TRANSCRIPT Ð Family on the Move Ð 10/2/23 

>>Heather: Hello. My name is Heather Withrow. All the letters that come after my name, I'm a mom first. And I have my master's in special education. I'm also a certified orientation and mobility specialist. I work at the Texas Deafblind Project as a transition consultant and this is a new role for me this year. The last two years I have been an O&M teacher and I've taught students who are blind, low vision, and Deafblind. I really have enjoyed all that time with students. And, okay, let's get into it. So today we're going to learn more about my family and here we go. And I'm just seeing where I am here. Okay. I'm back. I forgot that I have a hot corner on my mouse pad here so I touched something there. Okay. So this is the Withrow kids. On each slide throughout this presentation I'll be giving a brief description of the images. And really by giving a description of that, that makes it more accessible but it also says a lot about the topic for today that I'm presenting. Family on the Move. We'll get into it. The two pictures on this slide, the first image is the most recent picture I have of my three children together. They're my kids. I've got Ida -- well, you can see them in the order that they're in on that slide. There's Ida, Orion, and Orion's name sign is this O3 here. It's rather the letter 0 and the number 3. 03 for Orion. And my oldest boy there is Skyler. Ida is hearing, which is also in my family known as a child of a Deaf adult or CODA, CODA, child of a deaf adult. Ida is hearing. Orion is Deafblind. And he is completely blind and profoundly deaf. And that combination is one of -- well, really I'll say Deafblind population has a range of how much they might use their vision or how much usable vision or hearing that they have. There's only a really small part of the community that does not use any vision or hearing. And so that is my son, Orion, and he is tactile all the way. Now, my oldest son, Skyler, he is deaf. He just graduated from high school and that's where he is. So he's graduated. Orion is currently in eighth grade. And Ida is becoming a senior this year at a public school. So the second image on this slide is of three hands of different sizes, all touching together. And that picture was taken of the day of Orion's birth. That was the same day that Orion was born. Maybe he's probably less than a day old in that picture. So you see the cutest little baby hand there trying to figure out the ages now. So the left picture is the most current and that is the earliest picture of all three of them. The hands kind of make a circle and it's really focusing on the hands there. So those are my three kids. Let's move on here. Where's my little clicker? Trying to figure out the easiest way to move forward on the slide. There we go. Okay. That works. I don't want to touch my hot corner again. It will mess me up. Okay. So now this is Orion's O&M timeline from when he was a baby to almost 2. He had PT, physical therapy. From the three different providers. Now, I will say my situation is really, really unique because we had Orion when we lived in Maryland and we were able to access two different early intervention services. So he had two IFSPs, he had two different ones. So he got PT from both of those. Plus, we also had a private PT and that's a lot of PT, I tell you what. I really remember, you know, he was crying and complaining and upset during PT a lot but it was a lot of work and it really helped improve his development. So when he was 2, as soon as he turned 2 we moved to Texas. And that's where we started O&M for the first time as part of his early intervention services here. And I remember his O&M specialist really emphasized reaching, really encouraging him to reach. And so that's one thing, you know, as a baby he's pretty closed in. He kept his extremities inward and so we really encouraged that curiosity in reaching outward. And so reaching became a functional thing. You know, using his body to reach. I really remember noticing that and learning. I was a mom. I was just a mom at the time. At that time I was not a certified O&M specialist so I was really learning from my son's COMS at that time. And so now, since he was age 10 -- I'm a mom -- and then I became a certified orientation and mobility specialist myself, which was super amazing. I had a great role model. Not just my son's O&M, but there's a lot of other O&Ms, certified O&M specialists who were great role models for me. And today Orion is still with his same rock star COMS still today, which is really impressive. So we'll give some brief picture descriptions here. I'm going to start -- the first image is of Orion and that was actually at the early intervention -- well, really, that place was the center for early intervention and it was a parent-infant program in the Deaf school in Washington, D.C. It was on the campus of Gallaudet University and that was in Washington, D.C. The other early intervention providers were through our county in Maryland, right? So we actually had two separate places. One in Washington, D.C. and the other in Maryland. And so he was rocking there in that blanket, we kind of made a swing out of that. Orion loves laughing. He loves swinging. You can see how happy he was on that. And it really became like a game, swinging a few times in that blanket and you would put him down and then we would see his body language was really indicated that he wanted more and so we would pick it up again, swing it some more. I like that it's just a totally natural situation where we learn how to -- he's learning how to make requests as a baby. So the second image, the circular image, he was about 2 in that photo and he had just figured out how to sit up alone by himself. And he was so thrilled. Of course, the family was also thrilled. We're all watching like, oh, my gosh! You did it! I remember that moment so vividly. And then the third image is the first day of school from this year. This year's first day of school. He is 13 now. He's got his backpack on, his cool shoes, and he's walking with his current COMS, who he's had for a while now. And that's Carolina working with him. I want to check in with Kaycee. Do we have any questions so far? 

