Sharing best practices and promoting inclusive opportunities for students with special needs
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Executive Director's
Message
To the LABBB Community:
I think LABBB may be like Santa’s workshop! Everyday, we see students developing their skills and working towards greater independence. Everyday, staff create and support amazing experiences for our students, and everyday there are shared moments of compassion, belief in each other, and engagement. LABBB is magical!
As 2022 draws to a close, I want to thank all of our teachers, specialists, teaching assistants, administrators, and support staff for their truly outstanding work during this past year. There have been a lot of changes! I am appreciative of the level of support that these professionals receive every day from families as they strive to meet the needs of all of our students. When we reflect on the end of one year and the start of the next, I ask you to take a moment and reflect upon an event or change that had such a positive impact, you wish to bring it with you to the New Year! I know that I continue to be grateful to be sharing this experience with you all and look forward to what will be! I am hopeful that 2023 will be a year of continued growth and progress.
Please remember, as life “returns” to pre pandemic ‘normal’ that sicknesses (colds, Covid, RSV, flu etc.) continue to infect! At home tests kits were sent home prior to Thanksgiving and will be shared again before the holiday break. Please take advantage of these test kits to continue to keep everyone safe. I continue to be grateful to this community for putting the best interest of our students first. Thank you for your continued support.
Happy Holidays!
Pam
A reminder that the December dance will take place on December 15th. While there will not be a parent meeting this night, we look forward to resuming them in January.
Parent meetings for the 2022-2023 school year will take place from 7:00 to 8:15 pm on the following dates:
January 19, 2023
February 9, 2023
March 9, 2023
April 27, 2023
May 18, 2023
We hope that our parents will be able to attend; all are welcome. These meetings are held at the Lexington Community Center (39 Marrett Rd, Lexington, MA).
On related note, we recently sent an email with a letter letting you know that we will be participating in a mid-cycle review by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education the week of January 9th. You can access the full letter to parents here as well.
With gratitude,
Pam
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Transition Dept. - Skill Building Opportunities During the Holidays
By: Alicia Dessanti
The holiday season is officially upon us! Hidden beneath the chaos are many opportunities for students to build their vocational and transition readiness skills.
Based on your student’s skills, they can help with: making grocery lists, grocery shopping, preparing meals and treats with supervision, chores (e.g., making or stripping beds, laundry, cleaning, setting table), labeling, mailing, and/or stuffing holiday cards and/or thank you notes, wrapping presents, shopping for presents according to a budget, assembling new items/gifts (e.g., adding batteries, using instructions to put new items together), and making lists and packing bags for travel.
Adding in one job at a time is often best. Giving your student a choice with respect to their job and when it is completed can be helpful.
While your student assists with the “to do list”, try to focus on one of these vocational/transition readiness areas depending on your student’s skills and needs:
● Initiation- wait a moment and see if your student starts the next step or asks about the next step of a task. If they do, praise them, if they do not, encourage them to do so.
● Self advocacy- wait for your student to ask for help rather than immediately stepping in to help them.
● Focus/attention- encourage your student to maintain attention to their job until it is complete. Provide an environment that is as distraction-free as possible,
● Time management- work with your student to set a start and end time for their task. Encourage them to check the clock to start and end the task at the agreed upon times.
● Hygiene- Require your student to be groomed and clean before they complete assigned tasks.
Offer ample praise throughout your student’s work. Consider allowing your student a reward at the end of the completed task (e.g., holiday movie, time for preferred activity, etc.). Don’t expect perfection at first, they will get closer to that with repetition and practice!
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SHOWING H.E.A.R.T at LABBB@JGMS
This year, Mr. Hartunian, Principal of JGMS, started a new initiative. Each month, the teachers nominate a student who shows H.E.A.R.T.
H.E.A.R.T is JGMS’s student motto. Students are expected to exhibit HONOR, EMPATHY, ACCEPTANCE, RESPONSIBILITY, and TENACITY. For the month of October, Claire Han was selected from Mrs. Eleftheriou’s class at JGMS. CONGRATULATIONS, Claire! We’re very proud of you!
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Fun-Full-Fantastic
By: Janet Paz
As 2022 comes to a close, we reflect and rejuvenate to greet 2023 with hope.
The passionate Chelsea Bednarski, with her dream team; Mr. Terek, Ms. Annie, Mrs. Paz, Nurse Amanda and our newest staff, Mrs. Margaret, continue to give the students of room 715 a fantastic, full, and most importantly, fun learning experience!
The students have a well rounded schedule that provides them with everything they need to succeed in the classroom and in the community. For class, students have read the books “School is More than a Building” and “If You Bring a Mouse to the Movies” and learned the importance of practicing their ADLS (washing hands and brushing teeth).
Learning to cook was a big hit; it featured jello, ramen soup, loaded tater tots, and pasta “your way”. Then we finished up with pizza and fried dough! We used the “Tell Me program” to pick out words to write sentences and then students chose to clap, stomp, or tap out the number of words. It was always fun to see the different choices they made.
We cannot forget all the other departments that make our classroom so unique and fun. There is APE led by Mr. Dicenso, Mrs. McMahon, Mr. Brincklow, and Mr. McDonough. They plan an awesome experience on Thursday mornings going to the “Beede Center” to swim in their therapeutic pool. This gives our students the ability to stretch and loosen their muscles and this activity is loved by everyone!
We continue to also go to the Woburn Bowladrome on Wednesday mornings and Nivi continues to get our highest scores. “You go girl!”
