
Weekly Update August 4, 2023
Strive Center for Autism
Autism Alliance of Michigan 2023 Hero Walk
The Autism Alliance of Michigan (AAoM) will be hosting their annual Hero Walk at the Detroit Zoo on September 23rd. Strive Center for Autism is please to sponsor the event and we'll have a team of walkers again as well. If you plan to attend the walk, please join our team using this link.
The AAoM provides resources, advocacy, and key information about autism to families and individuals affected by autism, to the general population, and to those who are in the position to affect positive change. As an organization helping people with Autism, we support their work in the community through fundraisers like this one. This walk brings together nearly 5,000 people at the zoo - people diagnosed with Autism and those who love and support them. It's a fun, family friendly day to enjoy the zoo with people who understand what it's like to live with Autism.
Our organization will also have a free four pack of tickets to raffle off for the Zoo walk - stay tuned for info and you can enter the raffle and enjoy the zoo and parking for free on September 23rd.
Summer Fun Fridays
Each Friday in the summer, we plan for an extra fun activity and a dress up day. All the dress up days are designed to be simple ones you can do with things you have at home, please don’t feel obligated to buy anything to make these happen. Staff and children will both participate in dressing up! We'll send home a calendar with all of the dates for the summer, or you can check here for weekly details.
One of our recurring dress up days is School Spirit Day, where we all wear Strive shirts. We will provide Strive shirts for each of the children to wear.
Upcoming Fun Fridays
8-11-23
Wheels Day/Wheels Wash - Bring your "wheels" and helmets - we'll get all of ours out too! We'll have a course for riding your wheels and a spot to wash them. Please only send wheels that can get wet.
School Spirit Day - Wear your Strive shirt
8-18-23
What melts in the sun? Science experiment - this is a fun activity where we put lots of different things out in the sun and find out what melts and what doesn't.
All one color day - dress in all one color of your choice - last Fun Friday for the summer!
Get to Know Greta, Lead Therapist
Greta started at the Strive Center for Autism in February 2023. She has worked in the ABA field since 2017 and has experiences with children of all ages. She has been a registered Behavior Technician since 2018 and recently accepted the position of Lead Therapist at our Burton location.
Greta is currently enrolled at Oakland University, pursuing her master's degree in Special Education with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis.
In her spare time, Greta enjoys reading and cooking for others. Her passion is to help others become the best version of themselves.
ABA Term of the Week
One addition to our newsletter this year will be some definitions of terms we use most often in ABA. We know we use a lot of lingo and we want to help families understand it better. All of these terms will also be on our website in a glossary, so you can check them out anytime.
This week's term is task analysis.
A task analysis is a way of breaking down a complex skill into smaller steps in order to teach them easier. We use this for a lot of different skills, but it's especially common with activities of daily living, or ADLs.
For example, when you think about brushing your teeth, you may think about that as one skill but it's really a bunch of small steps:
- Get your toothbrush
- Wet your toothbrush (not everyone does this here, but many do!)
- Put toothpaste on your brush
- Brush your teeth (this can be broken down into steps for each section of your mouth - like 20 seconds outer lower right, 20 seconds outer upper right, etc. for the total time of tooth brushing)
- Rinse your brush
- Put brush away
- Rinse your mouth
- Wipe your mouth if it's wet or messy
When we teach a skill like this, we make this type of list, which is the actual task analysis, and then we're able to help kids learn each of the small steps until they're able to complete the entire task.
Some other common skills that might use a task analysis are hand washing, using the toilet, getting dressed or undressed, preparing for lunch, or preparing for or cleaning up after a small group lesson (knowing what materials to get out or put away, and knowing where to go or what to do next.)
At home, you might use a task analysis to get ready for bed, get ready to leave the house, or maybe to help get ready for a meal. Your BCBA can help you with creating the task analysis and can show you how to teach it in a way that your child can be successful and more independent.
Vacations and other time off
We'll just keep this link right here, for your convenience. For any absences scheduled in advance, please use this form to report the dates. You may take an entire day or half day, depending on your needs.
Here are some additional dates that the centers will be closed:
Friday, August 25th - Professional Development Day
If your family is planning a longer absence around one of those dates, or at another time, please let us know as soon as you are able!
About Us
Email: info@sc-centers.com
Website: www.sc-centers.com
Location: Burton and Brighton, MI
Phone: 810-344-8082