In October, I wrote this very disgruntled letter to you after taking Maura’s shiny new but now scratched up iPad to the Apple store we purchased it at only to be told “Well…whaddaya want me to do about it?”  and “That’s not covered under the warranty.”

I will admit, the lack of wondrous Apple customer service I received bugged me, and yes, I told people about it.  Especially ones considered buying an iPad.  “Get a screen protector!” I’d warn, and then tell them why.

Yesterday, after Thanksgiving dinner, my mom was talking about possibly getting an iPhone as my brother surfed on his Macbook.  I said how I was still miffed with Apple over the iPad, and once again told my story.  My brother was surprised that the iPad wasn’t fixed and talked about how Apple replaced his Macbook’s screen when he busted it, no problems.  I wondered about calling the customer service line directly – something that was suggested to me in the previous weeks, but I will admit, I blew off because I was told my problem wasn’t covered under the extended warranty we’d purchased.

So today, I decided “What the heck, can’t hurt.” and called the Apple customer service line.

I will say – they redeemed themselves.

After being tortured with Hall and Oates (seriously?  You get The Beatles on iTunes finally and I have to listen to Hall and Oates?), I get a customer service rep, a nice young man who waited five minutes while I calmed a very blood-curdling-screaming Maura down after the little dog stole garlic bread from her.  After we could both hear again, I explained to the rep how we bought it, we asked about screen protectors, were told they weren’t necessary, it got scratched, it was probably caused by Maura’s medical alert bracelet (aka, the metal around her wrist), I brought it to the store, told there was nothing to be done…and then how when I told this to my brother, he was surprised and so I decided to ask again.

The rep took this all in, asked a couple questions, and decided that they would replace the screen for me at no charge this one time because they wanted me to be a happy iPad owner.

And now, I am a happy iPad owner.

Oh, I will still be warning others to get the screen protectors, especially if you wear a metal medical alert bracelet. And if you have a problem with your Apple product, call the customer service line versus going to the store first.  But they have redeemed themselves in customer service.  I just hope the first guy I went to at the store isn’t the one who will be helping me when I take the iPad in!

Part of the problem with Maura is we never know what may work for her.  Sometimes, it’s a crap shoot, risking money on something we aren’t sure will work. So when we find something that will work, we run with it.  It’s even better when we find out something will work before investing money into it.

Case in point – the iPad.

Now, when the iPad first came out, I thought it was kinda lame.  I assumed it would be like a netbook.  They called it a tablet, and all the tablet computers I knew had keyboards.  Anyway, after realizing it was a really big iTouch, I passed it off as lame.  But then Maura’s speech therapist got one, loaded it with educational, speech producing applications and let Maura play with it.  Maura took to it instantly, loved it, and best of all, could manage it. Maura usually has a problem with manipulating things.  Her fingers are very bendy and she has motor planning issues.  But the iPad is big enough that she can mange the touch screen really well.

I’ll admit, we did check around to see if there was anything maybe a little less expensive that would do the job.  But there wasn’t.  There also weren’t any of the apps like the ones that were written for the iPad.  So this week, we went to the Apple store.  Ten minutes later, we left with the iPad and a case for it. I then spent an hour the next day finding and installing apps for it.

When Maura got home from school, I showed her what we got.  She saw the iPad and said “Wow!”  And then showed her siblings her mad touch screen skills. Some things are really easy for her.  Others are a little tricky, like tracing letters.  But she works hard at it.

Today was a great example on how we are going to utilize the iPad.  Mim wanted to audition for The Nutcracker (which I am geeked about – I hope she gets it!)  Now, Maura always wants to do what Miriam does and it can lead to very loud moments from Maura.  So today, as Mim went with the rest of the kids to audition, I pulled out the iPad.  Instead of running after Miriam, screaming her name, Maura sat down, picked out a game to play, and spent the hour doing things like matching games and spelling games.  And once she got tired of the learning games, she figured out where her Shaun the Sheep videos were and turned one on. Not one scream out of her.

Oh yes, we’re going to enjoy this.

Maura loves riding on bikes.  However, we’ve had a problem finding a bike that fits her.  Developmentally, she’s about age 3.  Physically, she’s 7, at the 75th percentile for height, and is all legs.  Needless to say, she was ridiculous on the little trike we had that she could manage.

I started searching online, and found that special needs bikes are obnoxiously priced (just like most special needs equipment.)   The only one I’d found that would have worked for us was a trike tag-a-long.  At $300, it wasn’t too badly priced, however, it wasn’t cheap either.

One day, we ended up at the relatively local bike shop, and were browsing.  The guy there asked if we were looking for anything particular.  We pointed to Maura and said “We need something for her.”

The guys at the bike shop went out of their way to help us.  Seriously, the customer service we got from them was excellent, go shop with them (see link above.)  After going through ideas, I was looking at a regular tag-a-long bike and said “Could we just put training wheels on this one?”

And so they did.  And then told us if it didn’t work out, to bring it back.  They wanted to make sure we’d have something we could use.

Well, we finally got around to using it and Maura is in love.  The first ride, Maura made all sorts of happy little sounds of wonder behind me.  We then went from “Wow” to “Whee!” to “Faster!”  The main problem is Mom having to haul her about, because Maura doesn’t always pedal and her mother is out of shape.  Yet another reason to add to my motivation for getting in shape again.  So I can haul Maura’s fanny about town without embarrassing myself.

Meanwhile, we also found out about these gianormous training wheels that can go on regular bikes.  The school got her a pair and put them on a bike…so on her birthday, I walked in and found this -

Yeah, we’re going to have to do this for her.  Right now, she’s happy riding with us.  But sooner than later, she’ll end up with her own independent-riding bike.