to the institute, I can't wait to see Anna and all my friends again.

Monday afternoon.

We all wait in the big room at the institute for our turn to do our different activities. We were called in by Kathy for our history and evaluation. I am pretty excited because mom got the green light to start facilitated communication with me. Kathy asked me a few questions with it, Grandma Cary cried when she watched me point to the letters to form the word I wanted to communicate! I guess I am ready for it. So much to learn! Now with practice I can tell mom what I want and what I am interested in learning.

Results of the evaluation: I am reading independently at a 9 year old level. My developmental age is 21 months (only 15 months behind). I received an understanding victory! I love it guys!

I will post more later, this is so exciting.. We get to learn my new program today.

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent the day with Grams, we went for walks and read books.

Thursday

Today we learned my new program - it is very detailed so I will try to summarize all of the information.

Since I am reading at a nine year old level and my program instructor this time Kathy Myers has established that I can read regular book print which is great because mom was making all of my books herself.

I get to read all of my own educational material independently now. Today Kathy let me read a page of a Junior High School Algebra book indepently. It was about Pythagorean Theorem which I had never heard about. I scanned the page and then she asked me to tell her the Theorem I had just read about and I spelled it on my FC board. Mom and Grams were just beside themselves, I could see them covering their faces so I could not see. Later I heard mom telling someone she was so amazed she couldn't help but giggle and she didn't want to distract me. I love it all and I have been so happy this week, because this means so much to me. This has given me a way to communicate with my family.

I will write more later I am tired...