This year has been the hardest so far for Eli socially. And, of course when the social piece falls apart, almost nothing else is quite right.
Eli did find a great new set of friends when he started bowling with the Upper Valley Hawks, his Special Olympics group. It only lasted for the fall, though. And now he misses having a least a weekly gathering where he is fully accepted and celebrated. He asks often when he can go back.
He continues to develop loving, appropriate and rich relationships with the adults in his life. But finding a way to open up his social life to more children like him and not like him is certainly a goal.
Here is a great article on the Social Thinking curriculum which forms of the foundation of the curriculum at Camp Coyote. Eli loves this camp. He made significant strides last year, recognizing when a conversation was happening and learning both that he could start a conversation as well as some tools for doing so. Now conversations actually have a back and forth pattern to them.
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