HJEC November 2023 Newsletter

What's Happening?

Seating During Mealtimes

Our main objective at Hopeful Journeys is to encourage functional participation through independence in daily activities. At times, physical limitations can impact our ability to participate in our daily meaningful activities, such as mealtimes. This is where posture and positioning come in!

Occupational therapists have a unique perspective to analyze physical limitations and make recommendations of seating arrangements to increase a student’s ability to participate. Did you know how and where you eat has a huge impact on your success during mealtime? If a child is not positioned appropriately, it has a direct impact on the airway, leading to increased difficulty chewing and swallowing. 

Have you ever sat on a high-top stool without foot support? When we are in a seating arrangement without proper support, our body tries to accommodate the discomfort, often working overtime to encourage balance. If we are uncomfortable during mealtime, our bodies get the wiggles, and focusing on the meal in front of us seems to be impossible. 

The secret to great posture and positioning during a meal is 90-90-90. That is, hips, knees, and ankles should all be bent at a 90-degree angle. Good seating doesn’t mean going out to buy the biggest and best new chair, it can often be resolved with a shoe box. Simply putting a shoe box for foot support rather than having your child’s legs hang can give them the stability they need to sit for family dinner. This can translate into improved attention at mealtime and engaging for an appropriate amount of time!

By Alexa Harry, MS, OTR/L

Using Alternative and Augmentative Communication at Home during the Holiday Season

The holidays can be a challenging time for parents and AAC users in ensuring that your student has access to and understands novel vocabulary that goes along with the current season, holiday, and social events. There are several ways to model these novel and salient vocabulary terms, as well as create communication opportunities at home with these fun holiday and winter activities! 

• Make Paper Snowflakes: Get a square piece of paper. Fold in half diagonally (x2). Divide the triangle into 3 sections. Fold the left section towards the front. Repeat with the right side. Turn the paper around and cut along the horizontal edge. While still folded, cut random shapes along the sides. Cover lightly with glue and sprinkle with glitter!

• Model keywords and phrases like fold, cut, help, more, pretty, sprinkle the glitter, on the snowflake

• Snowman Craft: Get a white paper cup, orange and black construction paper, 2 googly eyes, scissors, and glue. Cut an orange triangle and several small black circles out of construction paper. Help your child glue a face onto the cup using the triangle for the nose, black circles to make a mouth, and googly eyes for the eyes. 

• Model keywords and phrases like cut, glue, eyes, nose, mouth, more, on the cup

• Self-advocacy skills: Holidays can be a tricky time for students with more social demands, different routines, and dressing up! It’s a time when our students can continue to work on their self-advocacy skills such as requesting to be in a quiet space, taking a break, changing clothes after a certain amount of time, or sharing emotions (e.g. feeling excited, nervous, frustrated). 
• Topic boards: Visual support for our students to use specific vocabulary before, during, and after the holidays! These can provide our students opportunities to make choices, make requests, and share their thoughts/feelings using holiday vocabulary!
• Visual schedules: During the holidays and vacation weeks, our day-to-day routines are usually different. We can help by making visual schedules for your students to create some consistency to support them during this less predictable time. This helps build understanding and gain familiarity with time concepts (hours, days, weeks). 

Reach out to your students’ team for additional communication support during the holidays, and keep an eye out for Tadpoles photos of your students participating in lots of fun holiday activities here at HJEC!

By Shauna King M.S., CF-SLP and Rachel Brown M.S., CF- SLP

Making Communication Work: Echoics

Last month you read about how behavior analysts categorize language based on the function that it serves, and about mands (or requests). This month, we would like to introduce you to echoic behavior.  Echoic can be remembered easily as it contains the word echo. In other words, echoic is just a fancy verbal behavior term for vocal imitation.

The ultimate goal of teaching vocal imitation is to teach vocal imitation skills so that the person’s language is under instructional control and they can imitate the response when asked. Over time, this allows you to be able to prompt them when it is functional.  An echoic response could be a learner repeating a single sound after someone else says it, repeating a word, or a full sentence.  Similar to imitating actions, the learner should imitate exactly what the speaker, or person modeling the action, says. If a teacher says “ball” and the student says “ball,” that would be an example of an echoic response. 

