October 2023 Newsletter

written by FCPG on October 19, 2023 in with no comments

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A Note from our Leadership Team

The leaves are changing colour and falling to the ground, the days are shorter and rain is coming down, so it must be autumn! We hope you had a terrific summer and are looking forward to the refreshing change of the fall and winter months ahead. We know this is a busy time as children and families are adjusting to the new school year and we look forward to supporting you all with school transitions and collaborating with school-based teams to coordinate goals and strategies. In this month where we are reflecting on what we are thankful for, we want to say thank you to our BIs and consultants for your ongoing hard work and commitment to supporting our FCPG families. And, we are so thankful that we are able to support so many wonderful children and families!

Important Dates

Fall Fun For The Family

• Visit The Haunted Sea at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery between 10am and 5pm to learn about how scary plastics in the ocean are! Admission is free for children under the age of 17 and the event is running until November 5th.
• Head over to the Surrey Museum for the BOO-seum halloween party! This is a free event on October 28th from 1-4pm where children can participate in a costume party, plays some games, and watch a magic show.
• There are so many pumpkin patches to explore this year! You can find a list of all he best farms to visit and get your pumpkin to carve here.
• Visit Maplewood farms on October 28th for their Pumpkin event! Attendees are encouraged to explore the farm in their halloween costumes between 10am and 2pm.
• Take a trip to Taves Farms and pick some apples to make some yummy fall treats! The farm is open for apple picking on the weekends and they have so much more to explore.
• On October 28th, you can visit the Quay in New West to attend the Halloweekend on the River event. Take a picture in your costume and learn about the haunting species in the river.
• The City of Richmond is hosting a large number of autumn and halloween themed events! To find all the events and details, you can follow this link.
• The City of Surrey is also hosting some fun halloween events this year. Find the full list here.

Caregivers Corner

At FCPG, we are passionate and committed to providing ongoing training opportunities for caregivers of our clients. This month, we are sharing a video series from ACT on the essentials of advocacy for your school aged child.

As we settle into the routine of back to school for many children, parents may be thinking ahead to their child’s individualized education plan and meeting with their child’s school based support team to determine goals and priorities for their child. This video series presented by Deborah Pugh through Autism Community Training outlines the essential considerations for parents when advocating for their school aged child with diverse needs and reviews families rights, roles, and responsibilities in their collaborative relationship with school based teams. The presentation is separated into 13 shorter videos making it easy for parents to watch at their convenience.

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 October and November include:

• Confidentiality, Security & PIPA Compliance: As a team we do ongoing training on topics significant to the individuals we serve and we have continued to focus on training all staff to ensure we meet the high standards for confidentiality for our clients. The personal information protection act outlines procedures and requirements for when information is collected that is related to an individual and their personal information. Staff are required to maintain a very high level of confidentiality and receive ongoing training to ensure that our entire team is compliant with the PIPA.
• 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. In November, one of our Senior BIs, Nikki Lui, will be facilitating a BI workshop on Professionalism in the BI Role. BIs will receive an invitation and reminders about the upcoming event taking place on Nov. 10th 7-9pm. The BIs who attend these workshops continue to provide really positive feedback about these professional development opportunities, so please join if you are able!
• Cultural Competence in Applied Behaviour Analysis: At Family Centred Practices Group (FCPG), we have always worked hard to ensure there is an inclusive environment across all levels of the organization in an effort to promote a culture that is safe and supportive for everyone. At our monthly Clinical Team Meeting in November, we are looking forward to a presentation from one of our Behavioural Consultants, Kenny Ho, M.Ed, BCBA where he will discuss what culture is, define cultural awareness, discuss the importance of cultural sensitivity and teach us how to further develop cultural competence to work with our clients and team members most effectively. We do this training annually to continue to learn and grow in our roles and are looking forward to Kenny’s engaging presentation!

Consultant Spotlight

When did you start with FCPG?

• I started with FCPG in 2015. I had just moved out West (again) from Ontario, and was looking to get back into the field…and the rest is history!

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

• In a field where you’re often working by yourself, it’s really important to find and stay connected to those who understand the technical side and ins and outs of the job. FCPG provides that sense of community, connection, and support. Even though it can be rare for us all to be together in-person, virtual meetings and just knowing you’re not alone is a special thing about FCPG. We really are all in this together. 

Who inspires you?

• My Mom, always, and all the parents I have the privilege to work with, working tirelessly for their children. 

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

• I spent all my summers growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, working at Amethyst Mine Panorama – my family’s business. I try to get back there as much as possible, it’s one of my favourite places. 

What are three words that best describe you?

• Laughing, adventuring, caring.

BI Spotlight

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

• My favourite part of being a BI with FCPG is being able to work with many different clients and families. I enjoy working with a variety of clients because I get to practice numerous skills as each child presents different needs. My goal is to become a behaviour consultant!

Who inspires you?

• Christine Sinclair is the captain of Canada’s Women’s soccer team and she has been my inspiration since elementary school.  

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

• A fun fact about me: I have been to 14 countries and I liked Greece the most. 

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

• If I were stuck on an island I would want to have my dog, a hammock, and coffee. 

What are three words that best describe you?

• Adventurous, determined and authentic.

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 BC-ABA focused on Sensory Processing and Neurodiversity.

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.

This month, we want to share about functional assessments. A functional assessment is designed to obtain information about the functions that a behaviour serves for a person. These behaviours are usually complex and challenging, and may serve multiple functions. A functional assessment includes direct and indirect assessments. Direct assessments can include a time chart, ABC data, or functional assessment observation. Indirect assessments include questionnaires, rating scales or interviews. These assessments are gathered from people closest to the individual such as parents, relatives, aides, etc. During a functional assessment, the BCBA or other professional will also directly observe the challenging behaviour in the natural environment. After learning the possible function of the behaviour, strategies will be put in place that decrease the behaviour. Once the individual learns the expectations and is taught functional skills to replace the challenging behaviour, in addition to other preventative strategies, the decrease in behaviour will occur. Family members will continue to work with their consultant to implement strategies and monitor behaviour across time, until support can be faded out.

Reference list:

Cooper. J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education.