AUTISM ADVOCACY
Cookies For iPads
ONE MOM’S SPECIAL
MISSION FOR HOPE
By Nikki STILES
When Melissa Satterfield’s son, Chase, was 2 ½, and still not speaking, she began to
worry. She made an appointment with her pediatrician, who said it was probably just
delayed early development. Melissa requested a referral to speech therapy, anyway,
hoping that it would help.
A
Chase’s diagnosis presented, and for several weeks,
she stayed in bed, doubting her abilities as a mother,
and as a wife; doubting her ability to handle all that
lay before her, until finally Dave came into their bedroom one day and said, “Melissa – Enough. You have
two sons who need their mother. It’s time to get back
up and figure this out.”
Like most parents who reach that pinnacle and pass
through the threshold between fears and official diagnosis, Melissa and Dave felt both relieved and filled
with uncertainty; Relieved to finally have answers to
questions that had been unanswered for too long,
and uncertain of what their next steps should be and
what the future held for Chase. At the end of his diagnostic appointment, doctors at Children’s Hospital handed Melissa a stack of reading materials, gave
her a firm handshake, and wished her good luck. For
her, it was the beginning of a temporary downward
spiral into depression. For so long, she had wanted
answers, but now that she had them, she wasn’t sure
what to do with them. She didn’t know anything
about autism, and wasn’t prepared for the diagnosis.
She had given birth, not long before, to their second
son, Dalton, and was exhausted from the day-today responsibilities of caring for a young nonverbal
son and a newborn. She wasn’t sure if she could find
it in herself to rise up and meet the challenge that
Melissa handing out an iPad on behalf of Cookies For
iPads and sponsored by The Make It Fit Foundation.
round the age of three, Chase’s speech therapist said it might be time to speak to a doctor
about his speech issues, but again, Melissa
and her husband Dave were told that it was
probably just late development. When he
still wasn’t talking at the age of four, she put
her foot down and sought a second opinion. A long
and grueling year later, at the age of five, Chase was
diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 44
| 51