Words cannot begin to describe the debt of thanks we owe the wonderful students at UT Martin. The generous gift of your time and energy to raise a gift of $6800 for Alyssa's home ABA program is absolutely priceless. The gift is not only a practical gift to pay for tutoring hours, but is also the gift of encouragement we need to keep pushing Alyssa as hard as she can work, until we see her maximize her full potential.

The joy and excitement from the students as they presented us with two checks (one in November and one in February) touched our hearts so very deeply. You see, sometimes we feel very alone on this road to autism recovery, and the road is lonely no longer.

When a local newspaper ran a story about our autism recovery efforts, I e-mailed the internet copy of the story to all our friends and family to say, “Hey, we made the paper!” Little did I know that e-mailing the story to the Belotes would reach into the hearts and souls of students on UTM's campus.

Throughout the journey since we learned of Alyssa's autism, God has blessed us with the right information and people in His perfect time. When pieces appear to fall apart before my eyes, I try to pull things together on my own.

I always fail, and the pieces always come together in ways that are not of my own efforts. God is good.

We've seen many closed doors as we've sought help for our daughter. Yet we've managed to do what we need to do to move her forward in development.

So many answers to Alyssa's needs have come from the most unexpected places. Two astounding answers were fundraisers from a source we never approached for help: UT Martin.

Alyssa has come a long way in 21 months. We started ABA with an expressionless child who could not make eye contact, had only three words, responded to NOTHING we did or said, and preferred to stretch a long strand of hair between her fingers to doing anything else. She would tantrum and resist any sort of attempt to get her to do anything but play with a strand of hair. Today, Alyssa has quite an extensive expressive vocabulary.

While her ability to understand language lags behind her ability to express herself, she can request (or demand) anything, and she can describe in great detail a scene in front of her. We're still waiting for dialogue and conversation.

Socially, she has a long way to go, as well. We have our work cut out for us as we begin to try to increase her receptive language and auditory processing skills and teach her to read social cues and to behave appropriately in different social situations. And with your help, she's going to learn!

Thank you, again, for helping Alyssa, and our family. We are so grateful for the help from you as we charge ahead with recovering our daughter and sister.

Sincerely,

The Rays: Dale, Penny, Mikaela, Alex and Alyssa