Life Skills Camp for Autsitic Teens, Markham, Ontario

A Life Skills camp at 105 Gibson Centre, Markham, Ontario

For the past two weeks I have been involved in running a life skills camp for teens with autism.

Along with a few parents, I volunteered to help started this camp because I saw first hand the amount of care, hard work and efforts that parents have to put forth to look after their children 24/7.

Teaching students how to organize

With the support from 105 Gibson Centre, and Given Life Special Needs Services, we started planning and organizing a Life Skills camp so that parents of these teens could have a small break in the summer while their children could learn some practical skills.

Though I have been involved in education for young people in the Toronto public school system for years, I did not teach autistic students. I learned a lot the past weeks observing and learning another way of motivating students with special needs.

Rewards used to motivate students with special needs

It is not easy for autistic children to follow instructions and they need a lot of rewards and motivation.

In this camp, I noticed that the instructors used three types of reward systems:

1. Token system - Each student is rewarded a token every time he/ she follows an instruction or displays desirable behaviour.  The instructor uses real money, 5 cents and 10 cents  as they are trying to teach students real life skills.

Cheetos - was used to reward students' good behaviour

2. Favourite Food - a small piece of food is given for desirable behaviour each time.

Each time the student performs the task, he receives a check mark

3. Token Board - Some autistic children need visual cues and immediate feedback and reminders, therefore the instructor carries a token board with a certain number of underlined spaces drawn on the board.

Motivating the student with the Token Board

When doing an activity, the student will receive a check mark from the instructor after each successful attempt.

After receiving three checks on the Token Board, student is rewarded.

Looking at the number of  blank underlined spaces on the board, the student would know how many times he/ she is expected to perform the task.

With this student, after the student has attempted the task three times and earning three check marks, he earns a piece of cheetso (or their favourite food)!

Learning to sort things at the Life Skills Camp

This positive reward system enables the instructors to help students with special needs to learn  practical skills.

I could see that some of our campers are really learning a lot in this camp.

It takes a lot of commitment, resources and efforts to run a camp like this. I sincerely hope that we would be able to continue and expand the Life Skills camp next  year!

R.T.
105 Gibson Centre
Markham, Ontario

Canada Day at the Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto

It was July 1, Canada Day! A public holiday.
There were lots of celebrations all over the city.







We visited the
Evergreen Brick Works located on Bayview at Bloor Street.

We chose to spend the afternoon at the Evergreen Brick Works
to be with other Canadians to mark this special day.

There were lots going on at the Evergreen Brick Works Park today.

The old furnaces that were used to fire bricks at the Brick Works

The Evergreen Brick Works was a factory that used to make and supply bricks to Toronto.

It has been transformed into a place with emphasis on Nature, Culture and a gathering place for the Community.

 There are community classrooms for school groups and children to have hands on art classes.

It also has ample room for artwork displays.

There were a few displays: from clay art pieces by elementary school students, to oil paintings and cartooning.

Art work displayed in the gallery

Visitors were free to stroll in the park.

There is no admission to this place to enjoy the art work, the park and the trails in the park.

Water lilies in full blooms in the man made ponds

Even though the Evergreen Brick Works was an industrial park, it has been transformed into a home for many native plants and animals with man made ponds and different habitats. 

On the day we visited, the water lilies were in full bloom on these mad made ponds.

Evergreen Brick Works - an urban oasis in Toronto

As we hiked on the trails, we enjoyed the fresh air and this urban oasis created right in the middle of the Toronto metropolitan.

Hiking on one of  the trails

The trails in the park led visitors to different habitats in the park - wetland, meadows and forests.

A small place for kids to exdplore

Children also had lots of fun here.

There were lots going on in the  Children's Garden with places ( in smaller scales) for kids to explore.

Interactive activities for kids in the Children\s Garden

Hands on activities such as this water pumping station kept smaller hands and curious minds busy.

Cayuga - Winner of the 2014 Design by Nature competition

We also saw a gently sloping rolling shape piece of artwork  at the  Brick Works.

Cayuga - a creative design for public seating

Cayuga - an innovative modular public seating made from salvaged and sustainable materials

The shop sells items and books related to recycling

After walking on the trails, we looked around in the shop, rested and enjoyed a coffee and tried some freshly baked goods.

A lovely afternoon spent at the Evergreen Brick Works with my family!

R.T.
Evergreen Brick Works
Toronto

Spending Time with Our Son - Learning to Do a Sudoku Game

The panda birthday cake Wendy made for her son.

 After we went to church in the morning, we picked up E. from home and went to Mason's birthday party at Rosie's house.

There were a lot of young parents there and Wendy made a beautiful Panda cake for the birthday boy's three year old birthday party.

Mason blowing out the candles on his birthday cake

Though we missed the blowing of candles and the cutting of the birthday cake, we were able to enjoy the later part of the party.
 

E. was home and spent time with his family

It was nice for E. to see some members of his extended family such as his grandma, aunts, his cousins, Wendy and Paul and caught up with them.








