Device Update

The process of getting an eye gaze device for Abby has been painfully long, but we are getting very close... I think.  First, we had to get the trial approved by both our insurance and secondary insurance.  That took forever.  It took a while to actually trial all the devices.  Now we have made our decision and we're again waiting for approval for the purchase of the device.  Yesterday, I am happy to say, we received our approval from our primary insurance company!!!  It should have been a given that they would approve the purchase since they already approved the trial, but I was still holding my breath that it would work out.  As it stands now, we are just waiting on approval from her secondary.  That was the longest wait for the approval for the trial, but at least it is the last part of the process.  As soon as they approve, which they should since they already approved the trial (and it was successful), we will get the device.  I hope that PRC has a device available and we don't have to wait a long time to get one shipped.

Now that we have decided on the device, we made a low tech communication system using the symbols that will be on her talker.  It is not a perfect system, but it will keep her familiar with the symbols while we are waiting on the device, and it will give her a way to communicate that is similar to the talker.  Even when she gets her talker, she will need a low tech way to express herself using the same symbols for those times when her talker isn't working properly, or if we don't have it with us.  This is the first time we have used these particular symbols for anything other than the eye gaze device trial.  When I showed it to her, she looked super intensely at the "home screen" symbols.  I think she was expecting some sort of voice output (other than me) when she looked at the symbols.  I'm sorry Abby, but we're working on it!