Parent Weekly Update 12/23/16

Hi Parents,

Well, here we are... official full-on Holiday Season. Hope things are going well. The office is mostly closed down until Jan 2, but I'm easily reachable via email.

January Schedule

Group Sessions

Here are the upcoming January Meetings

6-8: Meets January 10th and 24th

8-11: Meets January 3rd* and 17th

11-13: Meets January 4th* and 18th

Teen:  Meets January 5th* and 19th

* Group Absences: For those groups meeting January 3rd through 5th, please send me an email as soon as you can if you know your child will not be attending. 

Webinar

As usual, we will have our monthly webinar on the 2nd Wednesday of the month. For January, it will be on the 11th at 7:30pm. If you haven't signed up for it, please refer to one of the previous weekly updates for details or click here.

(A funny thing happened when I clicked to register -- it showed the wrong time zone. So, I made a short tutorial on how to fix that problem, takes only seconds. You may click here to view it.)

Parent Meetings

I haven't set the parent meetings yet for January, I will do next week. However, if you have a preference and haven't been able to attend, please send me an email. I typically hold meetings on a 1) weekday morning or early afternoon; 2) a weekday evening, usually the 2nd Wednesday just before the webinar; and 3) a Saturday or Sunday morning time.

Staffing Changes

As I had a chance to tell some of you, Laura, one of our support staff, needed to stop participating and we used backup staff recently in December. I'm happy to say that Karen is continuing and don't expect any changes there. Also, for our younger groups, where we typically provide higher staff:student ratios, Stasi Harrell, MA, one of our long-time clinical staff, will be working Tuesdays for the next few months. Of course Dr. Mazor and I remain in place to co-lead the sessions.

Final Thoughts

Staying Up to Date on Webinar Information

I have tried to go at a slower pace for the Parent Webinars to make certain that everyone is "up to speed." If you haven't logged in via the Parent Portal and viewed all of the current videos (only necessary if you haven't attended the parent sessions or are an Alumni Parent who knows all of this), please use this holiday time to catch up.  If there is anything you don't understand, just make a comment on the video (remember, everyone can see it) because others might be confused or need clarification in the same area or send me a (not too long) email).

Group Update Reports

In early January, we will be sending you Rapid Screener® to complete. This is a slightly different version of the program than the one you initially completed. By early February, we will send everyone progress update reports. These include information on 1) target behaviors being addressed; 2) general observed progress; 3) interventions used; and 4) areas to continue addressing by parents.

Community Outings

Starting in February, we will begin our community outings. Most likely there will be two of them, one in February and one in late March/early April. We will provide you with complete information and directions as we get closer to those events.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a safe and enjoyable holiday season and a year ahead with lots of pleasant surprises.