HJEC August 2023 Newsletter

What's Happening?

Motor Planning

Motor planning or praxis, is the ability to plan, organize, and carry out new or familiar motor tasks. Students need to motor plan in order to initiate and sequence tasks using their bodies. Many of our students with autism and other developmental disabilities present with difficulties in motor planning. This can impact the ability to perform tasks such as dressing, showering, using a writing utensil, or playing sports.  Students with motor planning difficulties may appear slow or uncoordinated when performing tasks or have difficulty completing steps in the correct order.

Luckily, there are techniques we can use to help our students be more successful with these tasks.

• For familiar motor tasks, allow your students extra time to process information after giving a direction. It may take them a little longer than others to follow through with the instruction. 
• Demonstrate and/or use visual support to show the student how to perform the task in addition to providing verbal instructions.
• Perform the task the same way each time, using the same exact order of steps.
• For example, do you dress the right arm or left arm first? Do you put on your pants while sitting or standing? 

• Use the same verbal instructions every time. 
• Do you usually say: “Get dressed?” “Put your arm in?” or “Here’s your sleeve”
• Set up the environment the same way each time. 
• Is clothing held out in front of the student with appropriate orientation, placed on the student's lap, or hanging on a hook? 
• Limit environmental distractions
• Turn off the tv or radio
• Have only the materials you need on hand
• For new motor tasks, introduce the new skill at a time when 1:1 attention can be provided

Building on your students’ motor memory means less thinking and planning is required every time they perform a task.  Check in with your student’s BCBA and/or OT for further information on how you can support your student with motor planning for tasks at home!

- By Alexa Harry, MS, OTR/L

Functions of Communication

Functions of Communication refer to the “why” behind our communication. We value supporting our students to make requests to get their wants and needs met… but there’s so much more we want our students to share! Once our students understand the power behind requesting, we can help to expand their communication to incorporate different functions including commenting, protesting, asking questions, and sharing information. In the image below, the circle graphs show that as a student gets older, their communicative functions become more about sharing information and social interactions/etiquette and fostering connections with others. Below are some examples of different communicative functions that we work on throughout the day with our students. 

• Requesting object/action- student requests preferred object/action (e.g. I want more chips, I want to jump, open snack)

• Protesting- student communicates they do not want to participate in an activity or politely declines (e.g. I don’t want to play outside, no thank you, stop) 

• Greeting- student greets, bids farewell, or extends greetings (e.g. hi, bye, how are you?)

• Calling- student gains the attention of another person by calling their name or excuse me?

• Request permission- student asks for permission before going somewhere or using something (e.g. Can I use the computer? Can I go to the playground?)

• Comment- student makes comments during social activities (e.g. good game, I like goldfish too, uh oh)

• Request information- student asks for information regarding their day (e.g. when is lunch?, what time do we pack up to go home?)

• Share information- student shares information about themself (e.g. weekend plans, upcoming vacations, likes/dislikes)

• Compliment- student shares a compliment with a teacher or peer (e.g. I like your shirt, you did a great job)

By: Sally McHugh M.S., CCC-SLP

Clinical Corner

In last month’s edition of Clinical Corner, we began talking about common reasons challenging behavior may occur. Specifically, we discussed that sometimes challenging behavior can occur to avoid or have something that is overwhelming or non-preferred removed. It’s also common for challenging behavior to occur as a way of gaining someone’s attention. In both cases, teaching functional communication skills often proves to be a successful strategy. In the case of completing non-preferred tasks, students at Hopeful Journeys benefit from individualized reinforcement-based strategies to support and motivate them during these activities. This month, we continue our discussion and introduce the final two common reasons that challenging behavior may occur. Additionally, we provide a brief overview of strategies that may be helpful to reduce challenging behaviors through skill development.

