Set `.center_slide` in slickR to 1 if null

Question

I have a shiny app and I am using slickR. I need to access input$slickr_current$.center to get the current index for an image so that I can use it to create inputs based on the index. This value doesn't populate until you click the slickR slideshow. Is there a way to set the value of input$slickr_current$.center to 1 or activate the slideshow base on the app loading instead of clicking it?