For the people and families we support we create plans around choices. Some of those discussions about choices are awesome. When we support new parents, we use an approach called routines based practice. This involves collaborating to find ways to encourage development within the families’ regular daily routine.  At the center of these choices is a belief and hope in…

The services we offer today for people with disabilities were inspired by families; small groups of parents formed to share their hope for their children. Those families moved the public expectations and response. The most important words I want you to hold in your mind are “hope” and “expectation.” All that early work was done in the mid to late…

I have been reading up on the hot topics about intellectual disability services lately. I have this idea that I would like to learn what is currently on the minds of the great thinkers in our field, and I would like to contribute to that dialogue. While reading, I was struck by how much we are focused on money, choice,…

The golf course is a dangerous place.  Some shots go wildly in the wrong direction and at high speed.  There is a great practice of yelling “FORE” when you hit a bad shot.  The problem is that you cannot tell where golfers are shooting from when they yell. One day on the golf course, Frank, our Chief Development Officer, heard…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. “ [1] Last week we refreshed our memories of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration said there were self-evident truths. It goes on to say…

At this time of year, pause to consider the many meanings of independence; it is a more complex word than you can imagine.  A story from one of my earlier jobs came to mind: I was pretty new on the job and the collections were low. It appeared that we had billed $250,000 and we had not been paid on…

One of the first things my son learned in kindergarten was that some kids are different. Sometimes, people would not play with them. He invited several of those kids home; he was determined to not leave them out. What would happen if we looked around our work places? Would we find that there are people like those kids, the ones…

A few years ago, we replaced the tiny TV in the den with something bigger. I then decided to move the tiny TV to the sewing room. I don’t actually see much of the screen, but it keeps me company when I sew.  My favorite show is the one where all of the couples are very nice, recycle materials, they…

When I was teenager, one of best friends was Greek.  I learned a fair amount about their culture from her family.  Almost every Saturday we would make plans to go shopping but we both had to do chores first.   My family was bigger, so I had more help and completed my tasks first, and I would usually go to her…

When I was little, the Sears Wish Book would arrive weeks before Christmas.  These books had things I had never seen before and things my friends never owned. Ever the dreamer, I would dog ear the pages of things I really wanted and make notes on how much they cost. The sale price was a very important factor in whether…