AUTISM ADVOCACY sales a week . Just as Henry Ford realized during the Industrial Revolution that assembly lines are an effective and efficient way to assemble automobiles , Melissa learned that cookies could be baked , cooled , iced , and packaged under the same principles . Melissa and her cookie crew would bake cookies while her mother manned the sale table , trekking countless miles to set up at various locations around town . Melissa says , “ She was a very integral part of Cookies For iPads .”
The hard work and dedication of Melissa ’ s team paid off , and she was able to purchase an iPad for Chase . Within a week of receiving his iPad , Chase began to speak . Melissa says , “ I ’ ll never forget it , as long as I live . I had been playing with his iPad and programming different phrases , just to see how it worked , never imagining that he would learn so quickly . One morning , about a week after we had gotten his iPad , he walked into the kitchen and said , ‘ I ’ d like to eat breakfast at the table , please .’ I almost fell over . That was when I realized what a miracle an iPad can be for a child on the spectrum , and I realized that every child needs an iPad .” The greatest joy , said Melissa , was hearing Chase say , “ I love you ” for the first time .
Chase Satterfield , age 5 , holding the very first dollar donated to Cookies For iPads .
She knew that he was right and his simple but honest words lit a fire in her soul . The time for feeling sorry was over . Chase deserved to have every therapy and form of help that she could provide for him . She started researching different treatments and therapies and felt gutted all over again when she learned that Applied Behavior Analysis was the best form of treatment , but one that was far beyond the financial reach of her family at $ 250 an hour for sessions . Continued research into other avenues of therapy revealed that an iPad could be extremely effective for teaching nonverbal children to speak , but even an iPad was out of her family ’ s budget .
Determined and undeterred , Melissa fell back on a hobby that she had been passionate about since she was 11 years old , and with the help of 12 friends , two of which were fellow Autism Moms , she started baking cookies . She baked and sold cookies for almost 18 solid months , sometimes doing two or three cookie
That was the beginning of Cookies For iPads . Melissa says , “ My grandma used to always say , ‘ If your cookie jar is full you have hope for a sweeter day tomorrow .’ So that ’ s where the Jar of Hope came from .” That Jar of Hope , the donation jar used during cookie sales , would become a literal symbol of hope for parents of children on the spectrum who couldn ’ t afford expensive therapies , or iPads for needed communication help . Melissa and her team continued to bake and sell cookies every weekend and started accepting applications for iPad recipients . Her platform was simple – Give back to the community in order to receive . Recipients of iPads are required to participate in three volunteer events within the community in order to be eligible to receive their iPad , effectively working to ‘ Pay it Forward ’ and cover the expenses for the next person ’ s iPad . In the beginning , the requirement involved baking cookies that could be sold at a table set up in front of Wal-Mart . Now , the program is a bit more advanced , and volunteer opportunities are more abundant . Melissa says those first few months not only served as a way to supply children with needed devices , it also helped to foster a sense of community , bringing together ‘ Autism Moms ’ ( and dads , grandmas , grandpas , uncles , aunts ,
52 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 44