Sharing best practices and promoting inclusive opportunities for students with special needs
|
|
Executive Director's
Message
To the LABBB Community:
October can be such a beautiful month. I am loving the gorgeous fall weather and as I love Halloween (I actually just love holidays in general) I am happy to share that the Halloween Dance was a huge success! I had the opportunity to meet a referee, a cowgirl, a doctor, a Bruins player and even Snow White. It made me wonder what else is celebrated in October? Here are some of the other ‘events’ in October; “Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, Bat Appreciation Month, Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Dyslexia Awareness Month, Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month and Emotional Wellness Month, Halloween Safety Month, National Apple Month and Chili month, Rett Syndrome Awareness month, Spinach lovers month and National Physical Therapy Month.” Clearly, October has much to offer and celebrate! And of course a heartfelt shout out to our physical therapists as they celebrate National Physical Therapy Month!
Emotional Wellness Month, as noted by the Celebrate Every Day National Day Calendar, shares that “October focuses on Emotional Wellness and is a time to take stock of our stress levels.” They suggest taking time to identify stressors and set goals that could reduce stress in your life. While I had no idea that October was recognized as Emotional Wellness Month (this has been observed since 2004), it made sense to me - many of us, all of us at LABBB, are back into our routines. Routines can be both stressful and yet can be calming. In the spirit of the month, please take a few moments to enjoy the colorful leaves and beautiful sunshine; take a few moments to focus on your own emotional wellness.
I was visiting John Glenn Middle School the other day and learned that a student had received the HEART award. Heart stands for H- Honor, E- Empathy, A- Acceptance, R- Responsibility and T - Tenacity. Kudos to our student for this achievement! I ask, in the spirit of the month of October's emotional wellness, we think about what HEART stands for, the message reflected. To have HEART means that you care for others and often this caring helps us to take care of ourselves.
A reminder that our Parent Meetings are held on the same evenings as the monthly dances. They are held at the Lexington Community Center (39 Marrett Rd, Lexington, MA) from 7:00- 8:15 pm .
Dates are as follows:
November 17, 2022
December 15, 2022
January 19, 2023
February 9, 2023
March 9, 2023
April 27, 2023 (Transition Fair)
May 18, 2023
We look forward to seeing you!
Please remember that recreation opportunities continue for our middle and high school aged LABBB students. If you are interested in exploring any of these opportunities please contact your childs’ teacher or program coordinator.
With appreciation,
Pam
|
|
Giving Back to Others
By: Amanda O’Leary, Transition Dept.
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” - Oscar Wilde
Since March of 2020, life has been a rollercoaster ride. While the ride has slowed down a bit, it is still a challenging one to be on. The Transition Department is charged with facilitating work, internship, volunteer, and pre-vocational experiences for our high school aged students. Some of our partnerships in the community have been severed - not by choice, but due to the fallout from the pandemic. At the same time, we have been able to form other new and meaningful partnerships that are allowing our students to have meaningful experiences.
LABBB is continuing to grow their volunteer partnerships. With LABBB support, students have been volunteering with a number of therapeutic farms for quite some time. Pre-pandemic, we were volunteering at Community Servings in Jamaica Plain and FoodLink, located in Arlington. Once some of the restrictions from the pandemic were loosened, those organizations welcomed us back with open arms. Many other not-for-profit organizations were also in dire need of volunteers. Last year, LABBB was able to secure consistent shifts at Cradles to Crayons in Newtonville, Food for Free in Somerville, and the Salvation Army in Waltham.
This past summer, LABBB also began partnering with Mystic Community Market, located in Medford. Mystic Community Market is a food pantry that is managed by the Mystic Valley YMCA. Once a week, LABBB students are given a written list of items that need to be packed in boxes. Typically, the items are a variety of non-perishables, as well as fruits and vegetables. Our students work with other volunteers or employees of the market. The boxes are then picked up by those in the community who need them later in the day. After their lunch break, the students take some of those boxes and fill the community fridge, as well as a number of “micropantries” that are located in Medford. Often, when filling the fridge or those pantries, students run into community members who are in need of those items. The thank you's that those community members have shared with our LABBB students are priceless, allowing for an amazing real life teaching moment that cannot be replicated.
