For those of us who already have special needs kids, we've been through this. It'll be a refresher. But for parents with questions, it's as important to find out nothing is wrong as something is wrong.

We don't ask the kids to dress up. We'd rather have them with us than to have to fight with them to put on fancy clothes.

We asked her to come partly because of her reputation. Not to suggest we don't have good teachers and resources in Westborough...but she's another source of information for parents.

A typical parent will go for a time with concerns like, 'It bothers me because my child can't draw well and his friends are able to draw shapes and he can't.' 'Or it bothers me because he's not doing as well in school as he should.' A mom or dad who has that feeling wants to know what to do.

This may be a pre-season game for us, but no matter the outcome, special needs kids all over the Quad Cities are the winners.

If we're going to teach it to all kids -- kids who might not naturally be abstract learners -- we need a variety of teaching methods.