Phase 2: Adulthood....."In Progress"

We hear stories about autism when they are “out-of-the-ordinary”. The likes of Dr. Temple Grandin, Ron Suskind “Reaching my autistic son through Disney” or autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire who is able to draw cityscapes following short helicopter rides over cities. But…

What if your child is somewhere in the “middle” of the spectrum?

What if your child may need some type of support for the rest of their life?

What if your child is not “out-of-the-ordinary”?

OR

What if your child will NOT be going on to a post secondary school?
What if your child is NOT ready for paid employment?

OR

What if your child is eligible for funding but there are no monies available?

What if your child is eligible for services but there are no services available?

What then???

What happens in the next 5-10 years when the wave of 1 in 68 (in the US) diagnosed ASD kids are finishing high school and entering adulthood?  Scary isn’t it.

If you are a parent of a younger child; if you are anything like I was…you are probably running off screaming incoherently in the opposite direction. If you are still reading…WOW!! Please leave a comment as to what type of medication you are on so I can get some too  ;) OR if it helps…you can read all about my angst when Riley finished school FOREVER, why we decided to take a “Gap” year and what turning 19 looked like in Riley World.

With our “Gap” year behind us, we are ready to move ahead with this adulthood thing. I am excited to start sharing with you some of our plans for "Riley World: Adulthood" in the coming weeks/months. As my friend Liane Kupferberg Carter wrote in her article “Loosening the Ties that Bind: Growing Up with Autism”:

“But we must. And we will figure out what comes next. We will do this just as we have done everything else these past twenty years. Pulling together as a family.”

~Liane Kupferberg Carter

Yes we will. And as a community we need to start planning for the 1 in 68 diagnosed ASD kids who are coming behind us. We need to start thinking outside the box.

Image Credit

I hope you'll come back and follow the next phase of Riley World. 

Commencement Ceremonies

As promised here is part 2 of “School’s Out…FOREVER”. The Commencement Ceremonies took place at a downtown theatre. The kids were supposed to be there by 6pm with the ceremonies starting at 7pm and hopefully ending by 10pm. That is a LOT of waiting, sitting, waiting, listening and more waiting especially in Riley World. 

It was a given that Riley would not be able to sit through the 3+ hours so we had decided right after my bout with amnesia that he would arrive part way through the ceremonies, slide into his seat and wait for the “T” surnames to be called. We were given the schedule of events and approximate times the week prior. The Class of 2013 had 287 students.  All we had to do was calculate the approximate time that Riley would walk across the stage. Easy peasy right??? 

Not easily discouraged and having learnt my lesson (yet again) about the importance of preparing Riley, “we” (together with our Fairy Godmother (FG) and R’s SEA-Special Education Assistant) brainstormed and came up with a plan.

1)      Riley had never been to this particular theatre. Would it be possible to go for a tour beforehand? Next best thing was an online virtual tour of the theatre.

2)      Riley loves lists! Writing, reading and crossing off items on lists. We had the names of all the students now all I had to do was make up a list so Riley could follow along and cross off the students as they walked across the stage thereby giving him something to do and keeping his hands busy.

·         I printed the names off on 3x5 recipe cards so they would be small yet easy to handle and kept them together with a ring.

·         I highlighted (in yellow) the names of the students sitting in the row ahead of Riley as a pre-warning.

·         I highlighted (in green) the names of the students in Riley’s row so he would know when it was time for him to line-up in the aisle before going on stage.

3)      Riley World LOVES visual schedules. This time I did not forget.

4)      Riley’s SEA had his iTouch and headphones on standby.

All brilliant ideas right?  Once again thank you FG!!  We were prepared this time. Surely the stress would be kept to a minimum. Surely.   

G and I along with Riley’s "ladies" (his current and past high school SEA’s (3 of them), his Fairy Godmother and his current community worker) arrived for the start of the ceremonies. They all wanted to be there for this momentous occasion.  :)  J2 was in charge of bringing Riley to the theatre later. J2 and I were in contact via text throughout the ceremonies. This time we were prepared.

There were 5 columns of names in the program. Riley was in the last column about 2/3 of the way down. We timed how long the first column took in order to get a rough idea when the last column would start. The texting began:

Things started to move along a little quicker than we had anticipated. Eeep. J2 and Riley should have been able to make it downtown in 15-20 minutes. J2 was going to text when they had parked. I was starting to get nervous.