Ms. Cheryl, Mrs. Stephanie, and Ms. Arielle in the PT department continuously help students with their functional mobility in our class. The OT and Speech department, including Mrs. Larisa, Mrs. Sherwood and Ms. Alaina, use their expertise to make sure we are having fun, communicating and participating in all our activities. We couldn't do it without them!
Then there is our Amplifi music class, led by the incredible Ben, and his occasional musical guests; Martha the cellist and Terry the piano man. They rock our world on Thursday afternoons! It never gets old with the different song choices. To wrap up the start of our year, we have been going out in the community on Fridays. We have fun learning how to act appropriately and purchase items of our choice. We have been to Stop and Shop, Wegmans, Honey Pot Orchards, Wilson Farms, and CVS too. We can’t wait for 2023. When asked about their classroom so far this year, Christopher responded, “I’m Happy” and D.J. said “Sweet!”
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Clinical Corner:
Shelly Albert, M.S. Ed, BCBA, LABA
December is a time of holidays, traditions, and many transitions. Many children benefit from the structure of school and can sometimes get confused with longer vacation periods. If your child doesn’t enjoy unstructured time and a change in routine, it can be helpful to prepare and let your child in on your plans. Here are some ideas:
Using visual support:
- Put up a calendar: mark the days that there is no school, put a countdown for how many days are left on the vacation, and mark the days that there are events (holiday party, going to places, etc). Preview the calendar ahead of time with your child and when they are on vacation, feel free to preview the day when they wake up to remind them of the schedule.
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Use a visual schedule: you can preview just 1-2 activities, the whole day, or the whole week on a visual schedule. A great app for using a visual schedule is Choiceworks.
- Using a first/then visual and/or verbal prompt: when a longer calendar is too overwhelming or during times of dysregulation, remember to go back to the basics and just focus on the current activity and the one immediately following (ex: “First eating dinner, then playing on the iPad”)
Previewing with your child and the other people you may see:
- It’s great to preview an event with your child ahead of time. For example, if you’re spending a holiday with your family and/or friends, you can show your child pictures of the family members ahead of time and remind them of their names, “This is Aunt Laura.” You can also tell them what they might eat and do. “We will eat mashed potatoes and apple pie!” or “We will open presents and sing.” and add these types of activities to a visual schedule.
- It can be helpful to preview and check in with family members ahead of time too. Feel free to tell them helpful tips and tricks on interacting with your child and letting them know how to bond with them on their preferred topics, “They love talking about Roblox right now!” It can also be helpful to ask about the space and designate a quiet area in the house to utilize if your child becomes dysregulated or overwhelmed. “Can we use the other bedroom if the event becomes too loud?”
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LABBB Adapted Physical Education, Recreation and Social Opportunities
We had a great fall.
Tuesday and Thursday bowling had some hurdles but we made it through. Kings was under refurbishment but we got it to work out.
Wednesday Recreation went very well. Our connection with Monroe Center for the Arts was a great bonding experience.
We were able to try out a different location and worked with some great people who did dance and arts and crafts with our LABBB students. We hope to have that collaboration happen again in the spring.
As we wind down with after school activities, it is time to think ahead about what monthly trips will come and when Bowling and Wednesday Recreation start up again in March.
Look for the sign up forms for the spring sessions to come to you in the postal mail in early February.
Remember to follow @LABBBREC on Twitter
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LABBB Parent Resources
Riverside Family Support
Join Autism Eats for Brunch With Santa!
All behaviors and ages are welcome.
Check out Autism Eats on 7 News Boston WHDH Special Report HERE
Extra Steps Launches Innovative Programs
Wilderness skill building can be a thrilling and empowering adventure for school age kids. A new program called Kids in the Wild is being offered through Extra Steps Pediatric Therapies. The first session will take place on December 10th in Sudbury for children ages 7-12.
Additionally, Extra Steps is offering Caregiver Workshops to help families build connections with one another and promote skill development in their loved one. An example is a workshop held on Nov. 2nd that focused on holiday stress.
For more information, contact Director Sherry Kenin.
Asperger/Autism Network (AANE) provides individuals, families and professionals with information, education. Community, support and advocacy is offering free community connection sessions .Our.Free Online Community Connection Sessions are single-session discussion groups and a great way to meet our staff and connect with the community for the first time. All times listed are in the Eastern Time Zone. Please click the date for more info and to register.
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A LABBB PODCAST
Patric Barbieri, Hosts a Podcast talking about special needs planning and resources related to our community
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In episode #22 we talk about our journey in building a mindful culture in LABBB. It is one of our core values that is posted throughout our collaborative. There is a significant difference between just talking about these practices and actually doing them. We made a commitment to offering mindful practices for all students in all our classrooms every single day. We also believe for us to be successful we need to offer and teach this to our staff as well. We are a community practicing together and this is the only way to get the true benefits. We have been fortunate to have many staff persons who have a myriad of unique mind-body skills to bring into our environments for both students and staff.
This initiative started organically back in the early '90s. We realized that these practices have a significant impact on managing the pervasive anxiety symptoms that people are feeling. Our mission was to bring these practices directly into our schools and for staff and students to know they have permission to practice at any time. When one individual is practicing it is benefiting their entire community!
Rayne Pratt and Lisa Poirier, LABBB Occupational therapists, join me in this podcast. They are members of our LABBB Mind/Body team and they are also the creators and facilitators of our all-day staff retreat that we offer.
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LABBB Collaborative
123 Cambridge Street, Burlington MA. 01803| LABBB.com
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