The antecedents (what happens before) and the consequences (what happens after) are different for mands and echoics. With mands, there is a motivation for an item, activity, or person that precedes the request, and the consequence of the mand is the speaker gets the item, activity, or person they asked for. With echoic responses, there is not necessarily a clear motivation for something, and the antecedent is hearing someone else say a sound, word, or sentence.  The learner repeats or echoes the sound, word, or phrase, which is often followed by praise as the consequence.  The main difference in the consequences is that when a student mands for a ball by saying ball, someone gives them a ball and when a student says ball because their teacher said ball first, the teacher does not give them a ball, but may give them praise. In this way, echoic behavior is not linked to a specific reinforcer but may help the learner access praise, tokens, or other reinforcers. Echoic behavior is a valuable teaching tool to help learners develop communication skills!

Inspiring Hope, Building Potential and Creating Opportunities

Our Mission

Hopeful Journeys’ mission is to provide quality and individualized education to children with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities.  We strive to build better futures for children and families by helping them to reach their fullest potential and enabling them to live more productive and independent lives.

“Working at Hopeful Journeys has made me a better teacher and BCBA. I have learned SO much over my 10 years at Hopeful Journeys and the impact that our school has on the lives and education of our students and their families is incredible to see and to be a part of. I love seeing staff form bonds with our students and help them to reach their fullest potential and to master skills that started off challenging for them. It is amazing being part of such an inspiring community! I laugh every day, I learn something new every day and I truly feel our students get the best education and have the best teachers and BCBA’s!”- Jess Zaskey, Behavior Clinician, BCBA (Team D)

Student Spotlight: Nicholas!

Nicholas is one of Hopeful Journeys’ original students, starting with us all the way back in 2011!  It’s incredible how fast time has gone by.  Nicholas is now a newer member of the Vocational Team.  When you think of Nicholas, the first thought that comes to mind is his huge, infectious smile that just exudes joy.  He comes in with such energy and happiness each day which truly brings the best out in others around him.

Nicholas has been working hard on all his academic, speech, independent living and vocational goals over the years.  Some recent academic highlights include budgeting tasks, and converting numbers from percentages to decimal points.  He has also made lots of progress with writing in cursive!  Nicholas is also excelling with his vocational programming. For this goal, he has been working at the YMCA to help the staff clean all the exercise equipment. He also works at Backbeat completing varied tasks like mopping, setting up or breaking down umbrellas on outdoor tables, stamping coffee holders, and more! He does an excellent job staying focused and his independence with each task has exploded since he began these jobs!  In true Nicholas fashion, he comes into his shifts with that trademark smile on his face and genuinely looks forward to working.

Another area in which Nicholas has displayed increased independence is his shaving routine. For this activity, he uses an electric razor to shave his face. To be successful with this task, Nicholas needs to pay close attention to each and every part of his face to make sure that he doesn’t miss any spots. Recently, Nicholas has been able to complete this skill with only a couple of reminders from his teachers and is close to completely mastering the skill. 

Finally, Nicholas has also been doing an outstanding job of following some specific rules during social group activities. These activities include gym, art, exercise, and social groups; giving him plenty of opportunities during the day to work on this skill. Nicholas is specifically working on sitting appropriately, answering questions with his AAC device, following the directions of his teachers and using a quiet voice. These rules have helped Nicholas to be able to focus on the content of the group and participate throughout. Nicholas has recently demonstrated a spike in independence in all of these areas. It’s so good to see him getting involved in the activity and being able to stay focused on it!

Student Spotlight: Seth!

We are so grateful to introduce Seth for this month’s student spotlight! Seth started at Hopeful Journeys in January of 2017 and has been such a wonderful addition to Team F since joining in the summer of 2022! From the moment Seth gets off the bus in the morning, he always has the most contagious smile on his face. He truly enjoys his days here at Hopeful Journeys. Seth is an extremely hard worker and has mastered multiple programs across the academic, vocational, and independent living domains. His academics consist of a variety of maintenance skills, clerical work, and navigation of his AAC device. Seth is currently working on a mock purchasing routine where he uses a credit card reader to purchase an item. He has come a long way with this program, and it will aid him in being able to independently make a purchase in the community. Seth particularly enjoys this program because he is able to buy a snack of his choosing! He is also making great progress with his independent living goals. In order to help Seth with his transition to life after Hopeful Journeys, Seth continues to work on skills such as preparing his meals at school, washing his dishes after meal times, personal care routines, and exercise/cardiovascular routines. Additionally, Seth has been making tremendous progress with his vocational goals. One of his goals includes working in the school store. While in the school store, Seth cleans all areas and restocks the shelves. Seth is a very hard worker and completes most of these programs throughout his day. Once he completes work, Seth enjoys his trade-ins relaxing on the beanbag, taking walks, and listening to music. Seth uses an AAC device for communication and does an incredible job independently using it to communicate his wants and needs across his day. 