"Haha"???  To be more precise..."You relax! Haha"!!!  TOO LATE!  I was now IN panic mode.

2 minutes passed. 120 looooong seconds. Time to give J2 a little encouragement. For the first time ever I was glad that tone could not be read into my text message.

That's when I lost it!

You see...my knowledge of the downtown core (particularly street names) is not the best. Once the others assured me they were very close I regrouped. For about 2 minutes. That's when I lost it...again!

That was the end of our conversation. J2 was no longer responding. After another 2 or 3 angst-filled minutes J2 found us. Shortly afterwards Riley appeared. He was all smiles at seeing all his "ladies". He was placed in his proper spot in line. He never did make it to his seat beforehand.

Then it was time for Riley to make his way across the stage.

Click here or on the image to watch Riley walk across the stage.

This was his introduction:
"In his first years at Handsworth Riley was involved in the CIBC Run for the Cure, cross-country running and setting up a Snack Shack.  Outside of school Riley enjoys playing Challengers Baseball and Special Olympics 5-pin bowling, golf and swimming. He would like to thank all the students, teachers and "the ladies" for all their support over the past 14 years. Riley wants to take the summer off but his mom has other ideas."

He walked across the stage like he knew exactly what he was doing. That is until he got to the other side. After a brief moment of "now what the hell am I supposed to do?" he was directed backstage to where his current SEA was waiting for him.

Later the principal told G that as he shook Riley's hand R said to him "Nice to meet you." Always the polite young man. Who cares if this scenario did not exactly fit the greeting.  ;)

Tomorrow the last monumental event of the past month...Riley's 19th birthday!

Until tomorrow...

And even MORE Poetry...

While I was getting caught up on Riley’s blog today (he posts his school work on a private blog - yet another great idea from one of his teachers!) I came across another poem that I just had to share. It made me smile…ok I actually burst out laughing but in a good, warm and fuzzy all over kinda way.  <3

Since the beginning of this month Riley’s English class began a poetry unit which includes reading, reviewing poetic terms, poem analysis and writing poems. R’s aide has done a great job modifying the curriculum to include poems by Dr. Seuss (a Riley World favourite), having him create fill-in-the-blank poems and writing questions for him to answer.

This poem and particularly R’s analysis made my day!

Ride a Wild Horse by Hannah Kahn

Image from MorgueFile

Ride a wild horse
with purple wings
striped yellow and black
except his head
which must be red.

Ride a wild horse
against the sky
hold tight to his wings…
before you die.
Whatever else you leave undone
once, ride a wild horse
into the sun.

Question 1: 

Where would you go if you could ride this horse?  To the Playland

RW Translation:  Playland is the midway area of an amusement park where we live. There is a merry-go-round with horses which Riley used to ride when he was younger. Literal thinker??? Ummm…that would be a yes.  I highly recommend you read this post “The Lowdown on Literal Thinking” by my good bloggy buddy Bec (she is awesome and really, really smart) for a great explanation!

Question 2:
What should you do before you die?   look for cars

RW Translation:  Obviously by his answer we may have gone slightly overboard with our “Street Safety” lessons although we have never talked about dieing…honest! *crossing heart*

Question 3:
Which are the rhyming sentence in this poem?   head and red

RW Translation:  Sentence? Words? Close enough. Nailed this one!!!   :D

Create a Poem...

This came home in Riley’s backpack yesterday. The words in italics were provided; the bold - R’s responses.

I used to think

But now I am glad

I always care

But I never kiss Jamie  <= R’s Special Ed Assistant

I once to know *

But now I am at a one

If I could shake hands with Terri  <= R’s peer who he has taken a shine to.

I would be okay

I never kiss the ladies

But I might stay at school

I can’t be grumpy

But I can kiss mom

I won’t forget my PE strip

But I might stay home

I used to wear costume

But now I am at a one.

By Riley

April 16, 2013.

Some of the fill-in-the-blanks are pretty self-explanatory; others made me smile and a few ummm…* I have absolutely no idea?!? 

The “am at a one” is in reference to The Incredible 5-Point Scale by Kari Dunn Buron. We introduced this strategy to Riley a few years ago to try and enable him to manage/monitor his emotions/feelings. This is a work in progress. 

I thought this was so cool. The gamut of Riley World all wrapped up into a single poem.  :D

Happy Hump Day!

