Love this story and the telling of how important attention, combined with touch, can be. My adult son is cognitively impaired ( genetic lottery, no accident or trauma) and is in his early 20's. He spends week days in an adult day center with other adults who require supervision and attention. As we come into the building each day I make the rounds from person to person, saying hello, rubbing a shoulder, patting a back or squeezing a hand, meantime while really looking at the person, saying their name and saying one to two sentences meant just for them. Even one seriously physically and cognitively impaired woman who is neither verbal or ambulatory, stops what she is doing, attends to my face and voice and smiles! It makes my day to have these adults look back with smiles and to see their appreciation that I have 'seen' them and have spent that focused time with them. Thank you so much for your story.