December! We've already had our first party - last week's hugely successful Transition Information Dinner at Piatti . Transition

Coordinator Kindrah Kilgore will report on that below, with a link to her information packet. This is an important subject for all of us to start talking to each other about, and we have officially begun a group conversation that will be updated and continued all year. Hurrah to OH board member Lucie Alexander for hosting the event, and for kicking off the evening with her own personal (and successful) transition experience with her son, Robbie.

Our incredible staff will celebrate with a "white elephant" gift share at dinner in San Francisco next week, Chez Susan, but not before we have our Toss Party on Tuesday night. I hope you will join us there for holiday shopping that benefits Oak Hill and spreads the word about our wonderful school.

About or wonderful school. It's all about the staff, you know. Yes, the campus is idyllic and the families do provide the perfect match in forming the culture of the community - but I wish to appreciate our teachers, therapists and administrative team here. You see, I carry a torch for one of the original goals of Oak Hill: expanding our reach beyond Oak Hill and creating a ripple effect across our wider community in support of the relationship-based methods we espouse. We have recently connected with Marin Catholic High School about providing volunteer service opportunities for their students, and that is an extension of our program in place for Dominican University Occupational Therapy trainees, and College of Marin interns. I mention these connections, and there will be others, because I feel so confident that our teachers and therapists are truly models for future educators in the field of autism and related neurodevelopmental challenges.

We succeed where others have failed because of our approach as caring guides to our students. Well- trained and mentored, OH staff deal with behaviors that have stymied counterparts elsewhere. Director of Education, Matt Poynter, has called this "walking with a child....through carefully developed relationships," fostering "motivation to reach into the wider world of interpersonal engagement. "