My Life; from the mind of Grannie Lannie

I was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, the third child in my family. Growing up, I didn't worry about having friends because family filled that need. That doesn't mean that I didn't have friends, just that I didn't feel isolated or lonely. I always seemed to have someone to hang out with, play with, fight with.

My youngest memory is walking on the wall of the parking lot where we lived, like a balance beam, and visiting the park near our house. It's funny what memories stick; my younger sister fell out of the car when we were driving, why do I remember that? It's quite clear, we were just leaving our parking lot and pulling onto the street, my sister opened the door at the same time we turned the corner and out she went. I was 4 years old at the time.

I attended kindergarten in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I recall the changes that occurred around attending school because that was also the time that my parents bought a house and we now lived across the field from my new school. Memories from that school include losing my boot in a snow drift and meeting another person with the same name as me; a unique experience for me as my name is not that common.

My family made a big move to Jasper, Alberta when I was going to into grade 1. What an experience that was! We moved from Saskatoon to Jasper by train; I remember playing bingo in the dining car and asking for fruit cups at the galley kitchen. The constant motion of the train and the views out the window fuelled my excitement; watching the landscape transition from flat prairie to hills and then mountains was incredible. The mountains were so big!

Living in Jasper was awesome. There was so much to do. When extended family and friends visited, we would go see the sites. This is where I fell in love with nature. We were always outside if weather allowed it; hiking, biking, climbing, playing games. I attended Brownies and Girl Guides which gave me more opportunities to try activities like snow-shoeing, casting animal footprints, and camping. We didn't have many tv shows to watch; we only had one channel, CBC. We didn't miss it, we invented our own games; my siblings and friends. I remember building forts and pretending we were characters from movies or tv shows. Action figures were a big thing due to movies like Star Wars. My parents were active in sports so we spent a lot of time at the ball field in summer and skating rink in the winter. I remember the California Cuties Baseball Team come to play ball against my dad's team; so funny! I remember a visit from Prime Minister Trudeau (senior) and watching the RCMP Musical ride when we lived in Jasper.

My family returned to Saskatchewan when I was in grade 6; my dad was interested in farming because he grew up on a farm. We moved to Delisle, Saskatchewan; about 45 kms from Saskatoon, with that plan. The farm idea didn't last and my dad went into the dry cleaning business with a partner instead. As the business grew, we moved back to Saskatoon and I completed my last 2 years of high school at Holy Cross High School. My older sister was attending the University of Saskatchewan and invited me to a dance where I met my future husband, Phil.

I attended the University of Saskatchewan for a year before taking a break from school and deciding what I was interested in doing for a career. I worked for my dad at the dry cleaning plant, while deciding; customer service and then laundry and shirt pressing. I decided to go to SIAST (now called SaskPolyTech) for Early Childhood Development. I enjoyed working as a childcare worker and moved out on my own to Regina to take a full time position in a childcare centre.

Phil and I got married and had a son, Robert. When Robert was a baby, I switched to cooking at a daycare centre for better hours for my home life. Dissatisfied with life in general, I decided to work for the health region. I always wanted to help people and felt a career in health care would be more rewarding. My hours at the daycare centre allowed me to explore healthcare as a career option; I worked 645 to 130 at the daycare centre and then 4 to 8 at the Pasqua Hospital. I earned my diploma in Nutrition and Food Services Management from the Canadian Healthcare Association; through distance education while I maintained both jobs; that was a challenging 2 years!.

I understand what it is like to feel completely lost when it comes to raising a child with a disability; Robert was non-speaking until he turned 5 years old. If you don't connect to the right supports then you miss opportunities for your family. The best guidance I received was from other parents that went through similar circumstances. My first exposure was in Regina, there was a networking event for parents and caregivers of families that have members with ASD. That was especially helpful because it is easy to get ensconced in our own situation; new perspective opens up options. Sharing success stories reduces the overwhelm! It also made me realize that what we were going through at that stage of life would not be the same in 10 years, 20 years, etc. What opened my eyes the most was listening to a ASD student in high school talk about how they are able to function in school, how they set up routines at home and what it is like for them socially; they even had a girlfriend. Honestly, my son was a non-speaker at that point, I didn't even consider what his adult life would look like.

After receiving my Diploma in Nutrition and Food Services Management, I was employed at Moose Jaw Extendicare as the General Services Supervisor. I looked after the Dietary and Housekeeping departments at Extendicare for over 14 years. I resigned from Extendicare due to health issues; it took a while to discover I need to move so a desk job was not an option for me.

I started working as a mentor the same year that my son was denied funding to continue with his mentor of 5 years. I have always researched topics that have created a challenge in my life so figured I need to understand the system better so I can support my son. I also felt that, if he is being denied, there must be a huge need of people to act as mentors so I applied. I was employed by Moose Jaw Association for Community Living as a mentor (now Inclusion Moose Jaw). I expanded into the winter and summer programs after leaving Extendicare.

My desire to return to working with children prompted me to apply to the Prairie South School Division and I became an Educational Assistant. I always had a plan to end my career working with children in some capacity so I was extremely pleased with the direction my life was moving. I started learning new things and growing experience working with students of all abilities. I will probably continue working with the school division until I am finally ready to retire; I might even stay on after, who knows?

While working as a mentor, I had the good fortune of acting a a Social Coach for a person attending the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS). I signed up for training to be a PEERS Service Provider the same year. As a mentor, I was struggling to explain how to perceive other people's reaction to us. I was challenged with finding a source of friends with clients. I was searching for a way to help my clients understand how to approach people. PEERS was the answer!

I found an organization to partner with to offer my first PEERS for Young Adults program in Moose Jaw; the Canadian Mental Health Association - Moose Jaw Branch. Wow, that was a learning experience! I learned a lot about facilitating a PEERS program and it gave me invaluable insights into the direction I wish to proceed with PEERS.

PEERS has become my passion that I plan to share with anyone that wants to learn it and find social success. I received certification to provide PEERS for School-Age Children and, recently, PEERS for Preschool Children. There are programs being developed for the workplace, for specific topics like dating, and anti-bullying.

The hardest thing to imagine is someone feeling worthless and rejected. Everyone is worthy and capable of making friends and I will help them find their own crew to the best of my ability. Their crew is out there, we just need to find them.

Grannie Lannie

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