| aaron's story | goals |

Wings was founded by a group of individuals that believe in the ability of autistic children to learn and grow. Every child must be given the opportunity to learn, even those born with the challenge of autism.

In 1997 Aaron’s parents, Sherman Chan and Irma Velasquez, formed the A Team. The team began with a core group made up of a Speech Pathologist, an Occupational Therapist, play therapists, and a tutor. A Behavior Specialist and an Education Consultant joined the team as Aaron's needs changed. Each person focused on teaching Aaron communication skills with the understanding that communication was Aaron’s ticket to learning.

Aaron has grown over the years from a self-immersed child who would not respond to his name to a boy who seeks out people and approaches children in the playground. He communicates with picture icons and is very motivated to learn new things. At the age of 4 he was fully included in pre-school and kindergarten. Even with an aide at his side, Aaron struggled in the school environments. It became clear that his frustrations stemmed from his inability to communicate. The Team worked diligently to help Aaron develop a communication system, trying different methods and approaches. It wasn’t until Aaron learned the basic skill of pointing that communication started to make sense to him. Soon he was using words, not only to communicate his wants and needs, but to make comments such as "look at the train" or "tickle me."

It was clear to Aaron’s parents and his Team that if Aaron was to learn social and communication skills he needed to be immersed in a social environment with neurotypical peers and learn skills that were innate in neurotypical children.

After a year of visiting numerous classrooms and programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Team realized that there was an unmet need for an environment where children with autism could learn social, communication, and academic skills—survival skills necessary to function and grow in their social environment. In November 2000 Wings Learning Center was born with the mission of creating a learning environment where children with autism could learn at their own pace and be encouraged to take consistent steps towards personal growth.

Parent participation is crucial to the development of every child. Over the years Aaron’s parents have invested countless hours in their son’s education and have seen the difference it has made in Aaron’s self-esteem and happy disposition. Wings Learning Center values parent’s opinions and involvement in their child’s education.