January 2024 Newsletter

written by FCPG on January 23, 2024 in with no comments

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A Note from our Leadership Team

As we embark on a new year and a fresh start, we want to extend our sincerest thanks for choosing FCPG. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we are committed to continue to deliver the highest quality service. 

As we head in to 2024, we are excited about what the New Year holds. We remain committed to high standards and striving to exceed your expectations and enhance the value we provide. Our Behaviour Consultants and Clinical Leadership team are eager to introduce new training and support opportunities and enhancements aimed at making your experience with FCPG even more rewarding.

Over the next year, our resolution is to uphold the high standards that you have come to expect from FCPG, ensuring that we continue to contribute positively to your own success. We are optimistic about the opportunities that lay ahead and are dedicated to fostering a strong partnership with you this year and in the years to come.

May 2024 be a year of new adventures, opportunities, and achievements for you. We look forward to being a part of your journey.

Important Dates

Community Events to Explore with the Family

• Catch a movie at Landmark Cinemas on their sensory friendly mornings! You can bring your own snacks and watch the movie at a quieter volume. You can find more information here.
• Place Des Arts in Coquitlam is hosting a family event on February 4th. Take the family to explore performing arts and arts materials. You can find more information for this free event here.
• The City of Surrey is hosting a number of fun Family Day events this year! You can find the full list with more details for all activities here.
• The Thunderbird Community Centre in Vancouver is hosting an “under the sea” theme event. Head over at 9:30am to participate in the activities and catch a screening of the Little Mermaid. You can find more information about this free event here.
• The City of Langley is also hosting a variety of events at the Timms recreation centre on family day weekend. You can visit this site to find more information.
• Check out the Family Day Carnival in Pitt Meadows for some free fun and games for the family. The event runs from 9-11:30am at the Pitt Meadows recreation centre.

Caregivers Corner

At FCPG, we are passionate and committed to providing ongoing training opportunities for caregivers of our clients. This month, we are sharing an upcoming workshop presented by POPARD on the topic of increasing functional skills at home with your child.

It is never too early to be thinking about functional skills that you can work on with your child at home but it can be overwhelming thinking about where to start or how to make time in your busy schedule to work on these skills. POPARD is hosting a free one hour workshop to discuss functional skills in more detail and provide caregivers with strategies to begin working on them right away at home. You can find more information about the event, which is scheduled for February 20th at 12pm, and register here.

Staff Training & Professional Development Opportunities

At FCPG, we are dedicated and committed to providing ongoing training opportunities for our staff so they can best serve our clients. Ongoing training and support is a crucial part of our practice as professional Behaviour Analysts. The consultants you are working with provide caregivers and BIs with direct individualized behavioural skills training (BST) and as an organization we strive to provide our BIs with complimentary additional training related to their professional development in the field. We are hopeful BIs will want to continue down this professional career path and work in the field of ABA in support of individuals with autism and related disabilities. It is a path of continual learning and growth and we are so pleased to have team members committed to this work. There are plenty of advancement opportunities at FCPG and we we are always looking to help build knowledge and capacity. 

Some of the training opportunities we are focused on across December, January and February include:

• Managing Stress and Preventing Burnout as Behaviour Analysts: At Family Centred Practices Group, we value our staff and are actively creating opportunities to discuss mental health care and practices. At our monthly Clinical Team Meeting in December, we had a presentation from one of our Senior Behavioural Consultants, Vickie Mills, M.A, BCBA who discussed how behaviour analysts may be at risk for high stress levels and burnout and discussed meaningful strategies to manage workplace tasks and reduce job related stress. We also reviewed helpful self care activities and consultants shared activities or tools they use to ensure they are making time for meaningful self care.
• Skill Acquisition and Behaviour Reduction Program Planning in ABA: Training, Standards and Resources: We kicked off the new year with a training to strengthen our behaviour analytic skills in the area of program planning. Vickie Mills, M.A., BCBA facilitated the training where we reviewed the standards and process for planning for new skill acquisition and behaviour reduction program goals. There are a variety of components to consider when planning for individualized program goals for each child we are supporting and it is important that we are taking all of this into consideration to plan for meaningful and effective program goals.
• Upcoming BI Workshop: We provide ongoing workshops for our BIs to learn more about topics relevant to the BI role and the field of ABA.

Consultant Spotlight

How long have you been with FCPG? 

