hen their daughter Riley was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, a disorder that falls under the umbrella of the Autism Spectrum, Ron and Christi weren't surprised.

Riley was four years old and they had been dealing with many issues her whole life. She didn't make eye contact, often didn't respond when spoken to, could not transition from one task to another, and was easily overstimulated, just to name a few.

After Riley's diagnosis, she began receiving services through the school districts' early childhood special education cooperative.

One of the biggest challenges Ron and Christi faced (and still do) was transitioning Riley from one activity to the next. For example, each night despite following the same bed-time routine - bath, snack, brush teeth, read story, bed - there was chaos. It was as if they were introducing a new routine every night. Repetition was not enough, Riley's mind just didn't understand it.

Help came when Riley's speech and language pathologist suggested the family create a "storyboard" to actually show Riley what was expected of her with pictures. Riley actually responded to this! She began to handle her bed-time routine better because she could see in the pictures what was expected and what was going to happen next. Ron and Christi used the storyboard every night.

They began to discuss other areas of struggle in which the storyboards could make a difference. Christi turned to the internet with the intention of simply ordering storyboards because her busy schedule didn't allow much time to create her own. Not so simple. She discovered there were no ready-made storyboards with social stories she could just order based on Riley's needs. This was the beginning of The Storyboard Company.