REACH Parent Network Information Exchange.

This information exchange, sponsored by Reach, is by parents for parents.  It's content is  guided by Reach's mission to provide choices for families,  be family centered, facilitate inclusion, and  exist as a quality resource.  The information is meant to meet the needs of a multitude of families' interests.  We caution readers that Reach does not investigate all claims, and that claims  made  are not necessarily endorsed or recommended by Reach. Readers are encouraged to undertake further investigation on their own of items noted. 

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Reach News

• Delta Connex Parent Peer Group. The parent group is an opportunity for parents with children who have ADHD, FASD or other complex behaviours to come together.  At the group you can learn and reflect on your life as a parent of children that may behave in ways that are unexpected and a challenge to understand.  You will gain insight in building  positive relationships, celebrating your children and focus on your emotional well being.  We provide a welcoming and safe environment to share experiences, knowledge and offer support to each other.  This group is led by a trained facilitator.
• We meet the last Friday of every month from 9:30 - 11:30am at Reach Child and Youth Development Society, #3-3800 72nd Street, Ladner BC 
• For more information please contact Robyn Lane, Key Worker/Behaviour Consultant 604-946-6622 extension 328 or email here 

• We're building a child development centre in the heart of the community. 
    Click here  to find out how you can help.
   

Click here to see our WEBSITE! 

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ADD/ADHD 

• Remember the Milk! -Tips to Improve Working Memory. 
  If you forget phone numbers or grocery lists on a daily basis, follow these easy tips to boost your working memory -by Eileen Bailey.Losing your keys, leaving your wallet in the refrigerator, forgetting your husband's birthday, asking the store clerk to repeat the directions to the gift-wrap department. You might think that these are all examples of inattention.After digging into working memory studies, I have realized that, while these are examples of inattention, they are mostly signs of poor working memory. Working memory deficits are a symptom of ADHD, autism, and learning disabilities. Click here to read more

  
   
•  10 Things You Should Never Tell Your Child "What were you thinking?" "You're not even trying!" Parents aren't perfect - we all wish we could take back some of the harsh things we've said. But here are 10 phrases that parents of ADHD kids should absolutely, positively never say out loud. The Most Hurtful Comments. People say some pretty insensitive things. ADHD myths and misinformation don't help. People blame us or our kids for behaviors controlled by the condition, and we know it's wrong. But sometimes frustrating behaviors can push even the most loving parents to say things we quickly regret. Here, our readers shared some of the words that should never be used to discipline an ADHD child - no matter what. Click here to read more
   

  
   

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   Down Syndrome  

• She Has Down Syndrome, But When She Grabs A Mic? I'm Speechless.   Doctors said someone with her condition would likely never be able to sing. This brave young girl refused to take that for an answer. What she proceeds to do is absolutely incredible.

  ALL OF ME- COVER BY MADISON TEVLIN

• Here Are Just Some Of The People Living With An Extra Chromosome. And Rocking It.  Some folks with Down syndrome are educated in typical school classes, and others need specialized education to meet their needs. Here are just a few of the people you might see out and about in our society who have Down syndrome.  Click here to see the video!

• You are Invited to a Delta Down Syndrome Support Group meeting: OUR GOALS ARE
  · To provide guest speakers (Reach therapists, community
  professionals and other programs) to discuss common issues
  · To provide support and information to families in Delta who
  have a child with Down Syndrome
  · To help connect parents of children with Down Syndrome
  · To provide monthly meetings for parents and their children
  · To provide on-site child minding while you attend the
  discussion
  When: First Thursday of each month
  Where: Reach Developmental Preschool North Delta
  10921 - 82nd Avenue, Delta, BC
  Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
  Cost: No charge
  Light refreshments provided
  Please RSVP to Sarah Garnham at 604-946-6622 extension 321.
  or email here 

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FASD

• Moment to Moment: Teens Growing Up With FASDs explores the lives of four adolescents with FASDs and the effect that prenatal alcohol exposure has had and continues to have on their journeys to finding independence, fulfillment, and understanding the world around them. The film takes an intimate and eye-opening journey into the lives of those affected by FASDs, their families and friends, and captures the challenges that families must overcome as children with FASDs reach maturity and attempt to strike out on their own as young adults.  Click here to learn more

• Langley - FASD adoptive and foster parents. Monthly support group meetings for those with children who have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Info: Jamie, 604-530-5917.

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Workshops and Training 

•  CLick here for the FALL CCRR Training Calendar of workshops! 

