All About Autism

AJ and Mary at the Christmas Ball

School friends are so fabulous, aren’t they? They hold a place in our hearts like no other. At one time or another, we’ve all wondered about what’s happened to our school friends. Sometimes it’s out of pure curiosity and other times it’s the desire to rekindle a friendship. Sometimes the wondering leads to wonderful surprise reunions.  When Adrien (AJ) Pinto and Mary Downey arrived at the 2012 Christmas Ball, they had no idea that the other was attending the event.  Both were planning on a fun evening, but what the night had in store was more than just dancing and laughing.  It was a reunion of happy hearts, sixteen years in the making. Continue reading →

I struggled this weekend attempting to help Ryan access his iTunes account. Two hours later, I was still unsuccessful and I gave up. Fortunately, we have an iOS “expert” with whom I discussed my problems this morning.  Sixty minutes, three email accounts and two passwords later, we still haven’t solved the puzzle. As Zak, our hardware specialist,  said “Today, technology is not my friend,” and I couldn’t agree more!

We have come so far. I mentioned in an earlier blog about the purchasing of our first Apple iiE desktop computer and pouring over the instructional manual for weeks trying to figure it out. I thought those days were over. Yet, here I am trying to reset passwords for an email account to access iTunes movies.

Despite my troubles, I am so passionate about technology! It allows children who are nonverbal to communicate, other students to create art and allows everyone to enjoy media.  Technology is synonymous with access. However, today is one of those days where my access is limited. I yearn for the good ‘ole days when I could pop a tape into the VCR, press play and the show began. No passwords, no account names — just movies. I’m hoping for better luck in the future!

Yesterday, our students, teachers and staff celebrated the 2^nd annual Digital Learning Day!

Students from our Happy Hearts preschool program used the My First Yoga iPad app to strengthen their coordination. In addition, many of our students used the iPad to communicate to their teachers, therapists and peers. Continue reading →