Boxborough woman offers resources for challenged kids at Ayer’s Peter Pan Center
BREAKING BARRIERS: Boxborough resident Donna Shea empathizes with the parents of any child she sees acting out in public, recalling how often she felt overwhelmed while raising her two boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
“The experience was rough. It was embarrassing, and I didn’t have the skills to know why it was happening,’’ Shea said, noting that had she only known her older son had a sensory issue, she wouldn’t have brought him to places like the mall, where he would inevitably throw a tantrum.
Now a behaviorist and coauthor of the book “How to Make & Keep Friends: Tips for Kids to Overcome 50 Common Social Challenges,’’ Shea provides those resources as founder and director of the Peter Pan Center in Ayer. Established 10 years ago as a parent-consultation company, the center assists children and teens with mild to moderate anxiety and other social and behavioral challenges, providing social “tutoring’’ in group settings.
In addition, “purposeful unstructured time’’ replicates lunchtime, recess, and other times of the day that can be difficult for children who struggle to join in with others and engage in conversation.
The Peter Pan Center Clubhouse, to which siblings and guests are invited when space permits, offers recreational activities so youngsters can bond over common interests.
Also, seminars are offered regularly to help parents better understand and support their children’s development.
Shea said back-to-school anxiety is especially common, but challenges also lurk at libraries, play groups, and after-school programs.
It’s natural for parents to suffer along with their children, which is why Shea said it is so important to provide a place in which whatever happens is OK.
“I tell parents, ‘It does get better.’ ’’
An open house for parents and kids will take place from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday
at the Peter Pan Center, 60 Willow Road in Ayer.
For more information, call 978-772-1255 or visit www.peterpancenter.com.
PATH TO INCLUSION : Journalist John Hockenberry will be cited for
his efforts advocating for disability rights during the Al Filipov Peace & Justice Forum on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord.
Following the presentation of the second annual Al Filipov Peace & Justice Award, Hockenberry will deliver a talk titled“The Main Event: Inclusion From Politics to the Paralympics.’’
A four-time Peabody Award winner and four-time Emmy winner, Hockenberry is founding host of a morning public radio program, “The Takeaway,’’ and author of a best-selling memoir, “Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence.’’
Concord resident Loretta Filipov
organized the annual forum and award in honor of her husband after he was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She said she heard Hockenberry speak about the importance of inclusion at a conference two years ago in Colorado.
“Disability awareness is just another form of social justice,’’ she said, noting how many soldiers are returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with brain injuries and physical impairments. “We can’t solve everything in the world, but by talking about these issues, we can begin to make a dent.’’
The free event is accessible to the handicapped. For more details or special assistance, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.alfilipov.org.
HIS LIFE IN WORDS: Poet and author Paul Mariani,
an English professor at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, has released a new collection of poetry.
“Epitaphs for the Journey: New, Selected, and Revised Poems’’ features 96 poems divided into eight sections. They chronicle his childhood on New York City’s East Side as the oldest of seven in a working-class family, marriage, fatherhood, grandfatherhood, and his enduring Catholic faith.
Mariani started studying for the priesthood at age 16, but he left the seminary after a year because he knew he wanted to marry and have a family, he said.
“I brought the passion I had for doing something bigger than myself to teaching, and by extension, to my writing,’’ he said, describing his poems as open, honest, and confessional.
“I’m trying to show a life, a life that’s had, I hope, a purpose,’’ he added, “and over time, a sense of growth and grace and wisdom.’’
Mariani, 72, has published more than 200 essays and reviews plus 17 books, including seven volumes of poetry and five biographies of poets: William Carlos Williams, John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Hart Crane. He is now at work on a biography of poet Wallace Stevens.
CAREER TIPS: The continuing community education department of the Nashoba Valley Technical School District, which covers many towns west of Boston, will offer a free career night for those looking for training, professional development, and personal enrichment Wednesday,
6 to 8:30 p.m., at 100 Littleton Road in Westford.
Industry professionals from the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, along with regulatory officials in cosmetology and other vocational and technical fields, will be present to answer questions regarding continuing education and licensure.
The program is geared toward adults, but it is open to students under 19 with parental consent. Preregistration is requested; call 978-692-4711, ext. 1001. For details, visit www.nashobatech.net and click on Community Ed.
NEW ON BOARD: Wayland resident Teresa Amabile has been appointed to
the board of trustees at Canisius College
in Buffalo. Amabile will serve a three-year term on the 34-member board, which formulates and recommends policy to Canisius president John J. Hurley. An alumna of Canisius and Stanford University, Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration in the entrepreneurial management unit at Harvard Business School.
Littleton resident Michael Knupp, Jonathan Panek of Harvard, and Suneet Chadha of Westford have been named board members of Indian Hill Music in
Littleton. Panek is one of two vice chairmen on the 25-member board.
Bellingham resident Lynn Tokarczyk,
president of Business Development Strategies Inc. in Medway, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Milford Regional Healthcare Foundation. A Natick native and graduate of Lasell College, Tokarczyk began her career as owner of a women’s apparel store in Wayland.
Susan Crimmins has been named board president of the Medfield Afterschool Program. The organization’s treasurer last year, Crimmins was unanimously elected by the executive board, comprised of Kristine Hung Barton,
Heidi Lusby,
Jennifer Cavan,
and Jennifer Fuglestad, and newcomers Clare Horn,
David Traub,
and Heather King McCarthy,
all of Medfield.
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