Programs & Services

Facilitators will lead an online workshop on the topic of sexual health and wellness for parents of youth with ASD. Parents will learn how to support their youth explore issues including puberty, consent, and sexual boundaries. Parents/youth will be offered online follow-up sessions for further support.

Youth and their parents will attend an online workshop to learn strategies for coping with anxiety in healthy ways. Parents/youth will be offered online follow-up sessions for further support and skill development.

Facilitators will lead an online workshop for parents of youth with ASD regarding aggressive behavior. Parents will learn how to support the development of helpful thinking styles, self-regulation skills, and adaptive behavior. Parents/youth will be offered online follow-up for further support.

Sibshops is an opportunity to meet other siblings in a relaxed, recreational setting. In a fun and relaxing atmosphere, facilitators will provide opportunities to discuss common joys and concerns, how to handle commonly experienced situations, and a venue to learn more about the implication of their siblings’ special needs.

SibShops are events which provide 8-13 year old brothers and sisters of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) an opportunity to meet other siblings in a relaxed, recreational setting.

SibShops intersperse information and discussion activities with high-energy games, new friends, and cooking and craft activities to get children talking, laughing and learning. An introduction to ASD will be included to provide participants with a better understanding of the disorder and how it may impact their sibling.

This offering is best suited for: Siblings of children with autism who are interested in not only learning about ASD, but also meeting other siblings, having fun, laughing, and talking about the good and not-so-good parts of having a sibling with special needs.

Learn how sensory processing fits into the many factors that affect our participation and enjoyment of daily activities. Begin to observe your child’s behaviour with these factors in mind and learn common strategies that could support them in everyday life.

Webinar duration: Approximately 60 minutes (Webinar link will be sent out after every registration.)
Dates of each live Questions and Answers sessions:
November 27, 2020, 1:00 pm and January 29, 2021, 1:00 pm
**Cut off registration date for Questions and Answer Sessions is two weeks prior to Q & A session dates**

This program will help you learn strategies designed to create an environment that encourages co-operation resulting in a decrease in disruptive behaviour, as well as improving daily living skills such as; getting dressed, bathing and brushing teeth.

Benefits
Within the 11-week sessions new strategies are incorporated and a Behaviour Support Plan (BSP) will be developed with you and an ABA therapist. The BSP is built over time, therefore the completed and final document will provide a rich description of the different intervention strategies you and the therapist developed to help address your child’s challenging behaviour(s) and improve their daily living skills.

The Resilience Builder Program (Alvord, Zucker, & Grados, 2011) is designed to support children, aged 7 to 12 years, to bounce back from stress by developing resilience and protective factors, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, flexible thinking, and social competence. All materials will be provided.

Note: All applicants must undergo an intake interview to determine eligibility.

Reinforcement is an integral element of ABA, and when used effectively, can dramatically increase skills in individuals diagnosed with ASD. Throughout this 2-hour workshop, participants will explore the various types, scheduled and effects of positive reinforcement.

Reciprocal imitation training (RIT) is a naturalistic intervention designed to teach learners to imitate spontaneously during on-going play interactions with a play partner as a means of social interaction. RIT can be implemented in a variety of play settings and during daily routines.

Benefits
Imitation is a pivotal skill in early development through which children learn new skills and engage in social interactions with others. Imitation plays a key role in the development of social communication, which includes: language, pretend play, social interaction, and emotional exchange. This approach can be very effective when implemented by parents.

Following a brief assessment of communication skills using the ABLLS-R, your child will be provided with a 45-minute individualized programming session (1-2 times a week) targeting 2 communication goals. Teaching strategies will be based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). A total of 10 sessions will be offered per child, including the brief assessment.

Sessions can be either child-direct or caregiver coaching (if done virtually).

Daily Living Skills are a broad range of skills such as cooking, chores and grooming. These skills are necessary and an important part of increasing of independence. This workshop will introduce daily living skills and assist caregivers with assessing a developmentally appropriate skill to teach. This session will describe how to write a task analysis to guide teaching. During follow-up consultation, the facilitator with revise the written task analysis and discuss behavioural teaching methods such as chaining and prompting.
Workshop: provides caregivers with an overview of daily living skills, assessment and task analysis.
Consults: Caregivers will receive 2 individualized consultations to discuss a changing method and suitable prompt strategy.

