Reading Day at St. Cecelia’s
St. Cecelia’s Catholic School’s first-grade class in Florida held a special Reading Day built around Hugs, Handshakes & High Fives. Dominic Prioli, the father of one of the students, had read the book with his own children and seen what it did for them, so he bought a copy for every child in the class and handed them out ahead of time.
When the teacher introduced him, Mr. Prioli jogged into the room giving high fives like a player being announced before a game. He went around shaking hands, and turned the handshakes into a lesson: not too hard, not too soft, but just right, like the porridge in Goldilocks. The kids loved that. Then he hugged the teacher and thanked her for letting him in.
The class read the book together, with students taking turns reading pages. Along the way he explained that children with disabilities, whether they use a wheelchair or crutches or anything else, want to be part of the group exactly as much as everyone in that room did, and that a high five or a handshake is how you let someone know they are included.
The children listened intently, asked questions and connected the story to their own lives. It was, by every measure, a great success.
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A year of therapy camp
A mother asked us for help keeping her son in physical therapy. He has an inoperable brain tumor that affects many of his abilities, and for a year he had been attending an equestrian camp that provides physical, speech and animal-assisted therapy. When her insurance was cancelled, so was the therapy he depends on.
The foundation paid for another full year at the camp.
Connor’s story
Connor Carlisle was born with a cloverleaf skull, Crouzon Syndrome and a Chiari malformation. He uses a ventilator to sleep, is fed entirely by g-tube, works on his gait and balance, and got his first hearing aid one summer.
He is also a nine-year-old boy who loves baseball, basketball, Legos, Star Wars, swimming and Cub Scouts. Like many families of children with craniofacial conditions, the Carlisles watched the medical bills add up. The foundation made a donation to the hospital to cover a portion of Connor’s care.
Connor and his brother Reid were later featured in the Children’s Craniofacial Association newsletter .
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The book that started it
Hugs, Handshakes & High Fives is a children’s book for grades K to 3 about Travis, a super-child with an uncanny ability to brighten the way people look at and treat each other, using only hugs, handshakes and high fives. The foundation published it to raise awareness of how people with disabilities are treated and to model something better. Every dollar from the book goes back into the foundation’s work. Read about the book , or see the twelve other titles we recommend .