• Click here for information on RDSP presentations 

• Click here to see all of ACT's Upcoming Presentations 

• Click here for all upcoming workshops by Delta Assist   

• Click here for upcoming events sponsored by the BC Council for Families  

• Kelty Centre's Pinwheel Series: The pinwheel series are a group of free, all inclusive monthly education events open to anyone in BC. The aim is to provide learning opportunities for the public on key mental health and healthy living topics, and host a forum where people can engage in dialogue with experts and persons with lived experience.

  All Pinwheel events take place on Thursdays from  12-1pm (PST). You can join us:

  • In person: Room P3-306, Mental Health Building #85, BC Children's Hospital, 4555 Heather St., Vancouver, BC
  • Telephone: Dial 1-877-291-3022 and enter the access code 4611577#
  • Telehealth: Contact your local Telehealth coordinator to book a videoconference room and get them to forward your location name, room number and the ISDN/IP Address/Alias of your site to here . For questions, please contact Aazadeh Madani, Project Coordinator here 
  • Feb 19 2015 - 12:00pm  Binge Eating Disorder 
  • Mar 26 2015 - 12:00pm Self Harm & Healthy Coping Tools 

    Apr 16 2015 - 12:00pm Dialectical Behaviour Therapy 

• OCD in the Classroom:Designing a tool box for teachers
  Presented By Dr. Katherine Martinez
  Friday, January 30th, 2015
  Vancouver College Alumni Room
  5400 Cartier St., Vancouver,This workshop is designed to help teachers, counselors and administrators better understand and support children and youth aged 5-18 who struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The first portion of the workshop will provide information about OCD, including diagnostic criteria, myths and misconceptions, how OCD impacts the child, and what OCD can look like within the classroom setting. Participants will also learn about how other anxiety disorders may co-present with OCD and how this impacts the child. The second portion of the workshop will help participants gain knowledge of
  various cognitive-behavioural strategies that can be employed to help support students with OCD in the classroom. Participants will have the opportunity to apply their learning in a practical way through role-play and video demonstration to help bring concepts to life and to allow participants the opportunity to build practical skills and knowledge relevant to their students. There will also be time allotted throughout the workshop for ongoing question and answers and discussion.Click here for more information

   

• Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About the Role of Occupational Therapy in Autism Treatment.  Saturday, January 31st, 2015.  During this workshop, three experienced occupational therapists will talk about their profession, its scope of practice and the importance of having an occupational therapist on the child's interdisciplinary team, from the time of diagnosis through to adulthood. They will explain how occupational therapy can addressing many of the practical challenges of raising a child with ASD from learning to tie shoe laces, handwriting to pre-employment skills! Click here for more information
   
• A Discussion on Human Rights, Discrimination, and Mental Disorders.  

  February 25, 2015 | Vancouver Convention Centre

  Facilitator: Lori Charvat, Consultant Presenters: Julie Menten; Roper Greyell LLP; Jonathan Chapnick, Legal Counsel, Hospital Employees' Union; and Eric Diotte, Human Rights Commission of Canada. Join our speakers as they debate questions such as: How can we ensure a safe and supportive environment for employees who are struggling with mental illness and addictions? What do employers need to understand about mental illness, addictions and human rights? What lessons can we learn from looking at human rights decisions as they relate to mental illness and addictions? Following an engaging discussion about what is happening in today's legal landscape, they will present new ideas and creative solutions to some of today's workplaces biggest challenges related to mental illness and addictions. Delegates will have an opportunity to work through case studies, ask tough questions, consider the bigger picture and collect new tools to use in their workplace.Click here for more information

   
• Autism Awareness Centre Presents the February 2015 Conference! Friday, Early Bird rate ends February 12, 2015.
• February 27 Joyce Cooper-Kahn
  Late, Lost and Unprepared:  How to Help Youth Build Better Executive Functioning
  Executive functioning is an umbrella term for the mental processes that serve a supervisory role in thinking and behavior.  Individuals with autism spectrum disorders, attention disorders and learning disabilities all have weak executive skills.   For example, they may be disorganized and have trouble with planning, have weak ability to monitor their own behavior and performance, and struggle with situations where they must shift flexibly from one thought or behavior to another.  We can help these young people by creating plans that include both short-term supports for daily success and long term strategies that facilitate the development of executive skills and build greater independence over time. 
• Saturday, February 28 Elizabeth Sautter
  Make Social Learning Stick: Practical Tools to Build Social Regulation
  Social Regulation (Kuypers and Sautter, 2011) is the ability to adjust one's level of alertness and modify how emotions and behaviors are revealed in order to meet social goals.  Our world is filled with complicated social situations that can be sticky to navigate-both emotionally and socially.  It's important to realize that within these situations, regulating emotions/behaviors and managing social communication go hand in hand. Understanding this connection helps to broaden the lens, look at the whole child, and focus on working as a team to paste together the practical applications that work for each child.
• Click here for more information and to register!
   