>>Kaycee: No questions yet. 

>>Heather: Great. I'm going to move on. Okay. This slide is called fun and meaningful learning. And I've got just some phrases here and I'll explain the images as well. So the first phrase here is we want to practice what they can do. And this is in general for any kid. We want to build that self-confidence, feeling good about yourself. You know, things that you can practice being successful at, what you can do, not what you can't do. So things that are a real struggle and you can't -- just overcommitting doesn't make you feel good about yourself or for Orion, for himself either. So keeping that in mind, we also of course need to learn new skills but sometimes that rote practice until you get to a frustration level does not always work. Sometimes you need to back off, try again later when you're trying to learn a new skill. The second bullet point there is playing is effortless learning, connecting and communicating as well. I just love playing. Myself, I enjoy playing as an adult. And I see my kids, how happy they are through their play, their laughter, their joyful moments, learning. So I really see how impactful play is in that way. The next bullet says whatever "label" your kid has, they're still a kid first. Always a kid first. And now the next bullet says actions speak louder than words, of course, in a way. Especially for Deafblind actions, that tactile observable actions. So, you know, not always just being observing with your eyes but things you can tactually feel. See what's happening. You can touch on others and observe them through touch. You know, if people are just chatting. It's not that, you know, words are bad or just speaking about things are bad, it's about emphasizing the action and being able to have tactile access to that. That last bullet, you've probably heard about motivation being part of what's needed for kids to move. And I'm a huge fan of motivation but I do also try to use some different wording to essentially say the same thing. Because first of all there's awareness, right? So how are we aware of things? That's through accessibility. Accessibility makes you aware, it makes you curious. And that is what leads to movement. Because in order to have motivation, motivation is great but how do you know what motivates you, right? So that's where we get into that awareness. So that's where that fits in. Okay. So we've got some pictures on this slide. There's a picture of Orion laying on some sand on a beach. He's -- his shirt, his arms, you can see he's gripping the sand. He's covered in the hand. It's not in the picture but he's gripping at it with his feet. He is happy. He has a big old smile on his face. The second image is Orion laughing. And at that time he was probably one year old, toddler age, he wasn't yet 2. We brought him to a basketball game at Gallaudet University up in Washington, D.C. We had been out in the community and other people noticed that he was part of the community. And that really normalized different people in our community. So when we go out into the community with our loved ones who have a disability, we add variety to the community. And that other kids and adults get used to that, seeing people with disabilities and it helps our diversity. So that's that image. Okay. Next slide. This one is about active learning and we've got some examples here on screen. As a parent, I went to an Active Learning training, oh, I learned so much. I'm still learning a lot about Active Learning. It's ongoing. I really feel just grateful for three pieces of equipment that are Active Learning equipment that Orion has really benefited from. So the first one is a resonance board. The second one is Little Room. And the third one is a HOPSA dress. That's HOPSA dress. And so in the three pictures on this slide are of each of these different pieces of equipment. The first image is Orion with a grin on his face and he's on that resonance board. He's smiling and his brother is actually behind him. He is like crawling and kind of stomping on that board making it make some noise and vibration. And so Orion's laughing probably at what his brother is doing on that board. And he really just loved that feeling. The Little Room is that small picture. It's a closeup and you can see Orion. He's really thinking. He's got a very thoughtful expression on his face as he's exploring the Little Room. That third photo is the HOPSA dress and that was a big thing. So it's up on a hook, right, in the ceiling. We've got a hook up on the ceiling so it's in one place. But we had a swing on there first. Like one of those spinning swings. And he loved just spinning, spinning, and spinning. He would go wild with spinning. And he would find things with his feet also while he was there like toys. There's a little trampoline in there. Sometimes he could find a cat with his foot. If the cat's in the way, too bad, kitty. Orion would find everything with his feet just being in that sort of swing. And so we really loved the HOPSA dress. There is more information on the website