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“That would have been enough for any heart to handle, but there was more. Craig had been developing speech from grunts to vowels to babbling. Now, he looked toward the mirror on the wall and babbled in a pattern of connected speech sounds. This “scratched” sentence had all the components of speech: intonation, pausing, cadence and inflection. Larry and I cried together.”
ARE YOU CURIOUS YET – find out how it happened in my story “Begin Success Today” at ADVANCE for the Speech/Language Pathologist
Did you know that I am blogging on a weekly basis for ADVANCE for the Speech-Language Pathologist? All of my blogs are for the SLP, parents, and other professionals.
You can sign-up to receive the blog each week through
ADVANCE. A two-minute read for a lifetime of information to help your child/adult.
Let me know what YOU would like to see me blog about.
Iowa Capital
Iowa Friends
FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
IOWA FRIENDS: Always bring the food.
FRIENDS: Will say ‘hello’.
IOWA FRIENDS: Will give you a big hug and a kiss.
FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs.
IOWA FRIENDS: Call your parents Mom and Dad
FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
IOWA FRIENDS: Cry with you.
FRIENDS: Will eat at your dinner table and leave.
IOWA FRIENDS: Will spend hours there, talking, laughing, and just being together.
FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
IOWA FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you
FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that’s what the crowd is doing.
IOWA FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds’ back-ends that left you.
FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
IOWA FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, ‘I’m home!’
FRIENDS: will visit you in jail
IOWA FRIENDS: will spend the night in jail with you
FRIENDS: will visit you in the hospital when you’re sick
IOWA FRIENDS: will cut your grass and clean your house then come spend the night with you in the hospital and cook for you when you come home
FRIENDS: have you on speed dial
IOWA FRIENDS: have your number memorized
FRIENDS: Are for awhile.
IOWA FRIENDS: Are for life.
FRIENDS: Might ignore this.
IOWA FRIENDS: Will send this to all of your Iowa Friends.
Which one are you?
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I cannot take authorship for this piece ~ but I love it.
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Copy, change the state and send it on to YOUR friends.
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We all need to show kindness and love to everyone.
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of my weekly
autism blog through ADVANCE for Speech/Language Patholgogists
Autism Spectrum Across Ages and Environments
Each weekly entry will inform and insprire SLP’s, other professionals, and parents.
I invite you to read, learn, and comment.
At the Las Vegas Santa Run
Don’t miss a series of blogs at On the Road with Humpty Dumpty as HE reviews his 2010 adventures. I started this family friendly blog in May, 2010. The whole idea is to “get off your wall and live.”
Everyone of us, even Tiny Tim, has something that can hold us back in life ~ that is ~ if you let it.
Enjoy life ~ smile with it ~ cry when you must ~ but then, pick yourself up and live!
(This is my Humpty Dumpty – the one in the little plaid suit. He’s a joy in my life. Follow his adventures on HIS blog.)
My daughter, Katie Harrington Stricklin, has been promoted to a Senior Associate at her law firm, Walsworth Franklin Bevins & McCall, LLP and I’m one proud mother! (As is her father, Tim, brother, Doug, and husband, Chad)
Hard work never deterred Katie from achieving goals as a child or as an adult. Her fair and ethical judgement along with superb writing skills have accelerated her to this level of recognition in her law firm.
Memories of Katie’s childhood flood my mind and soak my heart with joy. She was instrumental in molding her brother’s path (Doug, who has autism), I wrote about it in “My First Lesson in Autism,” what a three-year-old Katie taught me about turn taking. Katie wrote about it in “On the Way to the Sky,” a chapter in For Parents and Professionals: Autism. My short story, “Portrait of God,” is a tribute to her father that would melt any father’s heart and bring him to his knees – from the mouth of a four-year-old.
Katie was at the top of her game as a retail manager at Disneyland, where she met her husband, Chad. She called me one day and said, “I think I’ll go to law school.” Lawyers run deep in the Harrington family and so the tradition continues with our Katie as she makes her mark.
As all mother’s know, it is not the acronyms behind your child’s name, or the amount of the paycheck, or the kind of car, or style of home they have; it is the graciousness of a life well lived. Yes, I am proud of Katie’s recent accolade, she deserves it, but I am more proud just calling her my daughter.
My short story, “God Dealt Me a Teddy Bear,” is included in this newest anthology by Patchwork Path, Treasure Box. The goal of Patchwork Path is piecing lives together to publish books that touch people’s lives and offer a respite from everyday pressures. Choice books inspire readers to view life with a positive attitude, count their blessing, or make them laugh.