Participation in these volunteer experiences give our students such an amazing opportunity to focus on the life skills that they need to be as independent as they possibly can be, all while giving back to others - the definition of a true partnership.
|
|
Project Based Learning
By: Jessica Sherwood
The SPOT (Speech/Language and Occupational Therapy) students of room 822 are off to a busy start this year! We are doing project-based learning in which the students have identified 4 various charities they want to collect money for. The students created a long list of various charities, then voted on the top 4. They brainstormed ways to raise funds for these charities, which include having a table at the LABBB Best Buddies Craft Fair on October 15, baking goods for sale, cooking a lunch for the LABBB Staff to sign up for and buy, and creating a gofundme site. The students have been busy creating crafts to sell at the Craft Fair! If you are contemplating going to the Craft Fair, please be sure to stop by our table and support all the hard work these students have done. The students have been working on their executive functioning skills by organizing, planning, brainstorming, goal setting, time management, and sequencing the steps of their projects. The first charity the students are raising money for is the Jyllian Shoor Scholarship Fund, which will go to one LABBB graduate!
|
|
Grassfields Outdoor Fitness Center at the Lexington Community Center
By: Tom Brincklow
Students from Mrs. Langone‘s room have been participating in an outdoor fitness center at the Lexington Community Center this fall. The Lexington Community Center with the help from a state grant put in a state of the art fitness center outdoors. The equipment encompasses all areas of the body. Each piece of equipment has a QR code that the teachers can scan with their phones so the students can watch the exercises before they do it. Seeing the exercise before the student participates in it is very beneficial to the students. We will continue using the outdoor fitness center as long as the weather stays nice. LABBB A.P.E. Staff appreciates the staff at the Lexington Community Center for welcoming our students each week.
|
|
Clinical Corner: Examining Validation
By: Nolan Duchi
Like many other species on our planet, humans are social beings. We build organizations; we play sports with one another or perform on stage to entertain others; we construct buildings together that allow us to work, eat, and play with one another; the list can go on and on. Of course, disagreements arise amongst people, and we may end up joining in groups that are opposite, but within these separate groups, there is still a sense of connection and understanding.
Validation can be looked at as a reason for why people become close and form relationships. From a psychological standpoint, validation can be defined as “the recognition and acceptance of another person’s thoughts, feelings, sensations, and behaviors as understandable” (Hall, 2012). Through validation, an individual is able to communicate that they understand the experience of someone else. In essence, they are communicating “I get you”, and that can be very helpful for those who may be experiencing strong and uncomfortable emotions. This also helps to communicate that the relationship is important, as it allows us to accept ourselves and others (Hall, 2012).
Marsha Linehan, American Psychologist and founder of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), identified six levels of validation. Some of the levels include being present, accurate reflection, and mindreading. Being present is what it sounds like: providing your undivided attention to the person in need. It is also important to refrain from being judgmental or expressing an opinion of what you think about the situation. Accurate reflection means you summarize what another person has said to you. It can start with “It sounds like you are feeling…” or “I can understand how that made you feel…”. The last level described here, mind reading, is similar to accurate reflection. A difference is that the person may not express how they are feeling, so the listener guesses about their emotional state in the situation. Paying attention to their body language and words describing the situation will help make the guess more accurate. It is also ok if the listener guesses incorrectly; the speaker will most likely correct them about how they were feeling. The other levels are in the article link included below.
It is important to understand that validation is not agreement nor approval of one’s choices. It is simply a means of communicating that you hear the other person. Validation can help the other person to understand your different opinion since you are showing them that you will listen to them. It can be difficult to validate others’ experiences as emotions can be challenging to navigate, and the reward for doing so can be powerful for both sides involved.
Citation:
|
|
LABBB Adapted Physical Education, Recreation and Social Opportunities
The after school activities have started and are going well.
We had to move bowling to King’s in Burlington due to staffing at Woburn Bowladrome. It has been a change but we are getting used to this new routine.
Wednesday Walking and Dance/Arts and Crafts have started and the students are enjoying these activities. Both have all their available spaces filled.
We have had our first Around Town Dining (still have space available in this activity) at Great Wall in Bedford. We have had our first Thursday Movie Night at Burlington AMC Cinema. The students had a choice of Top Gun or Lifemark. The group was split equally for each movie. Students all seemed to have a good time seeing the movie and enjoying it with friends (still have space available for this activity).
The mini golf trip started at Richardson’s and then dinner at The Lot, food trucks. We had 4 hole in ones, a great start to this activity.
LABBB’s the yearly Halloween Dance, was held October 6th This is a costume dance and was held outdoors, under a very large tent, at the Lexington Community Center. This dance is for LABBB students and Best Buddies. We had 50 LABBB students and 55 Best Buddies from our Lexington and Bedford Chapters attend the LABBB Halloween Dance. Aside from the LABBB Reunion Dance, the Halloween Dance is the most well attended dance of the school year.
We also have a fundraiser coming up on October 15, 2022. We will be having the LABBB Best Buddies Craft Fair. Please see the flyer above. Remember to bring a gently used coat with you. The Lexington Lions Club will be collecting coats for their yearly coat drive at the fair. Last year, we collected about 200 coats at the Craft Fair. Please help the Lexington Lions Club beat that total this year.
LABBB Best Buddies Craft Fair October 15th, 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Location - Lexington High Field House
Remember to follow @LABBBREC on Twitter
|
|
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.
.
|
|
LABBB Collaborative
123 Cambridge Street, Burlington MA. 01803| LABBB.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