In order to be the most successful and prepared for his life post-22, Seth has been focusing on maintaining independence with previously mastered skills and gaining independence with new skills. Seth has worked hard on building independence especially while attending his off-site work shifts. Seth works at a local church every Tuesday where he completes various cleaning tasks including wiping tables and windows and vacuuming. He also works at the food pantry on Fridays where he completes various tasks such as sorting produce, sorting cans, and restocking milk and eggs. Seth also sorts bread for a nearby farm where he loves to hand-feed the cows! Seth has made exceptional progress at his off-site work shifts and we couldn’t be more proud of how far he has come!

We are so grateful to be a part of Seth’s journey and cannot wait to see what he accomplishes within his final year at Hopeful Journeys!

This is Us: Chris and Joey

Chris and Joey really love all their friends and teachers at school. They enjoy the routines and playing that they do. A lot of times they didn't like crowds or stepping outside their comfort zone but now they smile and jump right in. The teachers provide so much positive energy for them. Having fun makes progress easier. The field trips give them confidence in group activities so they like it and want to do it again. I love the family meet-ups because they've shown me things that we can do whenever we want to. The support from everyone for every student is amazing. The staff here are very special and to me they're above and beyond most. It takes a certain kind of person to love these students the way they do. I can't say enough good things about all of them. I know I'm a pain sometimes bugging them with questions but they always help more than I hoped. Chris and Joey have had Tiffany as their BCBA for a year now and she's earned her wings just by me always bugging her about things I question. It's awesome to see what the boys can do now compared to before. I don't think there is a better place for kids like these to grow and learn. 

           P.S. Don't forget to like and follow on Facebook, thanks   

- Roger Gauthier

Let's Dive Deep: Guardianship (Part 2)

**For the links in the article below, please right-click and select "open in a new window" in order to access**

Last month we discussed what guardianship is and if your child will need a guardian. This month, we are introducing more in-depth information about the types of guardianship and the documents needed.

To ask to become a guardian, first, you need to decide what type of guardianship you want to file for: plenary (complete) or limited. You can learn more about the types of guardianship here: responsibilities of a guardian

Form that needs to be completed before the student turns 18 (click here for more info!).

• Petition for Appointment of Guardian for an Incapacitated Person (MPC 120) For plenary (complete) guardianship, you must check the box explaining why you need more than limited powers.
• Medical Certificate (MPC 400) This certificate needs to be completed and signed by a registered physician, licensed psychologist, or certified psychiatric nurse clinical specialist. Your child must be examined within 30 days of when the petition is filed.
• Bond (MPC 801) The Bond confirms that you agree to the jurisdiction of the court that is issuing the Letters of Appointment as guardian. You can request that the bond is without sureties, with personal sureties, or with the support of a corporate surety bond. In guardianships, the surety is usually waived. The bond must include the estimated value of your child’s real estate and personal estate. 
• Clinical Team Report (MPC 402) if the person has an intellectual disability. The report needs to be filled out by a physician, a licensed psychologist, and a social worker. The incapacitated person must be examined within 180 days from when the petition is filed.
• Military Affidavit if an appearance hasn’t been filed by or on behalf of your student. If the case is contested (someone has filed an objection), this is generally not required.
• If your student is treated with antipsychotic medications, you will need to request a Rogers Authority.
  • A lawyer will be appointed by the court
  • You'll need to submit Findings and a Treatment Plan for the court to approve
  • The Decree will include an annual review date

Cooking Group

The Vocational Kitchen is always cooking up something tasty! Students have access to a weekly cooking group where they not only practice safety in the kitchen but also meal prep, following recipes, and tolerating novel foods. Cooking groups lend to great social interactions and the ability to learn flexibility within a structured activity.

