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PROGRAM
PHILOSOPHY & DESCRIPTION
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A Circle of Support is based on the philosophy that the
children being served have a right to live, learn and leisure
in a community setting and that the skills being taught
and exercised should be age appropriate and functional to
their environment. |
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Based on a knowledge of the experiences that describe
each living environment (ie, domestic, academic, leisure,
vocational, community, etc.), the plan of care is designed
to meet the individual needs of the child. The content of
the plan of care would vary according to the specific needs
of the child but would reflect:
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the child's strengths and weaknesses,
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the expectations from home, school and the community,
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what skills are required to teach for a specific environment,
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the special abilities or physical limitations of the
child,
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the function and age appropriateness of skills to be
taught.
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For example, inside the home, the domestic environment,
it might be appropriate to plan an activity of lunch making.
The tasks involved in lunch making vary from locating materials,
to opening containers, to spreading, to assembly and packaging.
The level of skill varies for each child. Similarly, group
outings will have a specific purpose for each child. On
a trip to the grocery store, learning to obtain a cart as
soon as you enter the store might reflect the goal for one
child, while another might be matching the grocery item
to a word or picture that cues the identity for selection.
Frequent revision of goals and related tasks is necessary
to reflect abilities and progress. |
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The inability to effectively use expressive language
is a challenge for individuals who have autism or related
disorders. Even for a child who may already have seemingly
well developed verbal language, our goal would be to enhance
the articulation and functional use of the verbal communication
as much as possible. The inability to communicate creates
such anxiety and frustration for so many of the children
who are in our care and often these children may succumb
to physical reactions that are commonly described as behaviour
problems. A Circle of Support looks upon total communication
as being a vital approach to teaching language skills either
through sign language, manual gestures, picture boards,
word cards, facilitated communication, and/or any other
alternative language system. While we do manage behaviour
with specific programs to address the undesirable activity,
we also maintain that behaviour is a form of communication
and we will work towards a goal of reducing the underlying
frustration and anxiety for that child concurrent to the
behaviour management program. |
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Regarding behaviour management, it is our philosophy
that in order to enhance and further the child's development
and to progress in attaining set goals and skills, the child's
behaviour difficulties need to be managed through careful
programs designed to decrease and eliminate the undesirable
behaviours through positive reinforcement of desirable behaviours.
As a program bias, A Circle of Support does not believe
in the use of psychotropic drugs or other pharmaceutical
interventions for the purpose of changing behaviour. However,
where it is the opinion of a qualified psychiatrist that
medication may be necessary for the child's protection or
would enhance the development potential, such medication
would be considered for use in consultation with all involved
in the child's care. |
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Recreational activities such as hiking, skating, bowling,
swimming and cycling, help the child gain a better awareness
of their surroundings while the community gains a better
understanding of the children. |
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For some children, A Circle of Support sees the need
to introduce vocational tasks to eventually equip the child
with skills that might lead them into productive work experiences
later in their life. Hence, activities such as sorting,
collating and packaging would be incorporated into their
individualized program plans. |
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