Weekly Update March 28, 2025

April's theme is pond life so we'll be talking all about the types of animals and other creatures you find in and around a pond. You'll be seeing lots of frogs, bugs, ducks, and lily pads in April.

Strive Center is exploring the possibility of adding field trips to our regular curriculum. Before we get too far into the planning stages, we'd like to know what our families think!

Please click this link and complete our breif survey to share your opinion. If you've already completed it, thanks so much!

We have planned field trips in the past and the destination is typically tied to the theme of the month. Some places we might go include:

Children's Museum

Grocery store

Pet store

Indoor play area or bounce park

Apple orchard or pumpkin patch

Sledding

Nature center

Splash pad

Farmer's Market

Farm or petting zoo

Part of the rationale for going to these places is that we can work on generalizing skills to a public setting, including walking with an adult when there are lots of distractions present, following directions, taking turns, social skills around all of these activities, etc.

Our friends at U of M Flint have shared this info on Officer Friendly Day and we wanted to share it with our families!

We are excited to invite you to our annual Officer Friendly Day event at the University of Michigan-Flint on April 26th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.! This event is for autistic individuals, along with their families, friends, and allies. It’s a chance to promote inclusion, understanding, and positive relationships with law enforcement officers.

Officer Friendly Day is a great opportunity to connect with police officers before an emergency happens, and to ask any questions about safety. The event is for children, teens, and adults with autism. There will be free food, lots of police vehicles to check out, fun activities to explore, virtual reality experiences, and even simulated traffic stop experiences where you can practice how to stay safe during a traffic stop.

Check out the flyer attached for more details and to RSVP. You can also RSVP by clicking this link: go.umflint.edu/OfficerFriendlyDay2025.

On our recent Professional Development days, we trained all of our newest employees in Professional Crisis Management. This system helps staff learn ways to prevent and deescalate situations with children as well as how to respond when escalation is unavoidable.

Team members who were already trained in PCM acted as Guest Therapists in our Burton location on Thursday. On Friday, Staff engaged in training focused on child development and thoughtfully considered how to best prepare our clients for their next learning environments. They watched the short films Float and Loop on Disney+ and discussed how the themes of inclusion and understanding relate to our mission. Additionally, staff conducted an in-depth review of the RBT Ethical Code, reinforcing their knowledge through an interactive Jeopardy! style quiz.

Our whole team came together for lunch and some fun icebreakers as a group! Thank you families fo your flexibility that allows us to keep our team's training current.

Please help us welcome Dani!

Dani started at Strive in March 2025. She previously worked for Starbucks as a Barista and Shift Supervisor.

Dani is currently enrolled in courses at the University of Michigan pursuing a degree in Psychology.

In her free time, Dani loves spending time with family and friends, reading, crafting (such as painting and making collages), and playing with her cat!

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

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:

Friday, April 18th - BOTH centers closed for Good Friday

Monday, April 21st - BURTON ONLY closed for PD Day

Monday, May 26th - BOTH centers closed for Memorial 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