• I started working as a Behavioural Interventionist with clients who hired FCPG’s Behaviour Consultation services way back in 2006. With an undergrad major in Psychology and wanting to become an elementary school teacher, I wanted to gain some work experiences working with young children! I fell in love with this field shortly after I started with my first client and chose to become a Behaviour Analyst instead!

What’s your favourite part about being being a Behaviour Consultant with FCPG?

• There are many things I love about being a consultant with FCPG! I enjoy working and interacting with my clients (being silly with them!), working collaboratively with parents and other professionals to design an individualized behavioural intervention program for the clients, and celebrating the client’s success! I also enjoy providing training to the Behavioural Interventionists and to the Senior Behavioural Interventionists! At FCPG, I am part of a team working alongside with colleagues who are committed and passionate about this field, and can reach out to my colleagues if I need additional support!

Who inspires you?

• I’d have to say the Senior Behavioural Consultants I worked/working with inspired me to become who I am today!

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?

• I am OBSESSED with true crime documentaries (e.g., Dateline, 48 hours)

What’s the next place on your travel bucket list?

• Maldives is on top of my travel bucket list (a dream vacation!)

If you were stuck on an island what three things would you want to have with you?

• If I can bring ANYTHING, I would like to have an airport, a plane, and a pilot! In reality, I think I want to bring my husband (because he can cook!), a pot, and a box of matches (for cooking and to keep warm)!

BI Spotlight

What’s your favourite part about being being a Behaviour Interventionist with FCPG?

• One of my favourite parts of being a Behavioural Interventionist with FCPG is having the opportunity to make a positive impact on someone’s life, specifically the kids I work with.

Who inspires you?

• The children I work with and the relationship I have with them are truly my source of inspiration.

What’s something that about you that people may not know?

• A fun fact about me is that I have broken my arm three times.

What’s the last book you read?

• The last book I read was called Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys mystery and thrillers.

What are three words that best describe you?

• Picking just three words is quite impossible, but the three words that somewhat describe me are humorous, caring, and innovative.

Consultant Resource

Along with the numerous events and resources provided directly from FCPG, we also want to share with our team about opportunities in the community for professional development. This month, we would like to share about a training opportunity that is being provided by Beyond The Task List.

BI Resource

To ensure high quality early intervention programs for all our clients we continue to provide ongoing training opportunities and resources to our Behaviour Interventionists.

Discrete trial teaching, or DTT for short, is an important teaching tool in Applied Behaviour Analysis. DTT is a highly structured method of teaching skills by breaking them down into smaller, teachable components. DTT is a useful tool for teaching new skills and for breaking down complex skills into easier tasks. Discrete trial teaching has five components  

1.     The discriminative stimulus, which is an instruction or stimuli that cues a response

2.     The prompt

3.      The response 

4.     The consequence

5.     The intertrial interval 

To learn more about DTT and the steps involved in successful implementation, you can visit this blog post https://www.appliedbehavioranalysisprograms.com/faq/what-is-discrete-trial-teaching/

Important Reminders

During this ongoing cold and flu season, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying as healthy and safe as possible. We want to reduce the spread of germs and recognize this is a challenging time of the year with many different illnesses going around. FCPG has outlined a comprehensive Communicable Disease Prevention Plan to help reduce the risk of coming into contact with communicable diseases. Our top priority is to ensure everyone’s health and safety.

In addition to ongoing health screening check ins prior to sessions, which should be completed by phone, text, or emailI at least one hour prior to the start of the session, we have a detailed cancellation policy. If the child or BI are sick and/or will be missing a scheduled session for any reason, the protocol is as follows:

• If are a BI and you are sick, contact the family by 8am the day of your session (or earlier if you are able to) to inform them you won’t be able to make it to your session. Let the family know you when you are able to schedule a make-up session (so the child does not lose out on intervention hours) and confirm the rescheduled session time. Fill out the “Session Cancellation Form” and send it to the consultant within 24hrs.

• If you are a caregiver and your child is sick (e.g., vomiting, diarrhea, fever, cold and flu symptoms, etc.) and you need to cancel their scheduled session, contact the intervention team members involved by 8am (or earlier, if possible) by phone or e-mail. If there is adequate notice (provided before 8am on the same day as the appointment), the BI will plan to reschedule the appointment as soon as possible. The BI will fill out the “Session Cancellation Form” and email the session cancellation form to the Behavioural Consultant within 24hrs.

• You can view our full communicable disease prevention plan here