Students are placed in groups based on skills and knowledge of kitchen safety. Recipes are then developed and include everything from simple recipes such as trail mix to complex recipes such as baked goods, pancakes, and holiday-themed food (i.e. Jack O Lantern Quesadillas). Recent recipes have included Pumpkin Crunch Cake, Chocolate Hummus, and even a Milky Way ‘Salad’! As student independence increases, teacher support is then faded. In our advanced cooking group, students choose a recipe, shop at the local grocery store, and then prepare the recipe together. Cooking groups have assisted many students in increasing their willingness to try new foods and to help more in the kitchen. We can't wait to see what recipes will be whipped up next!

Happy Halloween!

Here at Hopeful Journeys, we love any reason to celebrate fun times! One of our favorite times of year is October when we get to have a fun Halloween celebration. This year, we were so excited to bring back on-site trick or treating, which was a tradition at HJEC pre-pandemic! It is such a great opportunity for our students to transition throughout the school to different offices and always brings a smile to the faces of staff in their offices. For this year’s events, older students on the vocational team posted up in the different offices along with staff to help hand out candy to younger students.  This made the whole experience even more meaningful!  Some highlights from Halloween included:

• Seeing our younger and older students interact
• Watching each student practice waiting skills during this natural opportunity
• All the smiles during trick-or-treating
• The AMAZING costumes
• Seeing all the amazing transitioning our students did throughout
• Team parties that included enjoying some sweet treats, decorating trick-or-treating bags, spooky Halloween music, Halloween videos, and much more!

Students around the school were asked what their favorite part of the celebrations was.  Here are their responses!

• “Candy!” -Charlotte
• “Trick or treating!” -Grant and Carlo
• “My unicorn costume” -Cameron D
• “Seeing witch costumes.” -Andrew P
• “Our pizza party.” -Andrew W and Logan A
• “My favorite part was trick or treating. My favorite candy was starburst” -Craig
• “The candy and costumes!” -Daria
• “The treats, especially the cupcakes”- Joshua S

Graduation: Behind the Scenes!

There is a lot that goes into the preparation for student graduation here at Hopeful Journeys. We have a team of students who help out with a variety of tasks to make sure these special days come together perfectly. Students team up and assist with the following tasks: sorting & hanging decorations, setting up the chairs, setting the tables with tablecloths & decorations, and gathering food items & utensils and setting them up. There is nothing more exciting than watching the students work together to send off their friends in the best way possible. Although it can be a sad day, it is definitely a day worth celebrating and there’s no better way to celebrate than to have as much fun as possible! The students have such a good time converting our cafeteria into an extravagant party room, and it is also wonderful to see the students socialize with the families of the graduating students during these ceremonies. 

Some students were asked, “What’s your favorite part about your friends’ graduations?”. Here’s what they had to say!

• “Watching the whole ceremony” - Andrew S
  
• “Watching the slideshows.” - Colby K & Joey Gh
  
• “Doing the decorations.” - Daniel S
  
• “Taking pictures.” - Nicholas Su
  
• “Seeing my friends up on stage graduating.” - Ryan A

Welcoming New Teachers!

Hopeful Journeys is always happy to welcome new teachers to our team! We pride ourselves on providing the best services to our students and are excited when we can help mold new teachers. The onboarding process is based in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and utilizes the Behavior Skills Training (BST) model. The BST involves four components: instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. To welcome our new teachers to the school, they attend a 2-week orientation period led by experienced trainers which focuses on the school mission, policies and procedures, safety protocols, teaching procedures, data collection, and documentation. New teachers are then welcomed to a specific team aligned with their unique skill sets. Once on their team, they receive in-depth training on how to teach each specific student in accordance with their individualized needs, programs, and behavior plans. One of the first steps when meeting a new student is to learn how to have fun with them so that learning can be engaging and teaching can be effective. The training team supports teachers by modeling how to complete skills, coaching them while they practice the skills, and providing support and feedback throughout the entire training process. With this emphasis on practice and feedback, teachers are coached to develop the best possible relationships with their students and gain invaluable skills and confidence as ABA teachers. Each training is individualized based on the new teacher's learning style and needs. New teachers continue the onboarding process on their team by joining team meetings, reviewing student progress, and receiving support from more senior teachers on the team. The leadership and management teams ensure that the new teacher is onboarded successfully to the school and team via meetings, ongoing observations, and continued training opportunities for professional development and skill building throughout the year. We are proud of our onboarding process as it helps prepare our teachers to be some of the best ones around!