Our autistic little grand-daughter is not speaking yet at four years old, but she does say a couple of things that we can understand..most notably, "IPad, IPad, IPad".

When she is agitated, she repeatedly calls for the device. It is fascinating to ponder it's effectiveness at soothing her. She is able to navigate it very capably and absolutely loves the "Pixar" type videos that she regularly accesses. Often, she will listen to them in another language other than English. Wouldn't it be something if she started speaking fluently one day out of the blue and it's in French?

The mind is an incredibly mysterious and wonderful thing. I often say to her: "Leah, I wish I knew what was going on in your head"...I also tell her : "Princess, you know exactly what is going on, you are very bright, and someday everything is going to click and fall into place for you".

She is precious, beautiful, and has the most incredible smile. There are also times where she will start laughing spontaneously as if she has just heard the funniest comment or story.

I do wonder what the future holds for her in the short and long term. In the meantime, we will continue accessing numerous resources, loving her unconditionally, and hoping for good things.

I hope we can all view those with special needs in a very sensitive way and find opportunities to understand them and help them with their enigmatic ways.