Colours of the Month

April is the month of awareness for two things which have had a major impact in my life…autism and cancer. Last year I went green for the month of April. This year I thought about going purple (blue + pink) then for some reason the song “Colors of the Wind” from the animated movie Pocahontas popped into my head. Squirrel!  :)

I guess it is not surprising since so much of Riley World revolves around all things Disney. I never realized how much the message of this song had in common with Riley World particularly the second/third verse:

You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew.

Pocahontas urges Captain John Smith to "accept humans who are different in appearance and culture and to learn from them". While I am pretty sure lyricist Stephen Schwartz was not talking about autism (then again you never know) when he wrote this song in 1995 and one can interpret the words any way they want, I found the words so fitting and powerful.

So instead of focusing on autism and cancer awareness just for the month of April, I am going to try and do it every day of every month of every year. After all…it IS supposed to be all about acceptance, differences and learning no matter what “World” we live in isn't it?

Let Us Remember...

#Monday Listicles...School Edition

For 15+ years the Labour Day weekend signalled the start of another school year. This year will be the last time I will think of September in terms of back to school. One. More. Year.  Bittersweet indeed.

I decided to take a look back on Riley’s school experience for this week’s Monday Listicles. It has been an adventure to say the least. There were times when I could never have imagined Riley sitting in a desk…ever. Times when we celebrated his accomplishments like learning to zip up his jacket on his own (thank you FG)! Times when I was stressed to the max over the summer not knowing who would be working with Riley the following year. I’d better stop now as I am starting to twitch uncontrollably. So here is a rundown of what it took to get Riley through the last 15 years:

1.      3 schools (preschool, elementary and high school).

2.      6 child care workers.

3.      13 elementary school teachers.

4.      25+ high school teachers.

5.      9 Special Education Assistants.

6.      8 case managers.

7.      26+ IEP meetings not to mention multiple impromptu meetings throughout the school year.

8.      If x = number of forms to be filled out at the beginning of the school year then x to the 10^th power = number of forms required when you have a special needs child. The number of medical, diagnostic and community services forms required is the bane of special needs parents’ existence.

9.      3 work experience job placements.

10.   1 Commencement Ceremony this coming June. Woo-hoo!!!

So many people to remember. So many people to thank.  So many people who have helped us along the way. Riley has come so far thanks to so many. We have been so very fortunate to have had such a great support network of family, friends, educators, specialists and “workers” (who are all really so much more).  

This should be one exciting year with lots to blog about if you’re lucky.  Ha!  I am going to leave you with a picture of Riley when he started kindergarten. Captured that time perfectly!   :)

"WTH were they thinking sending me here?!?!?"

"Friday's Fab Five"

Since I missed posting last Friday, this week will be a combo from the last two weeks. I hope you found my first installment of Friday's Fab Five "enlightening" and introduced you to some new blogs.

A new category this week will be "Recipes". After all I am always looking for a tried and true favourite recipe aren't you? You know...the ones that have been handed down through generations. This week's recipe can be found at a new blog I was turned onto over at The Glamorous Life of the Modern Day Soccer Mom. Her post on "How to Make Ice Cubes - An Old Family Recipe" is a must read! Very informative and I learnt some great tips!

I discovered the Momalog via Stasha’s "Monday Listicles" over at The good life. Ado’s post "Cindy Crawford is Perfect and I’m Not” had me reminiscing about my youth (although I was never anything close to a Cindy Crawford type…ha!), daydreaming, giggling and gasping in horror. Check it out to see why.

As you know Riley has autism so many of the blogs I follow are about autism. After 15 years of navigating Riley World one would think I would be fairly well-versed in all things autistic. Ummm…think again. *sigh*  Apparently there is something called the Sally-Anne test which was used in Simon Baron-Cohen’s (no not the Borat guy) study of Theory of Mind in Autism. I found this post “How I failed the Sally-Anne test and my autistic son didn’t” over at Outrunning the Storm. Try taking the test and see how you do. By the way…I failed too.

These next two blog posts deal with the wonderful world of “teenhood”! Even if you are not there yet these two posts will give you a taste of what’s in store for you. One is autism-related, the other is not however when you are dealing with teens…it really doesn’t seem to matter. Oish. Brace yourselves it could get ugly.

