Weekly Update - January 20, 2023

Just a friendly reminder that when we do have a snow day, you will get a notification via Remind as the primary notification. We also update our Facebook page. We're not trying to bring on a snow day...but it seems like we've got to see some snow soon!

We do not close the centers based on just the local school district, so it is possible that your school will be closed and we will be open, so please check for a Remind message if you're not sure.

We always strive to inform our families by 6:00 am of a weather related closure, so that you have enough time to make plans for the day. If by chance, there is a large weather change between 6:00 am and our opening time of 8:15, you may receive a later notification.

In addition, we will sometimes close only for the morning session if it looks like driving conditions for the afternoon will be ok. In that instance, afternoon children should arrive at 12:30 and children who attend full days are also welcome to arrive at 12:30. We understand that not all parents can bring their full day children at that time, and would not count that absence against you.

For 2023, instead of just sharing our background info, we are going to share some of our team's answers to a recent survey. We asked staff what they enjoy most about their jobs overall, what they like to teach the most, and what they would tell other people considering working here. We'll share answers from a new staff member each week!

This week, let's hear from Beth, an RBT and Float Therapist in Brighton. Being the Float Therapist means Beth is the first to be shuffled into the schedule to cover for an absent staff member.

When we asked Beth what her favorite skill to teach is, she answered, "Natural Environment Training (NET), I feel that it comes very natural to me to do this during the session."

*See below for a definition of NET* And also, as someone who has worked with Beth over the years, I can tell you it's true - this does come very naturally to her!

Beth said her favorite part of working for Strive as a company is "Strive feels like a family to me - I feel that everyone is compassionate and genuine."

What is Beth's proudest moment at Strive so far? "Teaching a math lesson with visitors observing one day - but all the kids stayed engaged and participated!"

One addition to our newsletter this year will be some definitions of terms we use most often in ABA. We know we use a lot of lingo and we want to help families understand it better. All of these terms will also be on our website in a glossary, so you can check them out anytime.

Today's term is Natural Environment Training (NET).

Natural Environment Training is a type of teaching where learning occurs more incidentally in an environment the child encounters regularly.

NET allows us to incorporate things a child is interested in - like using cars to teach prepositions - a therapist might ask the child to put the red car next to the blue car. This type of learning is more fun for children and therapists!

In our center, you'll see that your child's goals are taught in the natural environment all day - we design our centers to closely mimic a preschool setting, and therapists use tablets to collect data on teaching targets so that they're able to take advantage of any setting for any goal.

For example, a child may be working on imitating physical actions that others do - one way to use NET to teach this is by having the whole group imitate the leader during circle time.

Teaching this way allows for better generalization of skills (we'll define that term another week!)

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 additional dates that the centers will be closed:

Friday, February 17th BRIGHTON CENTER ONLY closed for crisis management training for staff

Friday, March 10th BOTH CENTERS CLOSED for staff Professional Development day

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