Weekly Update October 13, 2023
Strive Center for Autism
Expanding in Brighton
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.
Solar Eclipse Viewing Tomorrow
Head outside tomorrow, Saturday, October 14th, between 11:30am and 2:30pm for a chance to see a unique solar eclipse! We won't see the total "ring of fire" eclipse here, but we'll see a cool cresecent shaped sun during that time. For more info on the eclipse, read this.
Before you head out, find a shoebox and make your own eclipse viewer, like in this video.
It is NOT safe to simply look at the eclipse directly, or to use sunglasses, but the eclipse viewer is easily made out of a shoebox (or amazon box!), some white paper, aluminum foil, and tape. We know several kids who love science and will get a kick out of this!
Calendar Update: Holiday Break
U of M Flint Inclusive Halloween - Registration NOW OPEN!
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 will be hosting a table in the "fun" room with an awesome Mario Brothers theme - come see us!
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
Halloween at the centers
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.
"What are we doing?"
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 Literacy Group. In our Literacy Group, we use a lot of ideas from the book, ABCs of Active Learning by Laurie Gombash with Lindsey Justice. This is a multisensory approach that incorporates motor movements, phonological awareness, and books to teach literacy.
Over the years we've developed our own unique way to present letters and letter sounds. One thing that makes our approach unique is that we don't begin with A. We use a recommended letter order from how wee learn. The current recommendation is to begin by teaching children the letters in their name, which we work on across multiple activities throughout our day. Following those letters, it is recommended to teach letters in order based on their frequency of use, so we begin with letter S as a group.
The ABCs of Active Learning provides a gross motor movement for each letter, so we get up and practice those movements at our Literacy group.
We use a variety of different alphabet songs to work on phonological awareness, or letter sounds. In October, we're using this great letter sound song from Jack Hartman. In November, we're using a different letter sound song from Jack Hartman. In September, we used this letter sound song (not by Jack Hartman!) We change up our letter sound song each month to keep it interesting.
In addition to movement and music, we always incorporate a book at our Literacy group. TheABCs of Active Learning provides a suggested book for each letter, and we typically use a read along video on Youtube if we don't have the book. This week's letter is C, and we read the book Clumsy Crab by Ruth Galloway.
Another activity we will use in literacy is to practice building our letter. For this, we use the Handwriting Without Tears approach, and provide the children with wooden pieces to build the letter. We often implement the full Handwriting Without Tears approach as its own group lesson for children who are ready for it, and we'll share more about that in another newsletter.
If you're looking for ways to support literacy at home, keep it simple - just read! Read with your child daily - that is the most important thing you can do to support literacy. Even if they only want to read the same book every day, keep reading! Make sure they see you reading too - and not just on your phone. Keep actual newspapers or magazines around and real books too. Even if you only spend a few minutes a day on it, this helps children see the importance of reading. Please ask your BCBA if you have questions about where your child is on his literacy journey.
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 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!
About Us
Email: info@sc-centers.com
Website: www.sc-centers.com
Location: Burton and Brighton, MI
Phone: 810-344-8082