We were at the party for a couple of hours and we went for a coffee at the Victoria Park Starbuck after dropping my mom off at her place.  I thought we would just go in, grab a coffee and leave.  Instead of leaving right away, we lingered, enjoyed our coffee, and E. taught us what to do with a Sudoku game square.

Sometimes, we find it awkward talking to our grown sons. We need to be very careful not to pry into their privacy. As E. as lawyer, he can't really talk about his job too much due to client confidentiality reasons.  We need to be sensitive to avoid certain topics.


At Starbucks this afternoon,  we had an enjoyable time working together trying to fill out the Sudoku card found on the game page of the newspaper.

 It was fun, not competitive and nobody's feeling was hurt as we all worked together to solve the puzzle. It was a good family fun activity.



We went out for dinner in the evening as E. has sent his dad a restaurant gift card online. 

However, after we showed the waitress and the owner, the prepaid online gift card, they would not accept it. They informed us that they did not advertise with the online company at all. We felt cheated!

The restaurant did not accept the online gift card we got

We ate there anyway because we did not ant our evening to be spoiled. That was the reason I rarely order anything online as there are just too many scams like this one.

The Thai food was delicious!

The Thai food we ordered, especially the Pad Thai was very delicious!

The conversation was even better! E. was more relaxed and we talked about how he got his current position while so many other people could not find work.

He recalled the social networking sessions he attended and how he met his current CEO through informal social meetings etc. It was interesting how these days job seekers find their work through various unconventional ways. We were happy for him and very proud of his achievements!

A nice coffee and dessert place on Yonge & Eglinton Ave., Toronto

Finding a neat little  dessert place nearby,  we went in as we wanted to grab every opportunity to enjoy our son's presence.

We  carried on our conversation and 
 had desserts at Panini 2 Go, a tiny New York style cafe that serves specialty coffees, ice cream and pastries, located on Eglinton Ave and Yonge Street.

We had a really enjoyable time as we chatted and learned more about our son's life in the US.
Not able to see our sons too often , we treasure every moment together.

Thank God for this great weekend!

R.T.
Toronto, Ontario

Our Son is Home for the Weekend!

Since our children are grown and both are leading meaningful independent lives, we are true empty nesters. North America is a huge continent which means getting from west coast to the east coast can take up almost a day's time. It is really exciting for us whenever our grown children come home to visit us.

We got our son's room all clean and ready for his homecoming!

This was the weekend our elder son came home to see us! There were a few things we have to do to get ready.

The groceries and laundry were all done a couple of days ago. However, I had to give a workshop in the afternoon in the east end. After that,  I  rushed home to get the last few things ready. Motivated, we cleaned the house, dusted his room and got things looking decent and comfortable for him.

My husband told me that we should time our arrival to the airport so that we could just pick E. outside the airport terminal. Having travelled a lot and coming home on my own, I know the joy of seeing my loved ones waiting for me at the airport.  I love seeing our son coming through the customs doors and rushing up to him and giving him a warm welcome with a bear hug. Therefore, we  arrived at the Pearson Airport about fifteen minutes before the arrival time.  Though the plane landed on time, we still waited for almost an hour before E. appeared .

 It was well past 10:00pm after we picked E. up from the airport, a little too late to go out for supper. We called our favourite Thai food restaurant and ordered some take out food to enjoy.

It was no fancy dinner but we enjoyed our take out dinner at home tremendously! E. was quite happy, talkative and in good spirit this evening. He shared with us the latest happening about his job, how much fun he has at the office and how much his CEO appreciates his work.  He gave E. an excellent performance review, and off course with an increase in his salary, a whooping increase of 25%!! How about that!

Praise God for His mercy and grace! Seeing our son so happy in his work makes us very happy too!
 The global competition is pretty fierce these days and finding a job one can enjoy and getting a decent salary is not as easy as it used to be both in Canada and the U.S. We know of at least a few smart graduates who are unable to land jobs even with excellent co-op work experience and good grades.

We are thankful and grateful to God for His mighty hands and abundant blessings  on our family!

R.T.
Toronto, Ontario
June 26 weekend
2015

Southworks Outlet Mall - A Historic Building in Cambridge, Ontario

Downtown Cambridge, Ontario

After visiting the farmers' market at Galt in Cambridge, we had lunch at the Mill Race Park.

Stone amphitheater by the Grand River, Cambridge, Otnario

Southworks Outlet Mall entrance

The Southworks Outlet Mall is not an ordinary shopping mall.

It used to be a foundry for the City of Galt for many years.

 Since I am interested in architectural designs and old buildings, I spent some time walking around and taking pictures of the grounds of the Southworks Mall.

The buildings' stone walls and exterior have been lovingly preserved.









Currently, the buildings house a number of shops selling various items.

From antiques, to flowers, shoes and fashion, as well as some specialty stores, it is a shopping mall with a few brand name stores.

We were greeted by this antique Sunoco gas pump near the entrance in the mall.

 There is a big antique shop in the mall.  Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to explore the interesting objects  there.

One can also find interesting things in the specialty stores.

We really enjoyed our step back into the past for a few moments and
will come back to visit next time when we are in Cambridge!

R.T.
Southworks Outlet Mall
Cambridge, Ontario