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Meeting tomorrow, May 6th – location updated!
I hope to see you at tomorrow’s meeting! It is our last Special Needs Cafe 163 of the school year and will feature speaker Dina Shanowitz of The Friendship Circle (www.friendshipnyc.com) as well as offer the opportunity to sign up for free DMF concert tickets (limited tickets available), the summer activity group, and our Central Park Challenge team “The Foorce.” Hard copies of the summer activity packets will also be available.
Upcoming meeting reminder – May 6, 2011
Just a reminder that once we are back from Spring break, there will be another meeting at PS 163 on May 6th, at 9a.m. This might be our last meeting of the school year, so please try to attend if you can!
The featured speaker will be Dina Shanowitz of The Friendship Circle (see my separate post). There will be the opportunity to sign up for the Central Park Challenge and the informal social group that meets over the Summer. Also, information about Special Needs Soccer for the Fall and future meeting topics will be available, as well as hard copies of the Summer Activities document I have been handing out at the past few meetings. Lastly, you can RSVP to the fantastic DMF concert on May 22nd at the meeting (see separate post for more details).
Hope to see you there! Keep an eye out for new posts this weekend and early next week – I’ve been home with all three kids for Spring break so my free time is virtually nonexistent.
Happy Easter to all who are celebrating this weekend!
May 6, 9am – Meeting at PS 163, featuring Dina Shanowitz of The Friendship Circle
One of my biggest worries in life is that James will end up alone, without meaningful relationships, when he grows up. One of the main reasons we have kept him in a CTT class setting rather than a contained class or private school is so he can pick up typical social behavior and learn how to interact with his peers. Of course, there are plenty of typical kids we’d rather he not be friends with – kids can be so mean and thoughtless. But the hope is always to take the good and accept that there are negative consequences to everything, it is the careful game of balancing we play.
So The Friendship Circle is especially intriguing to me. Below is an excerpt taken from their website at http://www.friendshipnyc.com:
The Friendship Circle’s unique approach brings together teenage volunteers and children with special needs for hours of fun and friendship. These shared experiences empower children with special needs, while enriching the lives of everyone else involved:
Children with special needs bloom and gain the confidence they need to make the most of their abilities and talents.
Teenage volunteers learn the priceless value of giving, the curative power of friendship, and the vital importance of integrating children with special needs into the community.
Parents and siblings receive much-needed needed respite and support from Friendship Circle programs and the Friendship Circle family.
The fact is, the Friendship Circle links volunteers, children, parents, staff, and supporters in a seamless circle of friendship that makes miracles happen every day.
I encourage you to attend the meeting on May 6th at 9am to meet Dina and learn more about this program. There will be the opportunity to sign up for the Central Park Challenge as well as the Summer Family group that meets twice weekly to give everyone a chance to stay in touch and socialize. I will also have more copies of the Extracurricular Summer Activities and Camps handout from the last meeting. I look forward to seeing you there!
The Foorce 
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