If you recall, last month we mentioned a classic scenario of a child in the checkout line of a store who is upset over not being able to bring home his favorite candy. This example highlights a third common reason that children may engage in challenging behavior: to gain access to items or activities that he enjoys. Imagine a child is playing video games, and you tell him it’s time to do homework. Perhaps he gets upset and wants to play one more game before starting his homework. This type of behavior is common for all children, including children with autism. Oftentimes, an initial strategy is to focus on teaching functional communication skills so that the child learns alternative and more appropriate ways to ask for what they want. Going back to our video game example, asking to play one more game is better than becoming frustrated and upset. Obviously, in real life, you can’t always have what you want, when you want it. For this reason, once someone can effectively communicate what they want, a natural next step is to increase tolerance for delays or denial of requests. Many students at Hopeful Journeys benefit from reminders of when the things they enjoy will be available. For example, during the summer we have an ice cream truck visit every Friday afternoon. As you can imagine, this is a very popular school event for our students! If a student asks for ice cream in the morning, an effective strategy might be to let them know that the ice cream truck will be there after lunch. Additionally, reminding them of other fun things that are currently available may be helpful. In this case, instead of just saying “no, you can’t have ice cream,” when their request can’t be honored, offering alternatives may help prevent or reduce frustration. 

Sometimes people do things because it is enjoyable. This is sometimes referred to as engaging in behavior to access automatic reinforcement. If you’ve ever been driving alone in your car and are singing along to your favorite song, you’ll understand what I mean. This behavior of singing provides an example of doing something simply because you find it enjoyable. Another much different example is when you scratch an itch. In this case, you do because it provides some relief from the itch and improves your situation, at least briefly. It’s not uncommon for individuals with autism to engage in types of repetitive behavior that they find enjoyable. For example, some students at Hopeful Journeys enjoy reciting their favorite movie quotes repeatedly or engaging in repetitive movements such as body rocking. If intervention is needed due to the behavior being harmful, identifying alternative activities that provide similar enjoyment that are not harmful may be helpful. If these types of behavior interfere with skill acquisition, determining when someone can have those types of behavior (e.g., when on a break) can be a helpful strategy. For example, if a student really enjoys reciting movie quotes, maybe they do that during their breaks in between school work activities if it interferes with making progress on academic programming. 

When addressing challenging behavior, it’s important to understand why it may occur. At Hopeful Journeys, we often use Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) to gather information surrounding the occurrence of challenging behavior to help identify the causes of the behavior. As we’ve discussed, the most common causes of challenging behavior are to have non-preferred activities or overwhelming situations removed (i.e., escape/avoid), to access preferred types of interaction from others (i.e., attention), to access preferred items or activities (i.e., tangible items), or because the behavior directly produces some stimulation that’s enjoyable or otherwise improves the person’s situation (automatic). Regardless of the reason(s), at Hopeful Journey’s we align our strategies to fit the reasons why the behavior is occurring and to meet the needs of the individual student. Typically this involves teaching student-specific communication skills so they have more appropriate ways to get the things they care about. In the case of self-stimulatory behavior, whether behavior intervention is needed will likely depend on a number of factors including if it poses health or safety risks, if it interferes with progress on  important skill development, and stakeholder (e.g., family) input. Sometimes, teaching new leisure skills can help promote alternative ways to access this self-stimulation (e.g.,  listening to music, playing a game on an iPad) or learning when to engage in self-stimulatory behavior so it doesn’t interfere with other important skill-building activities. Regardless of the reason for challenging behavior, it is best that behavior support strategies are individualized for each student through collaboration with the student’s family.

