Dear Joe and Susan,

Allie is 10 1/2 now and keeps us busy with all of her activities. She's a junior Girl Scout, and has earned the same badges as the other girls in her troop. She's a pretty accomplished equestrienne in the local therapeutic horseback riding program she's attended for the past six years, and plays a mean game of air hockey.

We started using Love and Learning with Allie when she was about two years old. Today, she's reading 1st and 2nd grade readers with excellent comprehension. While she stumbles over some of the words, she invariably sails through the "Love and Learning" words in her books. The program has also been wonderful for her speech, since she talks aloud when she hears the words on the tapes.

Last week, we received the two new software programs and Allie has been playing them incessantly! She loves the personalized screens, and the interactive games on the first CD. But her real love is the crossword puzzle section on the second program. This is her first introduction to crossword puzzles, and she's so proud of herself. The clues rotate, which means that she has to think each time she does the puzzle. And the puzzles are a "big girl" activity that puts her on a par with her older sister.

I wrote a short story about Allie and her friend Luke (who also has Down syndrome) called "What Dreams Are Made Of". It's being published in A Cup of Comfort for Friends. This anthology of short stories has a wide range of tales about friendship. There are stories about women, men, and children. "What Dreams Are Made Of" is my story of a lovely summer day that I shared at home with Luke and Allie. It evokes the playful fantasies and deep, abiding love that the two children share. The book is priced at $9.95 and is available online at Barnes and Noble, as well as Amazon. It should be readily accessible in major bookstores as well.

Yours,

Sandy Keefe