Saying, "Thank you!"

My youngest son is 22 months old. He has developed a wonderful habit of saying, “Thank you!” any time someone helps him with something. He’ll even say it to store clerks when they help someone else! Noah does this both because he’s been taught to do so (initially through sign language, and now through spoken words), and because it’s been consistently modeled for him and expected of him.

With the American “Thanksgiving” holiday approaching later this week, this is a great time for us to follow Noah’s lead. We can say, “Thank you” for a variety of things, both big and small.

For starters, I’d like to personally thank the following:

-       The thousands of people who read Social Incites™. I am grateful for your willingness to welcome my insights into your life each week, and appreciate the times you respond with thanks, questions, or insights of your own.

-       My thousands of Facebook fans, who help me promote social understanding and autism awareness. I maintain several Facebook pages, including:

o    A Gray Center page

o    A page for Social Incites™

o    Social Coaching for Workplace Success (updates on resources, classes, and more)

o    Growth Groups (updates on meetings and events for West Michigan teens/young adults and their families)

o    The Social Response Pyramid™ (updates on related resources, sales, and more)

-       People with ASD and your families, teachers, employers, and other significant people in your lives. You are my inspiration! I continue to learn from you every day, and hope that I can be as great a help to you as you are to me. (If I have coached you or provided a consultation, please consider completing this short survey to provide feedback on this service).

-       Steve, Nelson, Rick, Jane, Amy, Kathy, Marcia, and Erika—the people who have helped as Gray Center staff members or volunteers this past year, helping to make groups, classes, sales, and one-on-one support possible.

-       My family. For the past 15 years, my work at The Gray Center has been a labor of love which often involves you, or takes me away from you. Your words of encouragement and acts of assistance make it possible for me to devote the majority of my time each week to serving our local and global communities! I am especially grateful for the opportunities and abilities given to me by my Heavenly Father (Jeremiah 29:11, Philippians 4:13). To Him be the glory!

From me to you, a huge “Thank you!” Who will you thank today? And how can you “incite” others around you to do the same?