Inspiring Hope, Building Potential and Creating Opportunities

To me, the HJEC mission means that we are fully present in the details of everyday life. We are there striving for our students’ success each day. It’s easy to talk about the big leaps forward, like using an AAC device independently for the first time or being able to use the bathroom or shower by themselves. However, those big leaps required many little steps forward. We are there in the details and the little steps. We are there so that the progress that a student makes can mean something toward their overall quality of life. All of this effort requires looking and thinking ahead to the rest of their lives, where our hope is that they are equipped to handle what life gives them. -Peter Spangler, ABA Teacher/Case Manager (Vocational Team)

Student Spotlight: Madison

Madison transitioned to Team F in the summer of 2022, and we have all really enjoyed getting to know such an incredible young woman! Maddie’s favorite times at school include watching her videos on YouTube, going outside for picnics with her friends, and laughing with her teachers. Maddie has made such incredible progress during her time at Hopeful Journeys. She has a great work ethic and is consistently motivated to get every single program done daily. Maddie also participates in multiple social groups a day, and is constantly smiling and joking about “no laughing at school.” Maddie is very intelligent and quickly masters programs. She has grown tremendously in her ability to be flexible and tolerate changes in her routine. Maddie completes work in various locations around school including the vocational kitchen, library, school store, and apartment. Another one of Maddie’s favorite things is going on community trips – she loves to swim! She has a unique talent for memorizing all of her swim trip dates! Maddie also goes on Shaw’s trips regularly and enjoys buying snacks and balloons.

Maddie is oftentimes the first student to come into the cluster in the morning and always lights up the room with her smile. She has a gift for making all teachers laugh and smile, and it has been an honor to see her make such significant progress during her time on Team F.  She has mastered several personal care routines, clerical routines, math word problems, and science lessons. In addition, she has been working on tolerating novel foods and increasing her daily duration of cardiovascular exercise - she has made steady progress with both of these programs! She continues to impress her teachers every day, and we all love working with her!

Student Spotlight: Gavin

Last year, Gavin moved to the vocational team and we could not be luckier to have him! Gavin is such a fun and energetic student. Every morning, Gavin greets his teachers with a big smile and high fives. He has an infectious smile and laugh that brightens our days!

Gavin has been working hard on increasing his independence when completing vocational routines both on and off-site! Once a week, Gavin works at Miller Mortgage and helps them with tasks such as getting the mail, vacuuming and shredding. His favorite task is checking the mail because he loves chatting with his favorite employee! Gavin also works at the Peabody YMCA, where he completes a variety of different tasks. He helps out with cleaning gym equipment and preparing the outside for campers. It’s so great to see him generalize his skills to the community.

While at school, you can find Gavin hard at work on academics or activities of daily living. He has made great progress with his exercise routines and completes a rigorous stretching routine as well as 30 minutes of cardio. Gavin has increased his independence with reading and has generalized his comprehension skills to our daily social groups. During social groups, Gavin works on independently asking and answering questions based on our weekly topic. Gavin’s favorite group is our weekly cooking group! He loves making new foods and trying them with his friends. He has tried a variety of new things such as homemade popsicles and pizza bagels.

Gavin is such a pleasure to have on our team and at our school. We are so proud of all of the progress he has made and can’t wait to watch him continue to grow!

This is Us: Ryan

Ryan has blossomed in so many ways since he first came to Hopeful Journeys back in 2018. We are so very proud of him. Not only has Ryan been able to control his behaviors better both at school and home. He also has developed better communication skills too. He’s become as the saying goes a “chatty Cathy” (no disrespect to any Cathy’s). This has helped Ryan to create his own Vlog on YouTube (just an f40PH rail fan), he’s met some teen friends online and they all became instant gaming friends.  He enjoys working his shift at the school store & at Backbeat in Beverly (right directly across from the Beverly Train Station).  He recently has been wearing pants now in the winter. This is a very big deal. Ryan has been wearing shorts for as long as we can remember.  

I love checking out Tadpoles, especially the photos. To see him smiling (when he has his mask off).  To see Ryan participating and engaging socially with his peers; able to accept new changes at school, very dialed in with his cooking class. He loves those quesadillas (and at home too). Ryan is willing to branch out his comfort zone with his taste buds and try new foods. 

Greg and I are so glad Ryan was asked to leave the public schools back in ‘18.  It was very hard to fathom back then as to how Ryan would be now.  

