Puppy love!
by Beth
Yesterday morning my Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I caught a commuter train to Easter Seals DuPage and the Fox Valley Region to visit the Lily Garden Child Care Center, an inclusive preschool and child care program for children with or without disabilities. The Lily Garden Child Care Center offers full and part-time child care to children from the community, children enrolled in therapy services, their siblings and children of Easter Seals DuPage and the Fox Valley Region employees.
The Lily Garden Child Care Center is working on a new project this year that features guest authors who come to read to the kids. They thought it would be especially appropriate for me to read from a Braille version of my children’s book Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound, and they were right. We had a ball!
I’m sure some of the kids at the Lily Garden Child Care Center had autism, but truth is, without being able to see them, I couldn’t tell. Some were scared of Whitney, some couldn’t stop petting her, others gave her kisses. Some seemed shy, others went on and on and on and on and on and on about their own dog at home. Which were symptoms of autism, and which were symptoms of … well … childhood? Who knew? All we did know is that something different was happening in the room today, and that we were all having fun.
A big thank you to the folks at Easter Seals DuPage and the Fox Valley Region for inviting us out today. It was a privilege to be part of your reading program.