Wednesday

Small things are happening all the time, like yesterday, Julia made some "art" during after school and when I picked her up she said she made it for me. This involves a whole lot of skills including making the art (and it was clear that she was doing what other people did), remembering she made it, telling me about it, and Telling me that she made it for me. This is not sudden, Julia has been building up to it. She is acting a bit older and she is trying to behave well. She tells me this all the time. Julia is 8, I think of her as 4, and maybe she is starting to act like she is 5 most of the time.

Today is the last playgroup session. I am both sad and relieved. We have made some progress and the kids continue to have a great time there. This itself is incredible success. I am learning as well and ready to plan for the fall. Money is still our challenge but I will attact that seriously after this week. A new issue arose last week, as long as we are going to have typical children act as expert players and pair them with kids on the spectrum, we need to teach these kids as well. They need to learn about tolerance, compassion, and how to play with someone who is not as typical as they are. Is it just a matter of modeling that behavior and hoping they catch on, or can we do something more?

Julia is now asking when we are doing playgroup and is very excited about going. Another member of the group caught me in the playground to tell me how sad she was that it was ending for the semester. This feels like incredible success.