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Local Events
August 25 & 26 - AZA United
Autism & ABA Presentation
August 10 - Phoenix
Special Education Parent Training
August 13, September 15, October 22, or November 17 - Phoenix
September 25 or November 5 - Phoenix Autism/Asperger's Conference September 18 & 19 - Mesa
Contact us for more information on any of these events!
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Link of the Month
Check out these interactive webinars and much more at the Autism Hangout.
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We'll Miss You, Sara!  This month we had to say goodbye to one of our beloved team leaders, Operations Manager Sara Wilson. Sara has been with AZA United for more than 2 years and helped many employees and families improve their service experience. She will be missed! At the same time we are very happy for her as she will be leading another Human Service Co-op to further the vision of what we do and help another group of people with disabilities succeed. Below is Sara's goodbye letter to all of you.
I want to thank all the families of AZA United for letting me serve you as your Operations Manager. Helping families exercise their voice and supporting staff as they pave their way through the human services field has been a great honor and experience. For my next project, I have accepted a position at Inspire, Co-op. I look forward to applying all that I have learned in my time with you in this new position. I am glad to continue working in the cooperative model for service delivery, a place where the voice of the person served resonates. My hope is that I have left a similar positive impact with you at AZA United as I received from you. I sincerely thank you!
Please join me in welcoming Nicole Geremina-Newhouse as the new Operations and Personnel Manager at AZA United. Nicole's experience, passion and shared vision make her a perfect fit for this role to carry forward the mission and vision of AZA United.
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Are You Using Online Timesheets Yet?  Don't forget that AZA United now offers online timesheets! This is an easy way to make sure your timesheets get submitted on time with parent approval. We will set you up with a secure online account. You'll log in, fill out your timesheet electronically, and click submit. The family then logs in, reviews it, anc clicks approve. That's it! Done! Why bother with all this faxing stuff? Set up your online timesheet account today.
To start using online timesheets, send an email to online@azaunited.org with your name and preferred username and password. Once an email has been received from both the parent and the employee, both accounts will be created and we will send you instructions. Have fun!
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New Professional Development Opportunities  AZA United is excited to offer a new professional development program to all employees! A letter with more details will be sent with paychecks this month, so be sure to read it and contact us with any questions. In a nutshell, we are adding a new measure of quality to our service delivery model. When we first opened our doors almost 4 years ago, we started a system of giving our Autism Interventionists a raise after every 250 hours of habilitation, respite or attendant care. For an employee working 20 hours per week, that would amount to a raise about every 3 months. Not bad! We believed this model would frequently reinforce employees who were dedicated to spending time with individuals on the autism spectrum and helping improve their quality of life. What was missing, however, was a way to evaluate the employee's quality of work and professional development. So now we have a new model that will continue to offer these raises contingent upon sufficient progress reports (which are becoming increasingly important for families to maintain their eligibility for state services) and completion of 4 hours of professional development.
Starting September 1st, AZA United employees will be able to choose from a menu of new options to complete ongoing professional development! These include attending a class, conference or seminar with AZA United or another organization (check out the "Local Events" sidebar in this newsletter). We also have a series of online training courses now available for you to choose from. If you'd like something more interactive, come join a group at the office and participate in any number of different video trainings. Or, to get the real hands-on experience, make an appointment to visit our new observable clinic, either as an observer or with the family you work for so that we can help you improve your skills!
We appreciate all you do and hope that this new program will help you do it even better. Contact us if you have any questions, and don't forget to check your mail!
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New Sets Available for ABA Flashcards The second shipment of ABA flashcards has arrived! Following up on last month's release of categories, verbs, and functions, we now have sets that can be used for sequencing, sorting by size or color, describing a scene, and describing what's wrong with a picture. As always we can also provide you with an activity instruction sheet that explains how to use these cards and teach these concepts in a variety of ways and situations to increase language and communication. These sets are being made available through our Family Starter Kits grants from the Gannett Foundation and the Build-a-Bear Foundation. To reserve your flashcard sets, simply give us a call! These sets are available for all families. We request only a 5 dollar donation to support us in continuing to provide these materials to all families in need.
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Culture Passes  Looking for some great community immersion and social opportunities, along with lively and age-appropriate activities? Check out the Culture Pass, avaialble now and FREE at Arizona public libraries! As long as you have a library card, you can check out a Culture Pass that provides free admission for 4 people to a variety of Arizona museums and attractions. These include the Children's Museum of Phoenix, the Arizona Science Center, the Desert Botanical Garden, and even the Phoenix Zoo! Parents and habilitators, don't miss this amazing opportunity to do enriching community activities with our kids. Such trips can provide an excellent means to generalize skills and address goals such as communication, giving descriptions, retrieving information, and socializing. Contact our Programs Team at the office if you need some ideas. For more information, visit the Culture Pass website!
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Thanks for all you do, and don't forget to tell us what else we can do...for you! |
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