For as long as I can remember (back to about my first birthday, believe it or not), I have had issues with speech. For anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to a day, I would lose the ability to speak, often brought on my stress or sensory overload. With my diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder at age 21 (though my family had noted many differences since I was just a baby), things made more sense. Over the past, well, lifetime, I have slowly had increasing difficulties with speaking for longer periods of time. At this point, I have been minimally verbal for a week or so. I had no way to communicate as soon as I left my computer, and it was terrifying, frustrating, so many things. My ever-helpful, loving, incredibly mother lent me the money I needed to purchase an iPod touch so that I could speak again (by using a text to speech program)... now, I owe my mother that money. Unable to work but without SSI thus far, unable to even babysit because who wants a nonverbal babysitter?, I am hoping that the gracious people my rich online world will help me out. Just $1 will be so much help to me! Please consider donating. Thank you.