Total Spectrum

Total Spectrum provides ABA therapy to help children with autism.

AVB

April is also Occupational Therapy month and it’s not over yet!

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Spring is upon us! A time of year when kids are excited to get outside and play. However for some kids, playing outside is difficult and it shouldn’t be. If your child has difficulty with any of the following activities, he or she may benefit from occupational therapy services to make these activities FUN again!

Does your child have difficulty with any of the following activities?

  • Riding a bike or tricycle?
  • Pumping a swing?
  • Sitting on a swing without falling off?
  • Riding a scooter?
  • Propelling riding toys?
  • Playing on playground equipment?
  • Catching?
  • Throwing?
  • Running?
  • Jumping?
  • Skipping?
  • Sitting in the grass because he/she doesn’t like the way it feels on his/her legs?
  • Having sunscreen applied because he/she doesn’t like the way it feels?

Or does he or she have trouble with getting ready to go outside and play?

  • Getting dressed?
  • Putting shoes on?
  • Putting socks on?
  • Tying shoes?
  • Attaching Velcro on shoes?
  • Brushing teeth?
  • Combing hair?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, your child may benefit from an occupational therapy evaluation.

A child with delayed development may not demonstrate skills that are typical of the child’s age. He or she may have difficulty achieving increased independence and ease with feeding, dressing (such as putting a shirt on or tolerating the feeling of pants against their legs), gross motor activities (such as playing on a playground, catching, and jumping), fine motor activities (such as managing zippers, and buttons), visual motor activities (such as completing puzzles, copying from the board), and developing problem-solving and coping strategies.

Occupational therapists who work with children are knowledgeable about all stages of development and the appropriate milestones in a child’s physical, cognitive, and behavioral development.

What can an occupational therapist do?

Evaluate the child’s level of performance in critical developmental areas

Observe the child clinically and determine how to utilize therapeutic activities in order to facilitate development,  skill acquisition and generalization

  • Develop a plan of treatment independently or in coordination with other health care professionals who are treating the child
  •  Recommend adaptive equipment to facilitate the development of age-appropriate skills

What can parents and families do?

  • Stay educated about and involved in the child’s treatment plan.\
  • Follow up with the treating occupational therapist and health professionals to encourage further development and track progress.

– See more at The American Occupational Therapy Association Inc.

In Maryland, habilitation services like occupational therapy are covered by the autism mandate. Habilitative services are therapeutic services that are provided to children with a genetic or congenital condition to enhance the child’s ability to function. Habilitative Services include, but are not limited to, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Behavioral Health treatment, including Applied Behavioral Analysis (effective March 17, 2014).  Visit Pathfinders for Autism for more information and additional resources.

If you have questions about the clinical services offered at Trellis, contact Caitlin Sprouse, MS, OTR/L, Clinical Services Coordinator for more information.

Fall Festival Open House

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A successful Fall Festival Open House with over 100 in attendance was just the “housewarming” that Trellis needed for their Sparks location that still feels new to some. Every area of the 30,000 sq. ft. Trellis Learning Center had activities for clients, potential clients and their families on Saturday, November 15, 2014.

The facility, located on York Road, is home to The Trellis School, an afterschool program for Baltimore County, and all of Trellis’ clinic-based programs for children with autism spectrum disorders and other language and communication disorders. The facility includes six classrooms, a new fully equipped sensory gym, an outside playground and thousands of square feet of natural learning environment space.

The excitement from the staff and members of the community was palpable. Suzanne Heid, M.S., Trellis’ Associate Executive Director, commented, “The biggest thing that stood out for me was the sense of pride that our staff felt in showcasing our facility to the community!” The Fall Fest themed Open House, showcased Trellis Services to existing and new clients. When asked about the goal of the event Suzanne stated, “Our goal for the school and the clinic is to highlight our high quality programming with a focus on verbal behavior as part of the core curriculum for students and clients. We are continuously assessing our learners on a daily basis to determine how they acquire skills and progress.”

We are a place families can depend on once their child becomes a part of the Trellis community. This event allowed us to show the community who we are and what we believe in.”

