Teaching 6 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

I am writing to express my deepest thanks for your valuable donations to Pennsylvania Diversity Children’s Organization. Your support has played a key role in child’s success to reach the goals. Building interaction and language skills for children with autism spectrum disorder or social communication difficulties is our main step in our program.

Our children successfully finished 2015-2016 school year, and they started a new school year with their new goals to participate in our social skills program. We asked our children about their favorite games, toys, sensory activities, and books and about their preferences. We got the best answers and the best pointing to pictures, objects, and toys. Alexis answered: I like all books. Ari pointed to all letters and his favorite activity: Alphabooks. Ilya wanted to play with the trucks. Michael touched kinetic sand and used a sign “thank you”. Alina liked the feeling of pressure on her body and brush therapy. Justin enjoyed his sensory activity by playing with water beads. Alina gave her peer the best eye contact.

I am sure that you know the terms associated with “autism spectrum disorder”: pervasive developmental disorder, autism, Asperger syndrome, hyperlexia or semantic pragmatic disorder. No matter what label has been given to our child, we always remember that he or she is a unique individual with his or her own strengths, interests, preferences, and challenges.

We hope that all our donors will continue to support our program. We appreciate your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Tetyana Varenychenko, M.Ed.

Dear Donors,

Thank you very much for your generous gift! It is a very valuable support for families who have children with autism spectrum disorder and developmental delays.

Pennsylvania Diversity Children's Organization works with children who have difficulties in social interaction, play and communication. No matter what label has be given to a child, we know that HE or SHE is a unique little person with own strengths and challenges. Our therapists recognize the child's special needs, and it is the most important step towards helping child to be developed and advanced.  

 All our students are visual learners, and they learn best by looking. We use the Visual Helpers to help them understand and talk about feelings. Alexis likes to say "I am happy", and Joshua says "I am upset". Therapists use the visual cards to help child to solve a problem or express the idea. We use a Social Skills Library, and children listen the stories about feeling good, talking nicely, and behave appropriately. We create a Happy Book together, and children use this book to express their feelings during the classroom activities.

Our children like to use Picture Schedules and Self-Help Boards, and therapists assist them if they have difficulties with following directions or routines. Ari likes to make a choice to point to IPad, and he is always happy to use Picture Schedules to get a favorite activity.

Our little learners enjoy art activities, and they have fun by using the crayons, markers, and posters paint. Alexis likes to draw a picture, and she says "My Mom".  Ari likes to use an orange color, and he gives a comment "It's orange" or "Orange". They demonstrate their efforts to talk and to communicate with adults and their peers.   

With your kindness we would like to help our children and we would like to continue to provide therapy and a place where children are supported and where parents can get a professional help.

A great big thank you to all people who support us and understand how important to provide opportunities in child's early years.

Children on the autism spectrum have some very strong sensory preferences. We have worked with six children with ASD and every child has own unique sensory experience. Sounds, smells, touches, sights, tastes – that children like and don’t like.

In our classroom Matthew likes movements and squeezing himself into tight places. Ilya likes switching the lights on and off and closing doors. Alexis likes to look at books and printed words, and she enjoys her reading and spelling. Mark likes lining up his toys. Ari likes colors and numbers, and he likes fluctuating visual stimuli like lights on and off, moving wheels, and especially color plastic glass. Anna likes music, toys that make sounds, rhymes and songs.

Our children have a preference for one or more sensations: running, rocking, spinning, jumping, lining up, squeezing, wrapping, enjoying music or lights, switching the lights on and off, looking at things out of the corners of the eyes, watching repetitive movements such as book pages turning, moving fingers in front of the face, and preferring quiet games without noisy movement.

We know about all children’s preferences, and we would like to help every child develop new and expanded interaction skills during the valuable playtime in our small classroom. We offer opportunities for our children to develop and to increase their social skills by playing with adults and peers. Above all, we know how important to include sensations that our children enjoy by having fun and hugging.

Dear Donor,

We always appreciate your support and would like to share with you our story.

We have a small center, where preschool children come to receive speech, occupational, physical and social play therapy.

We work closely with the parents of these children and provide them strategies and techniques to assist them in understanding their children's needs and supporting carryover of skills learned in therapy to their home and other preschool environments.

Some of our children have been asked to leave traditional day care and preschool centers due to their disruptive behavior or inability to learn in this setting. Many of our children come from bilingual homes, where the challenges for these children are great. We have therapist specializing in English, Russian, and sign language.

Children with autism often become upset and frustrated when adults are inconsistent with them and when routines or schedules are disrupted. We provide structure and consistency, which are vital for a child to learn. All our children are supported and can participate and learn in this small safe environment. They are learning to use signs, sounds, and words to play and request with their friends and families. They are also learning how to manage their behavior in a group so they can return to a school setting or just attend family functions.

Currently 1 in 68 children is estimated to be on the autism spectrum. These children are often very intelligent. They require a different path to learn. We are here for them, and with your help we can continue to provide needed materials for the children and their families.

We invite you to look at our center and the children at play on our Facebook page: facebook.com/penndco

We invite you to support a child with your donation.

We thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

                   Tetyana Varenychenko, Project Leader

Dear our Donors!

We would like to inform you about our successive social skills group of children who have autism spectrum disorder or social communication difficulties and effectively participate in our program. We use the Hanen Program for Parents of Children with ASD, and we use valuable strategies for their children, including Hanen strategies, stone therapy, art therapy, brush therapy, visual tools and toys, visual schedule, and assistive technology.

We have a small classroom, six students with ASD and three therapists who have used the most effective strategies for their children, including Hanen strategies, visual tools and toys, and assistive technology.

The main goal of our program is making friends at different stages of child's development. We follow through all stages: the own agenda stage, the requester stage, the early communicator stage, and the partner stage helping our children to communicate and allow them to lead.

The main idea of our program is Let's Make Friends, and our focus is on child's ability to play with other children. It can take a long time to develop child's social skills and communication skills, however all therapists and family members have supported their children to make efforts in all activities. Every child needs to take small steps.

We would like to share with you our photos which can present you how our children participate in a social skills program having fun and developing their social skills.

A great big thank you to all our supporters, donors and families who have supported us to create the valuable placement and program for our special children who have needed to enjoy collaborative activities making the best interactions as well as the best friends.