Pre-STEPS Visit to Summit Centre

This morning I took Ryan into the Summit Centre to drop off some paperwork, give him a chance to become reacquainted with the Summit Centre, and let him experience some of the STEPS program with me by his side.

Remember, STEPS stands for "Specialized Teaching, Education, Partnership & Support." According to Summit Centre's website: "STEPS is our early intensive behavioural intervention program. Children initially receive five full days of one-on-one Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) treatment each week, year round. Individualized written programs are developed and carried out for each child at both the child’s home and The Summit Centre. In-home treatment promotes generalization of new skills to the home, and facilitates family involvement.  Programming is aimed at improving language and communication, social skills and play, cooperative behaviour, and independent living skills. The Summit Centre works with preschools, schools and other agencies to promote smooth transitions."

When we first showed up, Ryan was smiling and giggling on the walk up the driveway.  And when we entered the building, he was greeting everyone with a smile.  It was a positive start to the visit.  When we got into the front office, he wanted to wander around and go exploring. But I headed him down to the Blue Room where we would meet with Tara, who will be Ryan's senior therapist this year.

In the Blue Room, Ryan got into his usual antics, like trying to take things off people's work tables, and running out the adjoining door into the kitchen (he always used to do that!).  I directed him to the reinforcement cupboard, but he was more interested in running around the room and getting into other people's stuff!

When Tara joined us, we sat at the snack table and Ryan played with the old bobble-headed pop-up toy he used to like there.  He became quite excited by the bobble-heads and kept flinging their heads the whole time Tara and I chatted. 

Tara pointed out some of the people who will comprise Ryan's therapy "team."  I am so bad with names, but I recognized most of them from when we were there for Unity. I believe each child has a team of 6 therapists who take turns working with them on different days.  There is also one "lead" therapist among this group. 

Tara had a few more questions about Ryan's daily routine (like lunch and naps) which we hadn't experienced at Unity. It was nice that she still remembered a lot about him, though.  She also gave me a list of items that Ryan will need to bring with him for STEPS.

Then Ryan and I went to visit Helena, the executive director.  I had some paperwork to drop off and a few questions for her.  Ryan liked the chairs in Helena's office.  He kept climbing up on them and petting the upholstery!  Helena assured me that many of their kids like the chairs in her office.

We then headed back down the hallway to join the STEPS kids for snack time.  On the way, we paused to find Tara in the senior therapists' office, and had a little reunion visit with the other senior therapist, Laurie. When Laurie welcomed him, he immediately left my side and ran over to her, and put his arms up to be picked up!  She of course couldn't resist, and picked him right up, giving him lots of cuddles and tickles.  Ryan was all giggles and snuggles.  He must have remembered that Laurie always had great cuddles and tickles for him.  Laurie was pleased. She said that the only reason she's glad that she's NOT his senior therapist this time is because she can spoil him now, and it won't interfere with teaching! LOL

As we left the room, Jackie, the secretary, came down the hallway and Ryan went right over to her, grabbing at her legs and pulling in for a hug.  Jackie crouched down to get on his level, and he snuggled right in and kept putting his head on her shoulder.  I was laughing and saying, "He's trying to be cute and win everyone over!" and Jackie said, "Oh, he did that a long time ago!" :)

Then we went into the Blue Room to join the others for snack. However, I forgot to pack Ryan's food! D'oh! At least I brought a bottle.  So, they made a spot for us to join the other kids and their therapists.  Ryan was still giddy from all the attention he'd gotten from Laurie and Jackie, so he was silly and wiggly and giggly. He even had the hiccups!  Still, it was a good chance for many of the therapists who will be on his team to see him at snack time and learn a bit about him in person. He got several compliments on how cute he is and his gorgeous blue eyes, and my little flirt reveled in the attention.  However, he did need frequent reminders to stay in his chair and keep his hands off the other kids' snack items.

After snack, we joined the big group of STEPS kids for circle time.  Ryan was a little mad because I took his bottle away, and he wasn't done yet, but I wanted him to know when the therapists give the 2-minute warning and say, "Clean up," that snack time is over.  He settled a bit when Tara and I brought him over to the reinforcement cupboard to pick out a few items to keep him happy during circle time.  Ryan chose two old favourites:  a string of shiny beads and a spinning, light-up wand.

Circle time was a bit more challenging. It started out okay.  Ryan wanted the beads and the wand, but I wanted to use them as reinforcement, so I kind of had to put them aside until he needed them.  He was interested for the first few songs and activities.  I liked that the person leading circle (who, coincidentally, will be Ryan's team leader) included Ryan in some of the activities.  He got to "say" his name, pull a frog off a log, and move one of the activities on the task board to the "done" side.  However, Ryan was restless less than 10 minutes into circle. He started to fuss and try to squirm away.  He wasn't paying attention to the activities or songs unless I redirected him.  I tried to give him the beads and the wand to encourage "sitting nicely," but he pushed the wand away after awhile and started whipping the beads around so hard that I had to hold them down.  Then he got mad, of course.  But Tara said it was good to see what he can tolerate for now, so we can plan accordingly next week. 

So, on Tuesday, things will start slowly, but we have decided it would be best to put him in for a full day.  They are going to start him right in the Red Room with the others for his ABA work, but if it gets too overwhelming for him, they do have a single treatment room across the hall they can go to for awhile.  For circle time, he will probably only come in for the last 5 minutes or so, at first.  We've also decided to work in a nap time in the afternoon, around 1 PM, just see if/how long he'll sleep there.  And the senior therapists remember what kinds of things used to settle Ryan when he got upset. I also had to create an updated list of possible "reinforcements" for Ryan and the best ways to soothe him.

I look at the other children in the STEPS program and think, "Wow, Ryan has so far to go . . ." But then I keep in mind that some of these children have probably been here for almost a year or more (I remember seeing most of them when Ryan was in Unity), and we are just beginning.  Everyone seems very excited to work with Ryan.  I think they see, like I do, that he has so much potential! We just have to figure out the best way Ryan learns, the best way to teach him.

Overall, the visit was very positive.  Everyone was so welcoming of us, and seemed genuinely happy to have us back.  It was fun to see the reactions of people to how much Ryan has grown over the past 4 months (inches!), and to see Ryan reacting positively to them.  In fact, even though he flared up a bit during circle, Ryan went right to Tara and gave her hugs, too, when she bent down to wave bye-bye to him.  No, he's not a fan of the structured activities and the ABA, but I think he understands these people are here to help him.

Another positive was that Summit Centre executive staff had asked for a copy of Ryan's eligibility assessment--and consequent denial--report for Thames Valley Children's Centre's IBI program because they wanted to see for themselves the justification for his denial.  They have suggested that although it might not be possible for ME to request a review of the decision and another assessment, THEY may have the clout and connections to do so.  This is very interesting.  One of my goals for Ryan this year is to prove to Thames Valley that Ryan CAN benefit from intensive ABA treatment and make great progress in his skills.

Somewhat on a tangent here, but one more thing was interesting to me about our visit:  I was reunited with one of my former students there! She is a middle-aged lady from India who was in my English classes at St. Michael's. I didn't get a chance to ask her specifically, but I believe she was there either as a volunteer or on a student placement because she was helping with one of the boys at snack, and observed circle time, taking notes.  I remember her as a very kind-hearted lady and hard-working student.  Wouldn't that be neat if she is looking to work with children with special needs? I'd call that a St. Michael's success story. :)