Open House activities were held in each of the classrooms, and all of Trellis’ services were highlighted in some way. There were arts and crafts activities and carnival style games in the open areas, the hallways were flooded with children and all of the gyms were filled to capacity. The enthusiasm and engagement of the day were similar to what an attendee would see during a typical school day. Melissa Horrigan, Occupational Therapist, had this to say about the day,” I am so thankful for the amazing community we have here at Trellis! It was such a privilege to connect with our families outside of therapy. I had so much fun playing with my students alongside their family members. My husband volunteered during the day and he had such a blast meeting our families and seeing the amazing place where I get to work. We had so many families stop by the new OT gym. I was proud to provide a space that our students were excited to show their parents! How many kids can say that they would willingly go to school on a Saturday?” The large gym located in the back of Trellis, offers an abundance of space to run our Autism Waiver Therapeutic Integration After School Program. This program is designed to focus on recreation and leisure skills, while improving the student’s social skills, group participation, and reciprocal play.

“Our Fall Festival Open House was so much fun! It was incredibly rewarding to actually see so many of the families in our community we get to serve, “exclaimed Darcy Kline, Trellis School Autism Intervention Instructor. The event featured an auction with artwork created by current Trellis School students and learners in the Learn 2 Love (L2L) Program with the help of our Social Skills Specialist, Kate Cheek.

This event will be the first of many held in support of Trellis community and the families we serve. For more information about our services click here.

Alphabet Soup: Understanding ABA & AVB

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Chances are you’ve heard the terms Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Applied Verbal Behavior (AVB) more times than you can count. So what do they really mean? And are they the miracle intervention for your child?

ABA, in the most complex terms is “the application of the principles of learning and motivation from Behavior Analysis, and the procedures and technology derived from those principles, to the solution of problems of social significance.”

In the simplest terms?  It’s using learning to change behavior. And AVB?  Basically the same thing except it’s all about language.

At Trellis, we use the principals of ABA and an AVB methodology to lay the foundation for success in school and life. We integrate ABA principles into all the work we do at Trellis and we primarily focus on using AVB in our Trellis School and Love2Learn programs.

How we use the principals of ABA

The goal of most families is to have children develop the basic communication, social and life skills they need to be successful. That’s what we focus on. Using ABA, we’re able to help teach new behaviors by breaking skills down into small, understandable steps that are taught separately. Once each step is learned separately they are strung together into a targeted behavior or task. For example, a child working on building a pre-requisite skill of sitting at a table might start with short intervals, gradually increasing the time and the seatmates. The goal isn’t just to have the child sit at a table during a group session, but to be an engaged participating member at the end.

How we use AVB

Using words, having conversations, reading and writing. We know that’s what you want for your child. AVB is a natural next step as children and students at Trellis slowly begin to trust staff and beginning developing activities. As activities are established, instructors are providing learners with all the language needed to talk about the items, what the items do, the parts of the items, etc. This is what facilitates communication. Motivation is key in this process. When a learner is motivated by an item or something fun that an instructor can do with the item, they will be motivated to “demand” or request that item or activity again. Multiple opportunities for the learner to communicate those “wants” are contrived throughout an activity, evoking the learner’s communication and repeated opportunities to practice that communication.

At Trellis, we emphasize the AVB methodology because aside from the scientific evidence, we believe that communication is the foundation for learning, and by rigorously focusing on communication we can better support a child functioning in school and the community.

AVB gives children the language they need to engage in social situations within the school and community. They are able to participate in those situations because of their increased ability to communicate their wants and needs. Also, for some, an increase in communication can contribute to reductions in interfering or challenging behavior.  Trellis understands that children need various ways to communicate too, that’s why we teach using a variety of modalities, such as vocal communication, sign language, through the use of pictures, or using an augmentative communication system (e.g., software on an iPad or another voice output device).

These are very simple explanations of what ABA and AVB are and how we try to integrate the principles into our work at Trellis. We invite you to read more on our website or contact us to find out more about how and why we use these interventions to create fun, motivating and individualized programs for each of our learners.