         1)   “When Obnoxiousness Reigns Supreme” at Raising Asperger’s Kids

         2)   “WTF Wednesday” at Twinisms

Have you discovered any new blogs? Please feel free to add them in the comments. I’d love to hear about them. 

Have a great weekend!

*All images taken from Google Images.

"Who's On First in Riley World" Episode 2: Back to School

This is the second installment of "Who's On First in Riley World". On Monday Riley went back to school after two weeks at home. Thankfully we were able to postpone the start of an early summer vacation as R has now been assigned a different SEA (Special Education Assistant) for the remainder of this school year. I met with R’s Case Manager and “BW” last week to discuss Riley’s needs, strengths and challenges. In preparation for Monday, I took R in to meet BW this past Friday. 

Now on Monday afternoons R goes to work experience at a local elementary school library.  They bus to work from school and then R busses home on his own (his SEA waits with him until he gets on the bus and we meet him at the bus stop at our end). Yes that is what we mean by riding the bus "by himself" at this point. R calls us when he gets on the bus or that is what is “supposed” to happen.  Here is what happened on Monday:

I get a phone call from R at 2:15pm (usual time being 2:45):

R:         I’m on the bus.

Me:       You’re ON the bus or AT the bus stop???

R:         I’m at the bus stop.

Me:       Are you AT the bus stop or are you still at the library?

R:         I’m at the library.

Me:       Is BW with you?

R:         Yes she is.

Me:       Can I talk to BW please?

R:         Yes.  (I hear shuffling then R hangs up. Oish!*)

I call R back on his cell phone.

R:         Hello.

Me:       Hi Riley.  It’s mom.

R:         Hi mom.

Me:       Is BW with you?

R:         Yes she’s with me.

Me:       (This time I pose the question clearly with a direction. Gawd…will I EVER learn?!?)

Can you please give the phone to BW?  (I hear him handing her the phone..phew)

I then talked with BW. Apparently they had arrived early and had finished the work so were going to head back to school. No problem. About 20 minutes later G looks outside and sees R walking back and forth on our sidewalk outside the front window. Hmmm…this is different. Not like R to not come in the house. We go open the door and R walks in happy as a clam. G & I are most confused. R...not so much. I decide, with all my wisdom, to try and ask Riley what happened:

R:         I took the bus home. (Most pleased with himself)

Me:       Did you take the bus home by yourself or with BW?

R:         By myself.  It was a different bus.

Me:       A different bus?? (WTF???)

R:         The 246 bus. “Insert Realtor’s name here” was on the back.

Me:       (Ohhh…I get it now, the advertisement on the back of the bus was different.) Where was BW?

R:         At the bottom of the driveway.

Me:       (Hmmm…thinking to myself. OK so he rode the bus home “by himself” but BW was at the bottom of 
             our driveway. Pretty sure BW must’ve been at the bottom of the driveway as that’s not something R 
             would normally say.  I go out to look, of course she’s not there as who knows how long R was
             standing out front. Oish.)

Within minutes BW calls and fills in the blanks. Apparently they went to catch the bus and of course BW is not familiar with the bus schedule/routes and R is very good at following his regular routine. They get on the bus and R tells BW when it’s time to get off. Unfortunately for BW they were not at the school…fortunately for R…they were at home. When they got to the bottom of our driveway Riley told BW that “our house was closed” which basically meant “thanks, I’m good from here.”  BW read his cues perfectly and responded appropriately even though she then had to find her way back to school on her own. *sigh*

The long and short of it is I still find it so interesting how aware "we" need to be as to the level of Riley’s communication skills when he is placed in a situation that is not the norm. Speaking from experience, nothing can be taken for granted in Riley World. Can anybody else out there relate?  Anybody?  Anybody at all???

An Early Summer??? Sure hope not...

After 15 or so years of navigating Riley World, one would think I would be pretty in tune with what’s happening all most of the time. Yea right. Wish that were the case. *sigh* I have come to realize that what I struggle with the most in Riley World is coming to grips with the idea that sometimes things just don’t work out or aren’t meant to be for whatever reason and through no fault of anyone.

In January of this year, Riley was assigned a new SEA (Special Education Assistant). In the beginning things seemed to be going well. Towards the end of February things started to change. For the first time in 12 years at school, Riley started having “behaviours” which were described to me as “aggressive”.  This was very atypical of Riley.

