From the Director...

In my last e-mail I wrote that we returned from our holiday in January to a new trampoline, supported by a generous donor in our community. We are a school of many gymnasts, as you can see in this photo of AJ. Inspired, no doubt, by his class' recent trip to see Peking Acrobats at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, AJ's whole class has been pushing themselves on the trampoline and on the field during PE. After sending this shot of AJ to his mother Sigrid, she commented, "AJ's career path is set then...Vegas entertainer!"  There's a tip for the Oak Hill transition planners.

At a recent  all-day Board of Directors planning retreat, the Oak Hill Board defined a list of goals for our upcoming year, some to share with the administration team and staff. You will be hearing about these as we move along with our planning, but here is news of two of them: Transition Planning as an emphasis of our practice, and Parent Engagement.  In service of these goals, I want to note here three upcoming opportunities:

• The February 27th Oak Hill Transition Dinner, for all interested parents, will focus on the recent experiences of Oak Hill alum parents who will join us for discussion; invitations forthcoming.

• The March 1st Offerings Conference at Marin County Office of Education, including a panel discussion on transition.

• The March 8th Marin Autism Collaborative Annual Meeting devoted to transition issues and resources.

If you are interested in hearing about the Board's plans, please know that our meetings are generally open to Oak Hill parents. They take place on the second Wednesday of every month. Let us know if you plan to attend.

New OT Swings at Oak Hill! 

The Occupational Therapy program, as you read last month, has a new therapist, a Level Two OT intern named Rafael Garcia. Rafi and his uncle recently built two beautiful platform swings and donated them to our OT gym - wow - we are so happy with them. In these photos, Rafi's supervisor Mele Perera is "sensorizing" Tommy and the two of them look blissfully connected looking into each others' eyes during their session. Thank you Rafi and Mele; these photos give us a good example of Oak Hill relationship-based learning. After Mele worked with Tommy for a while in the swing, engaging in various sensory activities, she brought out a picture card task to do with him. He looks pretty happy.

Save the Date: Our Annual Fundraiser is March 28! 

Fine Wine and Belly Laughs: We will be reminding everyone often about the Big Event coming up March 28th. THIS time, we are asking for you to put it on your calendar, and to send us a bottle of wine for the Wine Cabinet, to be raffled  "night of." Fifty bottles of wine will go to the holder  of  the winning raffle ticket. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information as we get closer and closer to the big day. Last year, Oak Hill parents Susan Riggle and John Waterson won the cabinet. It was fun to see that cabinet go to folks in the family.