activelearningspace.org. This is also in the handout as well, if you want to access that there. Okay. I'm going to just check on the time real quick. Okay. We're good. Moving on. So now for just -- I want to talk about encouraging Orion. I'm saying Orion, but really this is for any kid -- with movement. Things you can make or find or whatever. Whatever works. This is the name of the slide and that's the point is whatever works. So we've got a whole list here. We had a rail on a pegboard. It was just like a handrail, like a ballet-class style. A ballet bar, handrail sort of thing. And I was really hoping if it was there Orion would use it to pull himself up. You know, hit or miss. There's also playing under the bed. We have a bed -- and it's pretty high. It's a singling bed but it's a little bit higher up so you like to put some junk under there and throw things under there. But there was a lot of empty space down there and he would get under there and push up on the bed frame above and he would just find things under the bed and that was really exploratory and fun. Playing under the bed but also playing on the bed. And playing in a hammock swing or also a lycra swing. That's that kind of stretchy lycra fabric and it's super fascinating. He was always really -- really enjoyed that lycra fabric in a swing. And the lycra would kind of hug him in a way. It was like giving him a hug. He would be in the swing and it was also like getting a hug. You could push him in that fabric swing. That was a really fun one. There's lazy susan. I made one myself. Just went to Home Depot and bought kind of like a lazy susan sort of thing and just drilled some in the side of it. Like a 2x2-foot wooden board. And it just -- so I bought the rotating piece at Home Depot and put a board on there and he would just spin all around that. Also some of these lead to these pictures that are examples here of some of these things. One is of the handrail on the pegboard. And it just happened to be used by the cat in this moment that I took the photo. We have a black cat that's got its front paws up on the handrail. I will say that cat loves it. Ironically. So I guess Active Learning is for cats too. More than human. One negative thing about that one is the cat does like to chew, so if there are strings on this little pegboard or anything that covers plastic tubing, that cat will chew through all that stuff. The board essentially becomes a cat toy. The other images here, I've got the lazy susan on there that I just mentioned. And there's also a carpet square on top of the wood so that it's comfortable. So you see the carpet there. And you can see that picture is sort of in motion. His face is blurry because he's spinning, spinning, spinning. There's other pictures of him on the platform swing on the bottom left there. We have one of those at home as well. And, you know, he loves to go -- same thing. Home Depot. I'm going to Home Depot a lot. I do like gift cards to Home Depot as well, FYI. [Laughter] My family knows that about me. That fourth picture is that lycra swing. And he's really deep in it. He's totally enveloped by that swing. Oh, yeah. And I just want to mention whatever works, also your interactions with your child. And the last one, I love it is whatever your kid comes up with. Like, you can really pull some stuff out of them and following their lead really works. A few more things on whatever works. Two things on this slide. Encouraging them to feel different weights and also handling large objects. That could be like a ball, like a huge, giant ball or a big old box, foam shape. There's four images on this screen of some different things like that. So the one is Orion and his big brother. Both of them are holding this big ole pumpkin there. There is Orion has like a grip bell project -- I don't know what you call it. They're those big weights but they have handles on them. And they have different ways of holding them, so there's all sorts of grips on there. And it's a pretty heavy weight and so Orion would work really hard to lift that. You can see the muscles on his arms sort of like bulging out a little bit. You can see those because he's really gripping on to that because it's pretty heavy. The third one, he has a discus from track. I was involved in track in my older days and so he's holding on to that discus there. And then the fourth one is a picture of Orion underneath a box. And it's set up -- really that spatial relationship. He's learning about spatial relationships with the box. Okay. So now we're going to start talking about common ground activities. And so the things before we mentioned are getting your child moving, right? Getting them on the move. And now we're kind of moving into things that we're moving and doing with the family. So number one, swimming. The hot tub, hot tubbing, swinging, canoeing, sandy beaches. Just sitting in some warm water while the warm waves of water comes and it feels really nice. You know, I can't say the same -- the beaches of Texas or the beaches of Washington, the east and west, those