Message from a Mom

Vice President of Children's Services Jan Rosebrough received a $5,000 check from Ron Spaulding of the Middletown Rotary Foundation. We are grateful for the generous support of the Autism Learning Center expansion. 

Congratulations Abilities First on 60 years of empowering people with disabilities to achieve their unique potential from birth through life. Pictured is Vice President of Marketing and Development Debbie Alberico at The Chamber of Commerce serving Middletown, Monroe & Trenton. 

Speech Language Pathologist Roni Hairston, is just one of the Therapy department’s group facilitators for the Kids Connect group. Recently, she submitted this success story: “Are you flexible or are you a rigid like a rock??? 
Kids who are able to think about a problem in a new way engage in flexible thinking, while kids who are stuck in their ways tend to engage in rigid thinking. In the Kids Connect group, we have been working on the child’s ability to let go of an old way of doing something to try a new way.
When kids engage in flexible thinking, they are better able to cope with change and new information, both within the classroom and out in the world. Kids with weak flexible thinking skills (kids who are more rigid in their thinking) struggle to take on new tasks and have difficulty solving problems.
In this activity, we learned about a man named James Wright. He wanted to invent a substitution for rubber. When his invention did not work, he just gave up. He had a rock brain. A few years later a man named Peter Hodgson, thought that although silly putty could not be used as rubber, it could still do lots of cool things. He showed flexible thinking. 
We had fun making our own silly putty.” Also pictured is Speech Language Pathologist Michelle Moran, another group facilitator. Thanks for sharing Roni! 
For more information about group therapies contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Bettie at 423-9496.