Greg and I owe this all to the supportive, awesome, fantastic staff at Hopeful Journeys.  Ryan has found his place at HJ. He has a sense of belonging and feeling safe. 

Best regards, 

Greg and Lisa 

HJEC Students Receive Employee of the Month at Job Site!

Since March 2023, students have been working shifts at Metro Bowl in Peabody. During their work shifts, students complete a variety of tasks including vacuuming, washing windows, wiping down arcade games, organizing shoes and filling the snack machines. For the month of August, Metro Bowl is recognizing our students as their “Employees of the Month”. Alec, John, JoJo, Joshua, and Ryan have been model employees during their weekly hour-long shifts that the staff at Metro Bowl wanted to recognize their appreciation for our students. As “Employees of the Month”, student photos will be posted on the TV screens around the bowling alley for all to see. We are all very proud of all their hard work out in the community!

Transition Tip

For many of our students, independent living skills are an important piece to daily programming. Self-help skills such as tooth brushing, showering, and dressing are crucial to living a more autonomous life as students get older. Household chores such as sweeping, wiping down tables, and laundry tasks increase independence in task completion and provide a stepping stone to vocational skills. As with every skill, there are different ways to teach and for students to learn. When you have decided to target a skill, it is best to remain in open communication with your student’s BCBA and Special Education Teacher. Generalization occurs when both school and home are working on the skills in the same teaching methodology.  Progress will generalize across settings if the same strategies are utilized as best they can such as similar language, visual supports, and providing the instruction in the same way. Consults can be used to discuss generalization, provide teaching tools, show videos, and even complete observations to ensure generalization occurs. Working together with your student’s team allows these important independent living skills to progress across all areas of the student’s life.

Sports Clinic: Volleyball

The students at Hopeful Journeys had a blast at our recent sports clinic! This event was spearheaded by Ryan Perkins, who is a member of the vocational team and our gym role! He spent the day teaching students the basics of volleyball. The clinic started with a warm-up and stretches, which offered the opportunity to practice bilateral coordination! Then, they learned how to serve and pass the ball. This presented an opportunity for students to engage in physical skills, as well as communication skills. A huge part of being successful in volleyball is communication! Students practiced gaining their peers’ attention before passing them the ball. At the end of the clinic, students had a chance to enjoy drawing with chalk while enjoying the sunshine. It was a great day to enjoy sports and activities outside in the sunshine!

I Scream… You Scream… We all Scream for…. ICE CREAM TRUCK FRIDAYS!

Summertime is here! That means hot days and cool snacks! Here at HJEC, we want our students to experience a summertime staple, getting some sweet treats from the ice cream truck. Every Friday, our local ice cream truck makes a special visit to HJEC for our students. Each team gets a time during the afternoon to go outside and buy ice cream to enjoy. Our students get to practice multiple skills including waiting in line, greetings, conversations and purchasing items. This is so beneficial for our students and we love being able to provide them this opportunity to work on these skills!

Summer Training Time!

Over the last few months, the training department has been busy. We have welcomed 10 new staff and a new BCBA to Hopeful Journeys this summer.  During orientation, new staff have the opportunity to focus on their teaching and behavior-analytic skills prior to getting to know all of our amazing students.  During this training time, they spend a week with our managers and directors, receiving direct feedback and coaching on a variety of behavior analytic skills, ranging from how to run a reading curriculum to taking data and prompting communication through a variety of modalities.  The training does not stop there; the new staff then head to their teams and the best part begins– getting to know the students! The first step in this process is always to focus on rapport building: building that meaningful (and FUN!) relationship with our learners. Once the new staff and the student have formed that bond, we move on to the rest of the training process, providing coaching for following behavior support plans, facilitating and running incidental teaching goals, meal time goals, general expectations, and so much more until the new staff has met competency in all areas.  With all this training, our goal remains centered around providing our students with the best education we can to support their independence and growth– no better way to reach that goal than to have the best teachers around!