This presentation covers, from an occupational therapy perspective, the importance of sleep, some of the mechanisms of sleep and strategies to help instill good sleep at home.

Webinar link will be sent out after every registration.

Objectives of the presentation:
To provide education about what is happening to your child in terms of puberty
To enable you to assess where your child is at and if they are ready for building their independence in a variety of skills
To provide you with the language in order to have a comfortable and confident conversation with your child
To provide options in tools and equipment to support skills development and/or accommodate sensory concerns

Objectives of the presentation:
To provide education about what is happening to your child in terms of puberty
To enable you to assess where your child is at and if they are ready for building their independence in a variety of skills
To provide you with the language in order to have a comfortable and confident conversation with your child
To provide options in tools and equipment to support skills development and/or accommodate sensory concerns

We are happy to offer virtual drop-in clinics for caregivers to access a 50-minute consultation session with Dr. Price. Parents/Caregivers will be able to schedule a time during one of the clinic days, where they are able to discuss any current mental health concerns related to their child(ren) with Autism Spectrum Disorder, learn basic strategies that can be implemented at home, and to receive recommendations to plan for next steps.

This introductory workshop aims to support parents/caregivers on how to use the Proloquo2go programs to enhance their ability to navigate their child’s communicative device Proloquo2go.

This workshop will provide an overview of the following teaching objectives:

• Adding and removing tiles
• Finding pictures or symbols to use
• Using tablets guided access
• How to block and unblock features such as keyboard and editing options
• How to set up grid plain view
• Changing the voice the program uses
• Troubleshoot concerns in using program or tablet

Following the participating in this introductory training, parents/caregivers will be eligible for a one to one consultation with an ABA Therapist (via virtual and/or in person) to support with individual training goals that may include:

Adding pictures or symbols to child’s device.
Troubleshooting individual questions about navigating the program

Discuss concerns, establish goals and be coached by a BCBA to help implement strategies that are individual to you, your child and your family. Areas that can be addressed but are not limited to include: daily living skills, communication, play, sleep, toileting, behavior, and regulation.

Using the interviewed informed synthesized contingency analysis model, children will learn alternatives to problem behaviour and increase appropriate behaviour in various contexts. 2 analysts are present at all times to ensure the safety and welfare of all participating in the assessment and treatment. Concurrent psychotherapy for each family to reduce stress and improve overall family functioning.

Session Description
Using individual preferences and challenges, children will learn to communicate to get their needs met and learn to tolerate delays and denials of preferred items and activities. Concurrent psychotherapy helps reduce family stress and improve overall family functioning.

Benefits
Learning alternatives to problem behaviour often provides increased opportunities for socialization, learning and can improve general wellbeing. Improvements in overall family functioning.

Using the interviewed informed synthesized contingency analysis model, children will learn alternatives to problem behaviour and increase appropriate behaviour in various contexts. 2 analysts are present at all times to ensure the safety and welfare of all participants.

Benefits
Learning alternatives to problem behaviour often provides increased opportunities for socialization, learning and can improve general well-being.

Opportunity to explore what is “picky eating” as well as some common causes and strategies you can use at home to help introduce new foods, encourage food exploration and help mealtimes become more enjoyable.

A webinar link will be sent out after each registration

Functional Communication Learning (FCT) is a differential reinforcement procedure in which an individual learns an alternative response that results in the same function of the identified problematic behavior. When children can communicate functionally, they are also ready to learn to make choices and increase their independence. The function of the behaviour is the same: they try to meet their needs, while avoiding meltdowns and frustrations. For learners who do not develop this naturally, they may need intervention to help teach these skills. Each participant will access 2 individual consultations to support the development of functional communication and one follow up session to further support the ongoing need.

Consult and collaboratively work with an OT to identify concerns related to fine motor skills, visual motor skills (paper and pencil; cutting), self-regulation, self-care skills as well as areas of sensory processing affecting the child’s functional skills in their everyday life.

A workshop focusing on teaching skills to toilet train your child. Learn about readiness skills, routine building and how to contrive motivation to successfully transition out of diapers. Parents can ask questions specific to their child and have 2 follow up zoom calls with our BCBA afterwards.

This workshop series will provide caregivers with introductory and foundational information about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) in addition to an understanding of strategies and behaviour. There are 5 sessions in total.