The best part of being a student in the Autism Transition Classroom is all the skills our son has been able to work on, both academic and non-academic. One of the non-academic skills that he has learned has really benefitted our family. We often go for walks or bike rides as a family and it’s not always easy with Cruz. We knew that he was learning to ride an adapted bike at school, but we didn’t believe the teacher when she told us how well he was doing with peddling and steering. One night, Cruz was stuck on not being allowed to play on his iPad so we forced the whole family to go for a bike ride. I grabbed an old hockey stick from the basement (thanks Dr. Baker) and proceeded to start pushing him along the sidewalk. I eventually said "come on Cruz I'm doing all the work, start peddling" and to my amazement, he proceeded to peddle and steer his way throughout the neighbourhood and kept up to his brother and sister. When they walked their bikes across the street, he got off and followed along. It was probably the easiest, least stressful family walk / bike we'd ever had. We were very proud of him that night. Since that night, Cruz has participated in the iCan Bike Program run by the CTC and he is now able to ride a 2-wheel bike without training wheels. It’s apparent that being in the ATC has made a huge impact on him and us and we are grateful for that.
- a Mom