might be a little cold. Our things down here are pretty warm. Anyway, if you're in the south, we've got some warm water and that feels real nice. Also, riding with the windows down. In the car, you've just got those windows down. The breeze is going through, slapping your hair. So our images on this screen, we've got three. We've got a group picture in the hot tub. That's the dark one. That's a dark picture. There's five people in there but you can tell there's water on the bottom sort of bubbling on there. We also have a photo of riding in the car. You've got the window down. Orion's -- where are we here? Okay. Yeah, Orion is happy. He's got a big smile on his face. His elbow's out the window. He loves that feeling of the wind in his hair. And then the third photo is of him and his older brother together. It happens, it was one of those swings that we ordered online. It's kind of like a platform swing but it's got like a webbed bottom instead. And so it's just him and his brother chilling on the swing. All right. Some more common ground activities. We've got hand games. And, truly, any kind of hand game that you would play with any other kid, it's like a tactile thing. Kind of like what is that game where you try and hit the tops of someone's hands really fast? I don't know the name of it. You're holding your hands underneath the hands of someone and the kids put their hands on top of you and you've got to try and slap your hands on top of theirs really quick. Games like that. That's just an example. There's a ton of those. I will say Orion's brother, it looks a little iffy sometimes but his brother will kind of pinch down Orion's fingers. It's similar to that other hand slapping game but it's just a pinch and Orion will take his hand away real quick. But he always puts it back and then jerks it away but puts it back so you can tell it's fun. It's their own thing. It's their game. Bike and trailer rides. Rock climbing. RVing. I've got RVs on here. Also, of course, bathtime, eating meals together, and playing on the bed. So we've got three images here. Orion riding on a bike in a trailer. That's like a little trailer. Obviously, the mom, I'm riding the bike and I'm trying to take a picture behind me of Orion back there. But behind Orion is his older brother on the bike. That's my oldest son trailing behind us. Second image is of Orion and his brother again. Kind of working together to get Orion on a swing. It's kind of like a camping chair swing. And the third image is an interaction of playing on the bed between Orion and his sibling. More common ground activities! Okay. I'm looking at my time. We're good on time. I'm going to keep going. These pictures are from last summer. So the first experience was experience ferry wind. We rode on the ferry and any time you go on a ferry you're guaranteed a very windy experience, any time you're going over that water. And it was super cool. Truly, it was just like -- you know, like a wind tunnel. It's kind of like a wind tunnel. You don't need a wind tunnel. You can just go on a ferry. It's going to give you that same experience. Really fun. Playground rides is another one. So we don't always know what to expect when we get to a playground, so we kind of look around for what Orion might be interested in. And then we'll bring him to what might be interesting to him. And the third one is -- you see the bullet point: Overcoming obstacles, quote, unquote. This is related with these three images here. So that third one is Orion and his big brother on -- sorry. That first one is Orion and his big brother on the ferry. You can see the water is just all around us and there's a lot of wind. You can tell because his big brother, his hair is completely to one side. Very wind swept. You do have to dress warm for those. I'll tell you that. That second image on the playground, it was really cool. It's kind of like a modern-day version of a merry-go-round but much smaller. At least, like, from what I remember back in the day. This one's a lot safer, smaller. It's the three siblings just playing together on this sort of spinning circular disk and Orion is laughing. His sibling is pushing him around and around and around and they're all interacting together. And that third photo is that topic of those obstacles. And this one was a real challenge for Orion. It's interesting trying to get up and around these nets. His feet, trying to get them through the different holes in this net. And he really persevered with the support of his brother, of course. And I do want to take this time to just mention about the importance of the whole family doing things together. One, it sends a message to the rest of the family, right, to include that child. And also memories are something that we all have together. Like suppose it was just me and Orion doing something, it's just the two of us. He and I will remember that. We'll have that experience and we have to memory together. But it's just us. So the rest of the folks in my family won't have that. But if it's something that all five of us