“God Dealth Me a Teddy Bear” is a true story of a one-eyed Teddy bear that I so wanted as a little girl. My older sister, Julie, thought better of getting me that “disabled” bear for Christmas back in the 1950′s. Well, you’ll have to read on to see what happens. Funny, isn’t it how my life evolved around a son with autism and children with disabilities. Maybe that one-eyed Teddy bear gave me more for Christmas than I ever knew.
You’ll enjoy all of the short stories in The Treasure Box, after all they belong there.
Music ~ Music ~ Music ~ Nothing is better than Christmas music to get us in the spirit of the season and to evoke memories. To those who wrote the notes and the lyrics, and to the artists who sing the songs we so love, I salute you. You give us joy, warmth, dreams, and sugar plums to dance in our heads, be they two or ninety-two.
After culling through Top Ten lists of favorite Christmas Songs on the internet, I decided to post the Top Ten Christmas song list in Kathie’s World. I enjoy listening to a variety of artists who instill their own version of tried and true popular Christmas songs. Take for instance, Neil Diamond and how he ”Neilizes” everything he sings. I simply call it “Neilization, ” and I love it. Or, Bing Crosby, with his unmistakable, mellow, voice from the past ~ it just wouldn’t be Christmas without Bing.
So here is my list ~ here are my songs ~ here is what I’ll be listening to plus so much more ~ enjoy the season of music and dance ~ find the CHRIST in Christmas in whatever you listen to.
Kathie’s World Top Ten Christmas Songs
1. The Eyes of a Child by Air Supply
2. Let There be Peace on Earth by Vince Gill and daughter, Jenny Gill
3. White Christmas by Bing Crosby
4. The Prayer by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli
5. Merry Christmas Darling by The Carpenters
6. I’ll be Home for Christmas by Bing Crosby and/or Neil Diamond
7. Oh Holy Night by Andy Williams and/or Celine Dion
8. Go Tell it on the Mountain by Aretha Franklin and/or Gospel Choir
9. Silent Night by Josh Groban
10. The Christmas Song by Barry Manilow
T’was the day before Thanksgiving
and all around the town
not a turkey said a gobble
he couldn’t make a sound.
People at the airport
stood in line for TSA.
They could not avoid the scanner
no matter what they’d say.
There were those who did refuse it
so they were patted down.
Many times their “junk” was touched
so their faces wore a frown.
Let’s not forget the thankfulness and
the freedoms we celebrate today.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone
In our good ole USA.
(click on images to enlarge)
Sons of Austria
A memoir – in part – by Don Eggspuehler
We’d been looking forward to this day for weeks. Any of us who’d attended West Side Elementary School, Iowa Falls, IA for any length of time knew about this day. For many of us it was the most special day of the year, not counting Christmas.
The 6th graders got the honor of helping him unload all of his props and projector from his station wagon. He promised them they would be paid “handsomely” for their help. It wasn’t the pay they were interested in…it was the honor of serving their idol. After about thirty minutes of work, they each got paid with a fake $3 dollar bill with his picture and name on the front of it. These were priceless souvenirs.
We anxiously meandered into the lunchroom, which had been cleared of all tables and chairs to accommodate the entire school. After we put our dime admission into the bucket, the smaller kids were escorted up front to sit cross-legged on the floor. The older kids followed us in, until the final 6th graders were standing along the back wall. We noticed that the teachers seated in chairs along the sidewall were just as excited as the students, which was quite unusual. The room was packed to capacity– the anticipation electric as the kids buzzed with excitement.
Our Principal walked out to the front of the room, quieted the crowd, and announced, “This morning we have a very special presentation. Our guest will take you on travels you’ve never dreamed about before. It is my pleasure to introduce to you…Mr. Al Bell!”
My friend, Don Eggspuehler lives in Richardson, TX where he is in software sales, management, and consulting. He enjoys his family, traveling, creating home movies, and writing. Don can be contacted at: don@megaflexible.com
Don and I were lucky to experience adventures through Al Bell as were grew and learned in Iowa Falls, IA in the 1950′s and 60′s. I’m certain that Al influenced many Iowa children as they grew into adulthood. We all thank Al Bell and his family for taking our hands and guiding us gently into a path of appreciation for animals, nature, adventure, and life.
Becky Bell-Greenstreet’s book about her father, Al Bell Remembered is available for $17.50
Becky’s address is: 58837 Old Railroad Grade Road, Coquille, OR 97423-8646
One DVD is available at White Pole Road Development Program with the following four Al Bell movies:
- Sons of Gaspe (1952) Nova Scotia, Quebec and Canada.
- Sons of Egypt (1976) Cairo, the pyramids
- Sons of Peru (1963) living with the primitive Shipibo Indians in the Amazon Jungle.
- Sons of the Holy Land (1965) biblical places and religious history.
