The fog surrounding Frisco, Texas this morning directly mirrors the soupy sea of emotion I’ve been swimming through since I heard the news yesterday that Susan Loper, local mother of an 8-year-old boy with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, was found dead. This story is “hitting home” on so many levels. Not only was Susan raising a son with ASD the same age as my son Ethan, but her body was found within miles of our home. With that said, the “hitting home” goes so much deeper for me…
In case you missed the story in the news: Susan was abducted from Gleneagles Country Club where she worked as a fitness and Pilates instructor in neighboring Plano, Texas, early Tuesday morning. When police were notified and began to investigate, they immediately suspected foul play.

It’s state convention time! Each year our state’s speech-language pathology organization (TSHA: Texas Speech –Language-Hearing Association www.txsha.org) holds a three to four day convention. This year it is being held in Fort Worth, TX and Michelle Garcia Winner is one of the presenters! The convention allows speech therapists from all over to the state to come together to receive Continuing Education, to network, to present research studies, to find jobs, to buy materials, to catch up with other speech friends and professors and more.

The Autism Society of Collin County is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the Michelle Garcia Winner Workshop for social skills: ‘Thinking about You, Thinking about me’
For information about Michelle Garcia Winner please see: http://www.socialthinking.com/
For online and mail registration please go to:
http://www.arcdallas.org/
Click on the Michelle Garcia Winner Workshop link.
Workshop details:
Date: September 23rd, 2009
Time: 9:00am to 4:00pm
Place: Garland Special Events Center
Address: 4999 Naaman Forest Blvd, Garland, TX, 75040