do, it's our memory. And our experience and our memory together. And I think that's really important for siblings. Of course, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and all that stuff too, just to have, you know, some expectations to include all of our children as part of the family. And so whatever we get together and socialize and experience things together, that really increases confidence in the interactions with the person who might be blind or Deafblind or low vision or whathave you. And also all of that inclusion makes it easier to ask for help for yourself as a parent when you need help. It's easier to kind of call on people. You know, people who have memories together and who feel comfortable and supporting being around that child. That's definitely a big benefit of that, having those group experiences together. Okay. Next slide. Yay! So we've got some more common ground activities and I'm excited to showcase and show off some other awesome families and what they do for family fun together. So this first one here is Megan's family fun. We've got five photos here. The first image is at night. It's a night shot of the family photo. You've got the whole family in there. I was going to say they're in front of -- luckily they are not in front of. They are on the side of an Amtrak train. So trains, I will say you will notice trains might be a theme popping up in these slides. A lot of families have fun on trains. The next photo is exploring together. Now, I'm going to say I do not know the type of this plant. Is this pineapples? I don't know. It's some sort of really cool plant. And what I really like about this photo is that you have two hands touching together. But it's not like a hand on top of another hand. They're just sort of -- it's like looking together. They're feeling together but no one is on top of one another. Each are in their own space but they can also connect it to each other. Yes, it's pineapple. Oh, great. The next image is of a horse. And I love -- I don't know how old she is there. I don't know, I guess maybe 5. She's very small compared to that horse. I hope I'm right. We'll see. 5-ish, maybe, but it's a very adorable picture. A big ole horse there and she's next to it. The fourth image is on the water. So you've got four people and an inflatable thing on the water. Everybody is smiling, everybody is happy and they're all together on this water vessel. And the fifth image, Megan -- yeah, Megan has a fish that has just been caught. You can see the fishing rod diagonal in the photo and she's got a fish in her hands. And there's two men in the picture on either side of her. One of them is giving a big old thumbs up. Kind of like a way to go, Megan. That is very cool. Okay. Now, next slide. Okay. Now this is Yesdy. And it's Yesdy's family fun. Her name sign is with a Y on your same side shoulder. Kind of tapping in. There are six photos in this. In the first picture, again, is with one of her moms on a train. Here we see trains again. Next photo is in a kayak. So Yesdy's kayaking, she's in front and there's an adult behind her, also in that same kayak. We can't see it in this photo but there are two people in that kayak. The third photo, they're on a speedboat. Y'all just speeding through the water. Yesdy has her head tilted back and she's touching her sunglasses. And her hair is blowing straight back. You can see how fast they're going. And you've got mom right on her side over there, also hair same. Blowing back, looking up as well. They just look super peaceful and blissed out really in the moment together. The fourth one -- I believe this is Meowulf. It is an interactive, immersive, very visual colorful setting. Now, I have never gone there myself but I've heard lots of stories about this place and it seems like a really, really cool place for exploring. So there's a picture there. Both moms are there and Yesdy are together with some really colorful lights exploring. The fifth picture is at a jazz festival. Somebody took that picture from behind. And there's both moms looking together, reaching towards Yesdy. And Yesdy just looks so happy, having a great time. You can tell it's kind of raining. Everybody else is wet but Yesdy is having a happy time. So I think that's a jazz music festival. Also very colorful, very festive, very fun. I want to go to that. That last image on the right side is Yesdy with an intervenor in the same place, that same Meowulf exhibit. And what I love about this photo is that something is really high out of her reach for a child. And so the intervenor lifts her up and Yesdy is able to touch that and explore it and is reaching above her, so it's that access. I think it's a beautiful way to make opportunities to touch and have access to things. Love it! Yeah, I'm curious. I definitely want to get to Meowulf some day. Okay. This is really -- hmmm. Something I want to make sure that I do myself and I want to make sure that anyone I interact with, my family, my kids is just not to lose track of time, right? You know, time passes by so fast. So this