• 6th International Conference on FASD Research: Results and Relevance 2015
  Integrating Research, Policy, and Promising Practice Around the World
  March 4-7, 2015 | The Westin Bayshore | Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Click here for more conference information 

• 2015 General & Special Education Conference March 4, 5, & 6, 2015
  Seattle, WA Location: Grand Hyatt Conference & Hotel-

  Proven Interventions to Increase Student Achievement Pre-K through 12th Grade

  A Professional Continuing Education Event. Click here for more information

• Stand Together 2015 March 26-27.  MULTI-FACETED TRAINING FOR THE CAREGIVER PROFESSIONALExecutive Plaza Hotel Conference Centre 405 North Road, Coquitlam. Beyond Consequences: Trauma Informed Care Thurs. March 26, 9:30-4:00pm
  If you've tried using logic, consequences, behavior modification, yelling and isolation with your children, all to find out that none of it worked,or even made things worse, you know what it is like to find yourself beyond your window of tolerance. This parenting training can change all of that. Move you from a place of hopelessness to a place full of hope and love.
  HEATHER FORBES, LCSW Heather is the owner of the Beyond Consequences Institute. She is an internationally published author on the topics of raising children
  with difficult and severe behaviors, understanding the parent's reactivity when challenged in the home, and working with challenging children in the classroom. Much of her experience and insight on understanding trauma, disruptive behaviors, developmental delays, and
  adoption-related issues comes from her direct mothering experience of her two internationally adopted children.
  Navigating Transitions with Teens Fri. March 27, 9:30-12:00pm
  The teen years can be a challenge for parents - but even moreso without the foundations of an established, long-term relationship.Traditional parenting techniques can often backfire and disrupt the parent/child relationship with our teens, while their behaviours invite us
  to employ strict consequences. Where's the happy medium? Review what works with our teens, and explore research-based insights into high-risk teen behaviour. Learn how to best support and parent our teens during these challenging years.
  CHRIS BURT, MAChris holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology. He is a parenting and family development specialist with over 20 years experiences supporting children, youth, and families. Chris is a trained family counsellor who provides therapeutic and educational services to families,and training and clinical support services to other professionals, organizations, and government agencies.Click here for more information
  
   
• The Explosive Child: Noncompliant, Disruptive, Disenfranchised Kids - Moving from Modifying Behaviour to Solving Problems Collaboratively - Presented by Ross Greene, Ph.D. Educators, parents, and mental healthy clinicians are increasingly challenged to understand and help kids with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. These kids are at tremendous risk for adverse long-term outcomes, and their behaviour can significantly impact life at home and in the classroom. While these kids maybe diagnosed with any of a variety of psychiatric disorders - such as ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, Tourette's disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, and autism spectrum disorders - compelling research indicates that lagging cognitive skills are the primary contributor to their difficulties. These lagging skills make it difficult for these kids to meet academic and behavioural expectations. Dr. Ross Greene's model - as described in his influential books The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and now called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) - helps adults and kids collaboratively solve the problems precipitating challenging behaviour, while simultaneously teaching lagging skills. The empirically supported CPS model represents a dramatic departure from conventional wisdom and practice, and has been found to be effective in a vast array of setting, including families (where it has been shown to significantly reduce family conflict and improve parent-child interactions), general and special education schools (where it dramatically reduced discipline referrals, detentions, and suspensions), and inpatient, residential, and juvenile detention facilities (where it has produced significant reductions in recidivism and in the use of restraint and locked-door seclusion). Participants in this workshop will leave with an understanding of the underpinnings of the model, along with practical assessment and intervention tools that can be brought back to and used in these diverse settings.

  Thursday, May 21, 2015

  9:00 am - 4:00 pm

  Coast Hotel & Convention Centre Langley City

  20393 Fraser Highway Langley, BC

  Click here for more information 

• ACT 's 11th Annual Focus on Research ESSENCE
  What research is telling us about the need for inter-disciplinary collaboration to meet the needs of children with a range of neurodevelopmental conditions. 

  Professor Christopher Gillberg,

  an internationally recognized researcher, has identified a major frustration of clinicians and families. Despite our attempts to draw firm diagnostic boundaries, many disorders (including autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, tic disorder, developmental coordination disorder) share symptoms - indeed this is the rule rather than the exception in child psychiatry and developmental medicine. 

  The acronym ESSENCE, coined by Dr. Gillberg, Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations, refers to the reality of how children (and their parents) present in clinical settings. He draws on international research to make a compelling case that child symptoms, in at least one ESSENCE domain before age five, often signals major problems in the same or overlapping domains years later. Over focus on ASD in young children could be a big mistake, especially as it may not be the major risk factor for issues including academic failure and adult/ adolescent/adult social exclusion. 

