March 10, 2024 we invite you to join us at we celebrate our 65th Anniversary. The celebration will take place in our new home. For more information and to learn how you can contribute click here!

A Love Letter to Cheerful Helpers

By Susanna Peace Lovell

Alumni Parent (class of 2014)

Officer, Cheerful Helpers Board of Directors

On my 50th birthday (January 3, 2024), I gave myself the best gift by completing a memoir that had been nearly a decade in the making. It was a milestone achievement and I feel proud. A big part of my learnings around parenting and understanding how to best support my daughter, Arizona, were a direct result from our priceless time at Cheerful Helpers.

My book, “Your True Self is Enough; Lessons Learned on My Journey Parenting a Child with Autism” is part memoir / part guidebook; written as a way for me to honor the needs and longings I had as a new parent facing a diagnosis I didn’t understand (or quite accept, initially, to be honest). As most of us on this journey know, there is NO blueprint or road map about what to do and where we’re going as disability parents. It’s an isolating path with feelings of hopelessness, worry, anxiety and overwhelm riddled throughout.

And, I have learned so much along the way. Arizona and I have grown and evolved, together. I remember first learning about Cheerful Helpers when Arizona was in Pre-K at a private school on the westside. The school administrators and teacher informed us, somewhat out of the blue, that Arizona left them curious and wondering about her mysterious “behavior and intentions.” I remember weeping at the prospect that my daughter wasn’t being embraced, fully, for her unique talents and skills. But when a fellow school parent told me about a magical school they sent their older son to, I was finally introduced to Cheerful Helpers, an environment that DID embrace and support Arizona for exactly who she was. It was during our few years here that I finally began to exhale. I would like to think of my book as a love song to our beloved school and community that has become home!

Fun fact: the cover art is a piece by fellow CH alumni parent, Rebecca Youssef, whose son Andrew graduated with Arizona in 2014. We first met when our kiddos were 2 years old, as part of a group occupational therapy Saturday class. Her art piece, entitled Infinite Potentiality, struck me as a fitting sentiment for my story. I love how perfectly it all flows together!

Please save the date for a virtual reading of my book! It will take place on Thursday, 2/15 via Zoom @ 7pm PT (we will also record this session for those who won’t be able to attend live).  

School Readiness

Jaclyn Zeccola

School readiness encompasses many things. I am not going to write about the academic portion, or skills that are markers for school readiness, because our teachers are incredibly more qualified than I am to do that.

What I want to think about in this moment is a phrase we often use at Cheerful Helpers,“becoming a school kid”.

So, what does it mean to become a school kid? Many kids and families come to Cheerful Helpers after one or more hard experiences at a different school. Kids come with primitive
defenses, unsophisticated social skills and, often, challenges with communication. More than that, they come to us with low confidence, low self-esteem, and worries about being liked. One of the phrases often echoed in homes early during a Cheerful Helpers onboarding, is “nobody
gets in trouble at Cheerful Helpers”. The value in this phrase for child and parents is immense.The idea that a child with big feelings and uncontained reactions can be seen beyond all of their behaviors, is the foundation for becoming a school kid. Parents can also share in the calm their child can feel, knowing that their behaviors are seen as communication and not received with alarm or frustration.

Building a school kid identity takes time and patience and lots of scaffolding. It starts with developing a curious and confident self. Our work at Cheerful Helpers is focused on the social
emotional, foundational work, because with confidence, self-esteem and a knowledge that they are liked, a child can achieve success. There may still be learning challenges and delays, but
there will be an internal sense of limitlessness that will drive all future schooling. Without this foundation, the kind that can be achieved best and most sustainably with early intervention, the emotional blocks are too great, and no matter the academic ability, the child will not see
themselves as successful.

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