slide says take care of your now. And there's some quotes that I pulled that I put on here that I want to share. The first one is take care of the minutes; for the hours will take care of themselves. And you can see here Lord Chesterfield gave that quote. So thank you for your quote. There's another quote that I pulled here -- and I don't know who said this. Maybe it's the same person. I don't know but I love it. In relation to that it's kind of a continuation of that for the hours will take care of themselves. And the months and the years will take care of themselves. Just, you know, I feel like it's so being focused on the now, staying in the moment, having a good time together now. And what happens when I have a lot more nows, like each now, as they continue, they add up. So I think it's just wonderful. The two images on this screen, on this slide are my three kids when they were young and they're all sitting together on this very tiny little pool inflatable float. They're so little and young. When I look at this I'm like, oh, wow. I remember those nows. Maybe 9, 7, and Orion was maybe 3 at the time. 3-ish. So my middle child is actually giving Orion a big old kiss on his cheek. And they're all in touch. This is another important thing. They're all in contact and in touch together. That second image is the beach. And just having family time at the beach. And even though in that beach photo they're not all in contact, it is a memory that we all have together. So I've got all three of my kids there and that's the memory of this family time together. Okay. So trying new things. So I really want to encourage keep trying new things. Orion does like to balance quite precariously. Sometimes it looks dangerous but he really likes to balance and experiment and play. So we encourage him. We do make sure he's safe, so we're watching. We're always watching. But we do support his physical experiments. And all children benefit from that security, having a safe harbor. And the fourth thing here that I think is really important is don't force him. If he doesn't want to try and do something, we're not going to force him. That really goes back to that security and safe harbor. So the four images here, we've got on the warm beach, that warm beach Texas. Again, not a Washington beach. This is not a Maryland beach. This is a Texas beach. And then we've got Orion, he's doing like a headstand kind of. He's got his feet on a dresser -- sorry. On the edge of the bed and he's at a very wild angle. And that is something he comes up with it himself. Sometimes he does something and you know I'm watching his neck. I got my eyes on -- that's a thing where we want to let him take chances but I'm also very much present and watching that. On the other side of that he doesn't like to be physically active. I don't like to restrict his physical movement. It's a balance. I think as a parent you have parental license as a parent just to watch what you let explore. Some people, you know, might scream. I think as a parent, you know, we have our concerns and definitely you want to be in collaboration with your PT and your OT. Those are through the school and the OT specialist as well. But I think it's great to be in contact with them and ask some questions and get ideas from them. Thinking about safety considerations and things like that. That third image is the safe harbor. This is an example of the safe harbor. This is a rock climbing picture and he's sitting on the lap of his intervenor but he is reaching out and touching one of the holds -- I'm not sure what you call them. The handholds -- sorry, I'm not a rock climbing expert. I should learn more. He's touching it. He's in a safe place. He's in the lap of his intervener and he's exploring. That might lead to some more exploration soon. And that fourth image is like he's kind of got a tripod stand going. I guess maybe a five pod, I think. He's got his hands, his two feet, his hands supporting his body weight. His intervener is there letting him explore physically. More examples of just trying new things here on this slide. It says "Keep trying." Let me back up here, actually. There's four photos on here. The first one he's in a stroller and he's holding his white cane. This one's an NFB white cane. He's holding it in between his two hands. And his feet too, actually, now that I look at it. He's got his hands and his feet clasped around it and he wasn't using a white cane at that point but he was becoming familiar with it and kind of using it as a tool, a probe for his environment around him. And figuring out how, again, that spatial relationship and spatial awareness, the size of things and the distance, the size of his body as opposed to the size of the cane, all of that stuff is just happening while he's exploring the white cane. That second image is a group of four photos. And he's got a long cast on his leg. He broke his bone when he was 5 years old. And he was really struggling. He was trying to figure out how to move around with his long cast and his leg. He couldn't bend his leg