Weekly Update October 6, 2023

October's theme is a combination of fall and Halloween! We will have lots of fall themed songs, books, and crafts! We'll be practicing dressing up and trick or treating throughout the month. Remember, if your child struggles to wear a costume, you can send his costume in any time this month and we'll practice wearing it and try to help him become more comfortable with it. Please talk to your BCBA if that is a concern.

You may have noticed that our center in Brighton has gotten a little busier lately! We are hiring another Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) in order to expand our services. Please share our career opportunities page if you know an experienced BCBA.

The Tree of Possibilities is more than just a logo at Strive Center! We celebrate all the little victories - for every new skill a child learns, we give him a leaf or an apple sticker to put on his very own Tree of Possibilities poster. We keep one poster here at the center, next to his table, and one goes home, so families can celebrate all the little victories too. In September, our learners acquired 206 new skills, which brings our total for 2023 to 1,817 new skills! Just a few more months to see what our grand total for the year is!

We have adjusted our calendar slightly for our Holiday Break in December - we will have a break from Wednesday, December 20th to Tuesday, January 2nd. We will return for therapy on Wednesday, January 3rd, not on January 2nd as previously listed on the calendar.

Congratulations to Keirsten and her husband Bryan, on the birth of their baby girl, Henley! Keirsten worked right up PAST her due date and had her baby girl right after her last official day at work. We are so happy for their family and wanted you all to know that mom and baby are doing well.

UM-Flint's Inclusive Halloween 2023

Friday, October 27, 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm

UM-Flint Harding Mott University Center

400 Mill Street, Flint, MI 48503

This is a very fun event for all families - there's trick or treating, sensory activities, food, and so much more! We have hosted a table at this event each year and it is definitely one you don't want to miss.

Registration is required but the event is completely FREE and so much fun!

To register as a participant: go.umflint.edu/InclusiveHalloween2023

Please see attachment below for more info.

They also need lots of volunteers to make this event happen; please share the link below if you know anyone who might like to volunteer. You'll see plenty of Strive staff there for sure!

To register as a volunteer: go.umflint.edu/InclusiveHalloween2023Volunteer

We will celebrate Halloween with a party on Tuesday, October 31st during our regular therapy session. Parents do NOT need to bring anything - we will provide treats and activities that all of our children can enjoy, including appropriate edible treats. Children are welcome to dress up in their costumes for the party, so please feel free to send that in if you'd like.

Some children with Autism struggle with costumes - the fabrics or wearing multiple layers, masks, or unusual accessories. We are happy to help your child get more comfortable with his costume if you send it in early. We can practice wearing it and we will practice trick or treating in October. Please talk to your BCBA if you need help with planning for Halloween and consider attending the Inclusive Trick or Treat event above - there is no requirement to dress up and the entire event is inclusive of people with different needs, so it's a great way to experience Halloween with the whole family.

We have made a pretty extensive glossary of ABA terms over the course of 2023, and we are going to use this last part of the year to describe in more detail what happens at a particular group or activity in the center. We thought this would be a good way to help parents be more familiar with the activities we do every day and the reasons we do them.

This week's activity is Math Group. In our math group, we follow a preschool math curriculum from Stay at Home Educator, LLC. The curriculum is designed to use with preschoolers, and covers seven different areas or units:

• Counting 0-20
• Measurement
• Graphing
• Addition and subtraction
• Comparing and sorting
• Positions and patterns
• Shapes

The curriculum's author recommends a "spiraled" approach to presenting the curriculum, which means that we spend one week on lessons from one area, then we move to another area for the next week, and another after that. This means we don't do all the Measurement lessons in a row, but instead we blend skills together all year long.

Our main focus in our math group is NOT actually math skills. That may come as a surprise, but in most of our groups, we are really working on learning how to behave in a group first with the long-term goal of learning how to learn skills in small groups. We do not expect our children to become experts in any of these units, but we use the framework to give us topics for lessons that are similar to what they'll encounter in school. For many of our kids, this is their first time leaving home and going to a structured program, so we see it as our responsibility to teach them what to expect at future settings, like school.

Some of the fun things that are included in the math curriculum are books related to each topic. Every week has a book that goes with our current topic. We use a combination of reading actual books and watching Youtube read along videos. Here are some of the books we'll read in October during math:

Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3

The Long and Short of It

Inch by Inch

How do Dinosaurs Count to 10?

If you'd like to see your child participating in math group, or any other group lessons, let your BCBA know and we can set up a time to observe and see groups!

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.

Therapy Schedule Update Form

Here are some upcoming dates that the centers will be closed:

Friday, October 27th - PD Day

Wednesday - Friday, November 22-24 - Thanksgiving

Wednesday, December 20 - Tuesday, January 2nd - Holiday Break - Returning on Wednesday, January 3rd

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!

Email: info@sc-centers.com
Website: www.sc-centers.com
Location: Burton and Brighton, MI
Phone: 810-344-8082