  Friday, March 27th, 2015

  SFU Harbour Centre Vancouver, BC Click here for more information
   
• Trust-Based Parenting: April 28-29, 2015. The Roundtable is excited to be hosting Daren Jones and Henry Milton from Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross' Trust-Based Relational Intervention training on April 28th and 29th, 2015 at Douglas College in New Westminster!

  Children who have been harmed, neglected or abused are at dramatically increased risk for behavioural problems. All too often caregivers and support providers are mystified by these behaviours and struggle to find effective interventions. This seminar will empower participants to create healing environments for these precious children and youth who have come from the "hard places," including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), adoption, and fostering. In this workshop on Trust-Based Parenting, participants will learn specific skills and strategies for disarming the fear and sadness that is beneath most disruptive behaviours in children. Based in a deep understanding of attachment, sensory integration, brain development and brain chemistry, Trust-Based Parenting provides caregivers and service providers with powerful insights for understanding misbehaviour and for appropriately guiding healthy, new behaviours. These principles are effective in bringing about healing for children in varied environments, such as homes, schools, day care settings, and residential treatment facilities. Participants will find powerful insights for creating a healing environment for children of any age and any level of risk.Click here for more information 

   

   
•  Inclusion BC 2015 Conference  Registration now open.  Early bird deadline is March 31, 2015

  Registration is now open for Inclusion BC's annual conference and AGM. Register now to secure your spot! Workshops and final keynote presenters will be announced at the beginning of February. Registrants can log back in online and choose their sessions at that time. Click here for more information
  Where: Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, 1088 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC
  When: May 27 - 30, 2015

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Seasonal 

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•  2nd annual Family Fun Craft Day at Ladner Baptist Church: Art for ALL Abilities! For children with special needs together with their families. A chance to do something fun and creative together.  There will be over 10 craft tables, some gym activities, treats, and even an interactive collaborative art project that will be on display when complete! This is an event for the whole family, young and old, an event that is a great way to celebrate both Family Day and Valentine's Day. The event is on Feb. 7th from 1-4 pm. The event is wheel chair accessible and admission is free. RSVP by Jan. 31st. Call 604-946-0141. Ladner Baptist Church 5624 Ladner Trunk Road. 
   
• YOGA FOR THE SPECIAL CHILD® BASIC ONE PROGRAM
Abbotsford, B.C.March 14 - 20, 2015

Taught by Sherry LeBlanc Hons. BSC. E-RYT 500, RCYT Certified Program Teacher for YSC(R).  Yoga for the Special Child® (YSC) is a therapeutic program of Yoga techniques designed by Sonia Sumar to enhance the natural development of children with special needs. The Basic One Program is a comprehensive training course in the theory & practice of yoga therapy for babies and children with learning and/or developmental disabilities from 0 - 12 years old.  It offers a unique learning environment for children and their parents, special education teachers, yoga teachers, massage therapists and adaptive physical education teachers.  YSC® Programs are also appropriate for the continuing education of health-care specialists in a variety of fields including Physiotherapy, Physical and Occupational Therapy, Paediatric and Rehabilitation Nursing.The Basic Program is a 7 day course that begins at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 14 and ends at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, March 20.  The daily schedule includes classes from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with a one hour lunch break.Contact: Sherry LeBlanc to register and for more information. email here 416-532-5988, website here


• Camp Zajac Summer Camp dates
• Week 4: Monday, July 20th - Friday, July 24th
  Down Syndrome, Epilepsy, and Muscular Dystrophy
  COST: $687.50
  ACTUAL COST: $275 / Day - 5 Days - $1375 Total -
  50% Subsidized via Zajac Camper Allowance
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Camp #1 Week 5:
  Sunday, July 26th - Thursday, July 30th
  ACTUAL COST: $275 / Day - 5 Days - $1375 Total
  50% Subsidized via Zajac Camper Allowance if paying
  by cheque or credit card - Amount Payable $687.50
  Full rate applies if using Autism Funding Unit
  Funding. Please refer to AFU guidelines here.  
• Week 7:Monday, August 10th - Friday, August 14th
  Autism Spectrum Disorder Camp #2
  ACTUAL COST: $275 / Day - 5 Days - $1375 Total
  50% Subsidized via Zajac Camper Allowance if paying
  by cheque or credit card - Amount Payable $687.50
  Full rate applies if using Autism Funding Unit
  Funding. Please refer to AFU guidelines here.
• If you have any questions or to register
  please contact 604.739.0444 or email here
   
   

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