and he just was all kind of cockeyed moving around, trying different ways to get into the bathtub. He's just really trying to figure that out with his cast on his leg. And he made it. Spoiler: He made it in. The other images are me -- he is in a backpack on my back hiking through the woods. I've got Orion up there perched on my back. The fourth, he's riding a little toy car. It's one of those toys where he had to really figure out that balance and climbing on to it. He was 2 at that time and his balance was not so great. So figuring out how to maneuver himself and position himself. And it was a real opportunity for him to practice that and it was really cool. And mom was right there, of course, ready to support, if needed. Okay. We're keeping trying here. Keep trying. Really, keep trying is just the idea of just trying to find fun things with the family. It isn't always easy to find things that the whole family can do so you just have to keep trying different things and see what works. Some people really prefer movies. Some might prefer the playground and you're like, well, how can we make these things work together? That's another thing about common ground activities. It's something that the whole family can enjoy together that's accessible to all. It is hard to plan, I'll tell you what. It's hard to plan family things. You get overwhelmed and busy with different things. But sometimes some of the coolest things happen when you don't plan. And they can be really complicated by a plan as well. So, let's see. First I'll talk about struggles. We went to a hotel. Orion did not like it. It was a strange room. There was a weird smell in there. It was like this new place and he just didn't like it. And sometimes -- every time we stay in a hotel he's like, I don't know. You got to figure out new things. I'm trying to think from his perspective where am I now. I'm trying to explain to him we're on vacation. We're in a hotel. But having to learn all these new places. One thing that we did that was really fun was RVing. We rented an RV and I'll tell you what. It was worth it. Well, honestly it was too much money. I'm going to tell you that. It was too much money but I think it really was worth it because now we have this amazing memory that we have in this picture. One thing I really like about the RV is you sleep there. You can eat there. And when someone does something in the RV, everyone else knows about it. It's a super tactile experience, like just walking around in the RV. With the bathroom. If you drop something, you can feel that from most places in the RV. Coming in and leaving. I feel like it's a tactile experience. I would say the RV is Deafblind friendly. It's a small space. You're guaranteed to bump into someone if you're trying to go past something. That's what we call Deafblind friendly. Everything's in reach. So I recommend it. The picture on this slide is of the whole family having a picnic, eating outside. And we're all a little bit sunburned, you can see. And then the other photo next to it. And I love this photo because it's really part of the everyone's experience. The five of us were here. My husband's at the barbecue on the grill outside. The dark space, in the foreground, it's inside the RV. You can see our son is sitting right at the door. And our middle child is sitting on the steps with a little Chihuahua. I will say that Chihuahua is also Deafblind. And you can see who's touching in the middle is Orion. Orion is touching his brother. He's on the floor and he's got his feet on his brother's back. You can see his pullups in the bottom corner of that screen and he's touching his sibling there. So what we're looking forward to more is more RV trips. I think it was a really successful thing. And I might try like a cabin rental with an AC, though. We did book one but we canceled it. I can't remember, was that during COVID? There was some reason we had to cancel it. That happens but I've got it as wanting to go to a cabin, emphasizing with the AC, please. Because that's one of the problems with camping. We don't have AC. Really, Orion requires AC. If it's too hot, he gets really crazy cranky. That's one of the things we know. Oh, wow! I have more slides. Let me look at the time. Let's see. I would say three things that I really want to work on that you might want to think on for yourself to continue in the future -- and also inviting others. Don't let your kids -- sorry. Inviting friends to come joined with you. The last one. Don't let your kid con you. Seriously. Don't let your kids con you because there's a lot they can do. There's a lot they can do. My last slide here has a final quote on it. And this is one of my favorite quotes. It says: To the world you are one person and to one person you are the world. It's on the bottom of the slide as well. There's a link to a real happy reel. I can't show you right now because we're out of time but it's in the handout. If you click on it, it's literally two minutes of laughter. You can use it for a Monday morning. Thank you all so much. And that's it.