I was confused and inside felt that something was not quite right but just couldn’t put my finger on it. Riley was also having challenging behaviours at work experience which in turn led to having to discontinue working at the grocery store after a year and a half. The confusing part for me was we weren’t seeing these behaviours at home or on weekends (even with a new support worker). What was going on???

Now ever since Riley started school we have been using what is referred to as a Homeschool Communication Book. In the past month, R’s SEA had to be reminded to check and record in his book a number of times. Then there were some conflicting stories and the last straw being a matter of safety.

When you have a kid like Riley who has significant communication issues, as parents we need to be able to trust without a doubt the person who is working with him. We felt we no longer had that trust in R’s SEA and for the first time ever, were not comfortable sending Riley to school.

From Riley’s standpoint this was not a problem.  As a matter of fact R's been off school since last Monday (one week) and is happy as a pig in sh*t!  This past Friday was a Pro-D day (no school for kids). All through the week R kept saying happily "No school on Friday" as if he was finally going to get a day off school. I was like haaalllloooo...you haven't been at school all week in case you hadn't noticed. Oi-vay!

I had mentioned in a previous post, I do not like conflict and will do just about anything to avoid a confrontation. Unfortunately this time we felt we had no other choice than to keep Riley at home. In the meantime I will put on a clean pair of my big girl panties (not sure what men wear in this case), we will go with our gut feelings and hopefully we can work with the school on a plan going forward. 

Wish us luck!

I'm going GREEN this month

No I haven't gone all eco-friendly although I do recycle now.  But I am going "GREEN" this month and here's why:

     
 

Blue + Yellow = GREEN

(Two colours close to my heart)

Riley's Social Success Puzzle (Part 3): Extracurricular School Activities

Earlier I promised to write about some of the things we did as follow-up to the “How to Be a Great Friend” and “Friend 2 Friend Autism Demystification” programs that we found to be successful in building a supportive community around Riley so...here we go.

In-class Activity - Making Posters
After the completion of both programs, Riley's teacher assigned the class a project. They were to pick their favourite "Friend Tip" from either program and create a poster.  They were displayed in the classroom and around the school.  

Recess/Lunch Activities
It is pretty much a given that recess and lunch are the most social times at school. These can also be some of the hardest times for Riley to figure out and participate in. Luckily in elementary school, in particular the primary grades, a lot of the time is spent playing. When Riley was younger he was very active and enjoyed most types of physical activity so we just needed a way for Riley to get involved. 

Bocce Ball Challenge
For two years in a row Riley's FG (Fairy Godmother) organized the "RT Challenge Cup". It consisted of four kids (Riley was always one of the kids from his class) on a team from each of Riley's grade classes. It was a round robin tournament with a final "Cup" game with trophies and treats all around.

During the final "Cup" game kids were making signs and cheering on their class team. So cool! 

In-class Activity - "Riley Rules" Book
Another year FG came up with the idea of having R's classmates write a set of "tips" on how to best engage Riley. The students came up with nine tips and the name "Riley Rules" for the booklet. With the generous support from Student Services and the school the booklet was produced which included pictures of Riley and his classmates role-playing each "Rule".  At the end of the year each student received a copy.

I welcome any comments or questions you might have about any of the activities I've blogged about. The final “chapter” (I know you're probably thinking FINALLY) to Riley’s Social Success Puzzle will be about the positive benefits of both programs. The main and, I think, most important one being “friends”. Thanks for hanging in there with this epic post. I promise I won’t do any more.  :D 

  

Riley's Social Success Puzzle (Part 2): Friend 2 Friend Social Learning Society

With Riley’s communication challenges much of his IEP (Individual Education Plan) goals have always been focused around social and self-help skills as opposed to academic goals. We have never wanted to set limits to what Riley might be able to accomplish yet we also had to be realistic in our expectations for the future as hard as that sometimes was. First and foremost we wanted to ensure R had a happy, positive and successful school experience. 

Another piece of what I like to call “Riley’s Social Success Puzzle” was Friend 2 Friend Social Learning Society’s Autism Demystification programs.  The Friend 2 Friend programs offers "a first step" towards fostering friendships for children on the autism spectrum (McCracken).  Friend 2 Friend Social Learning Society is a local not-for-profit organization that was established in 2002. Heather McCracken, the creator of the F2F model and programs, just happened to be a parent at the boys’ school.  Her son Iain and J2 are the same age and were classmates.

