Weekly Update November 22, 2024

Next week is a short week - we have therapy on Monday and Tuesday ONLY.

We wish a very happy thanksgiving to all of our families - enjoy a wonderful long break!

Just a friendly reminder that it is getting chilly outside. We take the children outside two times daily for recess on our playgrounds, and it is time to start sending warm coats and gloves. When it snows, we will go outside too, so please plan to send boots and snow pants. If a child does not have warm enough gear, we will keep the child indoors, but the others will go outside. We believe that getting outside and getting fresh air daily is good for all of us, so we really want all the children to be able to participate.

The Global Autism Parenting Summit is free and online December 9-11.

It's three days, with more than 25 speakers, and did we mention it's free?

Click here to find out more and register!

VIP Day is next Tuesday! VIP Day is a day for each child to bring a Very Important Person to Strive! Children can bring any VIP - parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend, sibling! We ask that each child bring just one guest, unless their guest is a child under the age of 16, and then a parent is required to join.

Please sign up here for VIP day so we know how many people to expect:

Brighton VIP Sign Up

Burton VIP Sign Up

Danielle joined the Strive team in October 2024. She has been in the field of ABA since 2018 and prior to ABA, was a personal nanny for several families for over 6 years.

Danielle holds a Master’s of Science in Early Childhood Special Education and Course Sequence for Applied Behavior Analysis. She is interested in blending together her early childhood background with ABA to create custom programming to best support her families.

When she’s not working, Danielle enjoys relaxing and crafting such as painting or crocheting.

Many parents may not be aware of our social media, and we'd love for you to follow us! We share tips and tricks for families, staff birthdays and work anniversaries, and other info.

Follow us here on Facebook or Instagram

2025 Calendars are available now! There is a slight difference in the 2 buildings, so be sure to click on the calendar for the building your child attends.

Thrive Therapy Center will begin providing Occupational Therapy (OT) services in our Burton location soon! The therapist has been hired, and will spend the next few weeks training and preparing to provide services in Burton.

We ask that all Burton families complete this breif survey to let us know if they are interested in OT services for their child. Thrive will provide an evaluation prior to beginning services to determine your child's eligibility for services and appropriate goals.

Thrive is continuing to look for a speech therapist to service Burton as well, so if you know of a good therapist, tell them to apply here to work with us!

Thank you for your patience - we are so excited to begin seeing OT services for our children again!

With the holidays fast approaching, here are a few tips that we hope will de-stress the season a bit for you!

· Prepare! Help your child understand when different things are going to take place – use a calendar to count down days until a big visit, or use a visual schedule for the special day – we’re happy to help you design something.

· Decorate! Some children find decorations disruptive. Be sure to engage your child in decorating as much as possible, and be clear about the rules for decorations – if you have some that can’t be touched, tell your child clearly and consistently. We can provide visual supports to indicate things that can’t be touched. We will decorate at the center (as we always do!) but everything here can be touched and enjoyed by the children. We will help practice with your child if you need him to learn to keep his hands off.

· Take a break! Teach your child to ask for a break when things get overwhelming, and make sure that at any get together, there’s a quiet, calm place for your child to go. At home, it can simply be his bedroom, if you’re visiting family, ask ahead if there’s a bedroom or small space that can be kept quiet for your child. Let other family members know that when he’s in this space, he should be left alone, and family should try to keep noise to a minimum. If your child can’t yet ask for a break, gently direct him to this space when he appears overwhelmed.

· Travel with his favorites! If you’re traveling, make sure you bring favorite toys, comfort objects, and foods. A little familiarity can go a long way to ease stress.

· Share pictures of the family! Prepare a photo album of all the relatives that you expect to see over the holidays – send it in to therapy, and we’ll be happy to show your child the pictures, and remind him who he’ll be seeing. If you email the pictures to your BCBA, we can print them and keep them here – just let us know what your child calls each person.

· Prepare your family members! If you’ll be seeing people you don’t see often, let them know what your child responds well to, and what he doesn’t like. Let them know what questions he’s likely to answer, and what he struggles with. Let them know what games and toys he likes, so the kids can all play together.

· Let us know what we can do to help! Tell us what you’ve struggled with in holidays past, and we’ll be happy to help you make a plan for this year, or teach skills that will help. We can work on opening presents, taking turns, and vocabulary related to the holidays your family celebrates.

· Relax and enjoy! Don’t over-schedule your family this year – sometimes just a small get together with a few family members is the best for everyone. Use this time to reflect on all the changes in your child and your family over this past year. Give yourself a giant pat on the back for bringing your child to therapy and committing to his progress.

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 upcoming dates that the centers will be closed:

Wednesday - Friday, November 27-29 - BOTH CENTERS CLOSED for Thanksgiving

Monday, December 23rd - Friday, January 3rd - BOTH CENTERS CLOSED for Holiday Break

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