#MyJCCStory: Meet Gabriel
Meaningful inclusion results in new friends for the whole family
Despite a shared love of Lego, trains, tennis and pizza some children have a harder time than others making friends. Such was the case for grade 4 student, Gabriel, who is on the Autism spectrum. Then, he found the Schwartz/Reisman Centre and a series of programs that have included social skills, early engineers, Sportball, karate and yoga.
It has been close to three years now and the greatest impact of these programs has been on Gabriel’s feeling of belonging and his bond with new friends.
“Gabriel skips into class and runs out with excitement,” said Elaine his mother. “When we put him in other activities he got bored or lost interest. But this one he always loves. The quality of programming, the talent of ABA instructors and the consistency of the same kids, the experiments and activities makes it so successful.”
Gabriel is not the only family member benefiting from the SRC’s inclusion programming. While Gabriel and his friend are having fun in their weekly social club, their two sisters enjoy swimming lessons together.
“I’ve also met a group of mothers that I hang out with and talk about our situations and challenges,” said Elaine. “We have a bond – they get it. If one of us has a bad day we text each other. We may live anywhere from the Beaches to Vaughan but once a week we meet at the JCC.”
It’s time the entire family looks forward to each week making Gabriel’s excitement to hang out with his new friends, quite typical.
