About Me

Franklin’s parents Rosette and Ken met working at the French Market at Disneyland in the early 80’s.  On August 18th, 1990 they got married and had their first child Marina, who was born on April 11, 1992.  Rosette became pregnant again, and Marina, Rosette and Ken were all very excited about the new arrival!  On July 15th, 1994 Franklin was born at the Friendly Hills Medical Center in La Habra.  Franklin was about three weeks early, so he had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days.

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Marina was very excited to have a new baby brother.  Very quickly, the family of four were going on family outings to the beach, museums, and lots and lots of parks!  When Franklin was three years old, he started to attend Meadow Green Elementary School.  He started Meadow Green after the Christmas break in January of 1998 with a teacher named Mrs. Young.  Mrs. Young was great!  She taught Franklin his colors, shapes, alphabet and penmanship.

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As Franklin grew older, he then attended Olita Elementary School in 2000-2001.  At first, Franklin’s teachers were Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Pope and Mrs. Rickman.  Franklin enjoyed this class very much, he continued to learn how to read, write, and do math.  As a family, we also took many trips to interesting places.  The four of us went to San Diego, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Hearst Castle, San Luis Obispo and Monterey.  We went to many places like Six Flags, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, and SeaWorld.

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Franklin also attended many camps.  He went to Special Camp for Special Kids in 2001 and 2003, Jay Nolan Camp from 2005-2009, Autism Society of LA and he now goes to Camp Paivika in 2012.  He loves meeting new people, making new friends, and going to new places.  During the Dinner and Awards ceremony, Franklin received an award and enjoys making speeches for all the attendees. That’s where he got his bravery from. When Franklin was little, loud sounds used to bother him a lot and he had difficulty holding a pencil and tying his shoes.  He went to many therapies at this time like speech therapy, occupational therapy at Gallagher Pediatric Therapy, brushing therapy and vitamin therapy.

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As Franklin grew, he started attending Rancho Starbuck Intermediate School, across the street from his childhood home.  He really liked his teacher Mrs. Arreguin, principal Mrs. Takacs, and the librarian Mrs. Schambeck.  He went from 7th Grade to 8th Grade when he graduated on June 13, 2008.  Then, Franklin started to attend La Serna High School in Whittier.  In high school he had a wonderful teacher named Mrs. Hoover, and he participated in cross country, track, and photography.  He liked subjects like math, art, cooking club and work experience.  When Franklin graduated on June 14, 2012, he attended Grad Night at Cal State Fullerton, it was a lot of fun!

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In 2007, Franklin started attending Progressive Resources in Santa Fe Springs.  He went to the weekly social skills workshops and community group outings.  It was at PR that Franklin met his best friend Justin in 2008.  He and Justin have many similar interests and just love hanging out, watching movies, swimming, going to concerts and amusement parks.  They hope to do these things again very soon, after the pandemic is over.

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After high school, Franklin attended the Transition Program where he had many work experiences.  He worked at Marshall’s, So Cal Pizza, Norwalk Courthouse, Mulberry Tree Preschool, Meals on Wheels, and La Habra Senior Center.  Afterward, he worked full-time for over a year and half at Arconic in Fullerton as an office assistant from September 1, 2017 to May of 2019.

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Franklin has many experiences at several different programs.  He has attended the Wilshire Center in Fullerton, Hope Center for the Arts, Aspire Creative Arts, and My Day Counts in Anaheim.  Currently Franklin attends the online Camp Paivika and is looking forward to working again.  He loves to write and illustrate his books for children.  It gives him great joy to bring joy, adventure, fun and fantasy to others.