Your kids are hard at work learning new things every day!

Here's the breakdown for the last 3 months:

In September, our kids gained 157 new skills!

In October, our kids gained 184 new skills!

In November, our kids gained 222 new skills!

These are the totals for both centers, for all our children.

The kids have really picked up momentum at the end of the year. We will have December's numbers when we return from the holidays. We are so proud of all our learners!

Remember - please bring a gently used book for your child to exchange by next Wednesday, December 16th. We will wrap it at the center. If you don't have a book available, we will have extras.

Our plans for a fun and safe party for the kids on December 18th are well under way. We are going with a reindeer theme, so there will be plenty of reindeer games! We are planning on just one edible treat, a pre-baked sugar cookie that the children will be able to decorate with some frosting and sprinkles at their own table. We haven't purchased the cookies yet, but if your child has any food allergies, we ask that you simply provide a regular snack for your child that day instead. All of the children will have access to their typical snack sent from home, and then those who are able will decorate their cookie in addition. This is the only activity that will involve eating.

Children will have the chance to mix up some wildlife friendly reindeer food - oats, birdseed, dried cranberries, and dried apricots are the ingredients. The kids will bring some home to sprinkle outside for the reindeer, so they aren't going to eat the items, but could have contact with them.

Several activities will involved wrapped candy canes - we're going fishing with them and making them into a craft, but not eating them.

Please let your BCBA know if you have any concerns relating to any of those ingredients prior to the party so we can plan accordingly.

With restrictions on visitors in the building, we know that families have missed observing sessions in the centers. We are working on plans to upload videos more regularly for all our families in the New Year. We are planning on uploading these videos using TheraWe, which will limit the length somewhat. With TheraWe, we have found that we are able to upload 3-5 minutes of video pretty reasonably. Our goal is to upload at least one short video each week; it may show table time, or a group time, but we just want to get this happening more frequently. Please look for those videos in TheraWe in the New Year!

With the holidays approaching, we want you to know how much we appreciate you sharing your children with us every day of the year! We know that you have placed an enormous amount of trust in us, and we are humbled to spend this time working with your child and family.

At this time of year parents may feel they would like to thank the people who spend so much time with their children. While this may be a common and acceptable thing to do in a number of other settings, due to our professional ethics, we are unable to accept gifts from our families and we wanted to make sure you know that. The Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts and RBTs states clearly that we cannot ethically accept gifts. As we strive to perform to a high standard of practice, we feel it is important to preserve this code.

If you feel like you would like to give an extra special thank you to any of our staff, please know that we would love to hear your feedback on our parent surveys, be thrilled to receive a handwritten thank you note, or absolutely treasure a picture your child colors for us. Outside of those things, we cannot accept gifts.