Say what???

I wanted to start this post with the most ridiculous denial letter from Medicaid. Because they usually only list the provider name, and codes, I don't exactly know what they are denying...but I think it is for some arm-rest and brackets for his wheelchair to extend the size. But when I read this I had to snort...the nerve!

Reason for denial:

"This product cannot be approved as its primary purpose is to either enhance the personal comfort of the client or provide convenience for the client's caregiver."

Seriously...SERIOUSLY?!?!? Because really, we don't want you to be comfortable or to provide COMFORT to CAREGIVERS!!!

Now, I laugh at this right now, because I'm sure just like everything else, it will be approved eventually. I'll give a call to the DME provider next week, just to see what this is for. But I couldn't resist posting it's ludicrous reasoning for denial.

Okay...on to much more amazing things. Max has FINALLY received his speech generating device...or his talker as we call it around here. We have literally been waiting a year to get this. And it came this week! We set it up yesterday, and he hasn't shut-up since! :)

It's a TANGO!, provided by Dynavox Technologies.

We're waiting on the vendor representative to come and really get it set up and specified to Max, but as it goes, he's been sick for the past week and a half, and still fighting it off. So we set it up as much as we know how, and got it attached by Steve's ingenuity. We may not need the vendor to come, and may be able to just have the speech therapist set it up for Max's specific needs.

Out of the box, as he was playing around on it, the first thing he said to me was, "Let me try, I can do it by myself.". He also told us last night he "didn't want to go to bed, and wanted to stay up". Then wanted "one more thing, a story". Then chose "give me a hug and kiss" before finally saying goodnight.

Here are a few pictures of Max figuring out his new voice...


Waiting for the choice he wants (it scans through 6 choices and he waits to hit his blue switch to choose)


Making his choice...it's lightening fast so I got it with his eyes almost closed...


It is just so cool. I can't wait until we can get it really tailored to fit his talking needs. And be sure, there will be plenty of videos to come!