Shortly after Friend 2 Friend (F2F) presented their first puppet presentation to Riley’s grade, I went out with the F2F team to observe one of their presentations.  That was it. I was hooked. I am almost certain I would not have believed the impact of the puppet presentation or simulation game had I not seen it for myself. The way the children were engaged throughout both presentations and picked up on ALL the key learning points amazed me. I volunteered my time on the spot and started a new “career” as a puppeteer/presenter.  :D  Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that however it turned out to be one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve had to date.

Riley's class participating in the F2F Simulation Game

F2F presentations not only to Riley’s class but to the entire school were scheduled in the following years.  The F2F puppet presentation “That’s What’s Different About Me” for the primary grades and the F2F Simulation Game “Demystifying Autism” for the intermediate grades.  These programs were a great compliment/ balance to the “How to Be a Great Friend” program (which was geared specifically to Riley).  The F2F programs provided the students with information about autism (in general) in a fun, age-appropriate, interactive and sensitive manner while introducing their key concept that “everybody is different in his or her own way and being a good friend means accepting differences.”  


The F2F Simulation Game presentation (pictured) helps participants understand "what it feels like" to have autism.  Visit the Friend 2 Friend Social Learning Society website for more information about all their programs and services.

Yes there are still the times that I beat myself up about whether or not we have done all that we could have.  There are always the “what if’s”.  But when I look at Riley today, he is a happy go-lucky teenager (which is more than I can say for some *wink*) and even though there is still a lot of work ahead of us, isn’t their happiness what we all really want for our kids?

Part 3 will be focussed on the positive benefits of both programs and some of the extra curricular activities that were organized for Riley. I welcome any comments/questions you might have.  

Riley's Social Success Puzzle (Part 1)

At the beginning of December last year, I received an e-mail from a local parent advocacy group Moms on the Move (MOMS) forwarding an article entitled "Trained Peers Better at Aiding Autistic Kids with Social Skills".  Included in the article was a link to this YouTube interview with Dr. Connie Kasari, Center for Autism Research and Treatment at UCLA: 

Ever since reading the article and watching the interview I have wanted to write about our experiences with Riley with regards to this same topic.  Three and a half months later…I have finally put something down in writing. 

When Riley was in grade 2, together with the school and our Behaviour Interventionist (BI), a program “How to be a Great Friend” was introduced. As we all felt Riley would learn best from his peers, the program focused on teaching R’s peers methods of supporting and communicating with him. The program was voluntary and I have to admit I was very nervous as to whether or not we would get many, if any, participants. I had been forewarned that on average there may be anywhere from 4 to a dozen volunteers. The response was overwhelming with over 50% of the grade (not just class…grade) participating. I know…WOW!!! The program was again offered in grade three, thanks to our wonderful FG (Fairy Godmother) who took on the full responsibility of running the program, with even more students participating.

Around that same time (2002) we started receiving some afterschool support.  Up until then neither G nor I was ready to let Riley go out in the community with anybody but us.  His communication skills were limited; what if they couldn’t figure out what he wanted or was trying to tell them or even worse…what if he had a meltdown!  Of course in our minds if we had trouble knowing what R wanted at times how would anybody else be able to figure it out?!?!?  Am I right???  Looking back now, having someone take R out into the community was the best thing EVER for all of us!  It allowed us some time to do things alone with J2 or just to have some down time at home and it gave Riley the opportunity to have some freedom from our tendency to "over-parent". 

One of the things that I think worked very well for Riley was arranging “play dates” once or twice a week after school with the kids that were involved in the program.  This usually consisted of a quick snack and a short play (~1/2 hour) at home before R’s child care worker would come and take both kids on an outing (swimming, bowling, Aquarium, going to the beach/park, etc).  It gave R’s peers an opportunity to practice the skills they learnt while at the same time getting to know Riley outside of the classroom and on a one-to-one basis.  There are so many positive things to say about the benefits of this program and all the extra curricular activities organized for Riley in and out of school that I will write about them in a separate post and I promise it won’t take another 3-1/2 months.            

I truly believe no one program/therapy works by itself or has all the answers and that all skills taught and learned need to be reinforced across all environments as often and whenever possible.  So my next post will be all about the Friend 2 Friend Social Learning Society and their piece in what I’d like to think of as Riley’s social success puzzle.  :) 

Hope you’ll come back to read all about it.