Making the Switch to Behavioural Intervention

 In March 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the world and it was the beginning of the end of my licensed family childcare centre.  With children not attending, and then only a few children at a time, it was very hard to stay open, even with limited government supports.  

During this time, my daycare was before and after school only.  I loved being able to volunteer in the school library or my kids classrooms and go on field trips.  But with the pandemic, parents were unable to be in the schools, so it was time to find something to do with my days.  I found an ad online looking for a preschool support worker for a non verbal autistic 3 year old, and given my experience with my sons speech disorder and other children I've worked with over the years, I applied and connected with the child.  While the preschool support position didn't work out (the school hired someone before the family could pass my name on), I did join the home therapy team.  So I started looking into this type of work and 4 months later made the decision to close my family daycare and switch to BI full time.

What is a BI?

A Behavioural Interventionist is is someone who helps with behaviour in children.  Behaviour Interventionists primarily work with children who have autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as with children with other developmental disabilities.  The primary job of a behavioural interventionist is to execute individual autism treatment programs to help the child develop the skills they need to function in society and as an adult. Since every child’s ASD is different, these skills may include help with social skills, help with learning, and help with motor control for repetitive movements. For children in school, a focus can be to help them reduce disruptive behaviors in the classroom.  The programs are written by a Board Certified Behavioural Analyst (BCBA) or Behaviour Consultant and monitored by them.  

What does my work look like?

To start, a lot of my work with a child looks like play.  It is important to have a good relationship with the child so that when we start working on harder skills, they want to work with me and know that I'm fun.  Once I've developed a relationship with the child, we will introduce the programs that have been written.  These vary greatly depending on the child's needs.  For non verbal children this includes a lot of speech modelling and repetition, as we try to get the child to use their words to ask for something.  Some more traditional table work programs include imitation or matching.  Some play based programs include following instructions, gross or fine motor skills or peer interactions.  Typically a session is 2 hours long with the first 15 minutes being preparation and set up, and the last 15 minutes being notes and data charting.  Some parents stay, some like to watch and be involved in the session, but most of the time, they either leave the home to get errands done, or they do other things around the house.  

What experience do you need?

Typically, none.  Each consultant will train you for the programs that they run and how they take and chart their data.  You will definitely need to have experience and a passion for working with children, especially more challenging children.  Patience is required, but don't think about your patience with your own children, as my own children will tell you, this does NOT translate the same when working with other people's kids.  Any experience with special needs children will help.  My son has a speech disorder and the skills I learned by going through speech therapy with him from the age of 2 to 6 has been a HUGE benefit when I work with the non verbal kiddos.  

In addition to the above, I do have a Bachelor's Degree with an Early Learning Minor.  Most of my courses focused on Education and Psychology including Child Psychology, Developmental Disorders, Research Methods in Psychology etc.  I didn't even realize it back then but I did basically train to work in this field.  My end goal when I was in school was to be a high school counsellor.  But my exposure to the field of ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) and knowledge of discreet trials and all of the language that is used in this field really did help.  Most of this is always covered in a consultants training, so really no previous education is an absolute necessity.  If you have the passion and the patience and can connect with the child, you can definitely be successful in this line of work.

How do I get a job?

Right now, in BC, each family with an ASD diagnosis is given funding to use for their child's therapy.  Typically, the family will hire a BCBA (Board Certified Behaviour Analyst) who will then help them put a team together.  Once a service provider is 'hired', the family will submit their information to the Autism Funding Unit Department (AFU) and that service provider can bill monthly directly to the government.  Getting the funding approved and set up, and then getting each service provider set up does take about 1-2 months, but once everything is set up, the process is quite simple.  There is an online portal where I submit my invoices, and I am paid within about a week.  Each child's funding agreement will reset every year at the end of their birthday month, but new forms can be submitted for each service provider and then billing can resume for another year.  

SO, as each family hires their own team, you need to connect with families or consultants who recommend you to their families.  When I started, I found work through Facebook.  There are definitely Facebook groups to help connect service providers with families in need, and there are a LOT of families in need.  Now that I've worked with different consultants, I typically find new families through my consultants, as they take on new clients and feel like my skills and personality might fit well with a child.

What does your schedule look like?

When I started in this field, I still ran a Before and After School daycare so I only ran sessions close to home and only worked a 9-11 and 12-2 session each day.  When I decided to close my daycare, I added a 3-5 session each day and occasionally work an evening or weekend session.  There is a lot of flexibility in this field which appealed to me since my daughter was starting high school.  As a French Immersion student, she didn't go to the closest school, and getting to and from school on her own wasn't an option.  So now I work 3:30-5 sessions on the days when I have to pick her up and get her home.  I also work very close to home, with most of my sessions being less than a 10 minute drive from my house.  If you aren't wanting to commit to changing careers right away, there definitely enough need that you can work just evenings or weekends, and take on maybe 1-2 children to start to see if it is a fit.

How much do you make?

When I started, each family paid me around $20/hour.  This is before taxes and as an independent contractor, we do have to make sure to put money aside for when tax time comes!  As my experience and skills improved, some families have given me raises, of a few dollars at a time and now all of my families pay me more than when I started!  I also ask for a higher starting rate when starting with a new family because I know that I have a lot of skills and experience.  On some teams, I have taken over administrative duties or training of new team members and with this also comes a higher rate.  There are also options for more training and moving into more of a consultant role.  A Board Certified Assistant Behaviour Analyst (BCaBA) can make between $40-$80/hour and a BCBA will typically make $120+/hour.  I know myself and know that my true passion is with being on the floor with kiddos, so I know I will probably never move into a full consultant role, plus that takes a masters degree which I am not wanting to do right now, but I am looking into working towards BCaBA as an assistant.  

When I look into what I am taking home from this job, I actually make more than my daycare was making before I switched.  The daycare wasn't full, so per hour, I was making much less.  My home daycare was me plus up to 7 children when this is one on one.  On long days, I would typically work with those children for 8-10 hours but BI sessions are only 2 hours long.  The work is definitely more demanding, but it is also so much more rewarding.  We collect data on our programs and can see the progress that these children are making.  Some days I get yelled at, spat on or hit, but most days I get cuddles, smiles and songs.  

I want to see if Behavioural Intervention would be a fit!

Click on this link and fill out the short form.  I know many consultants looking for BIs and if you aren't in my area I can connect you with some Facebook groups where work is posted.  

Click here

Disney Disability Access Service (DAS)-my family review

 As a family who recently visited Walt Disney World, and made great use of the Disability Access Service (DAS) I wanted to share my experience!  The system is brand new and just launched in the Fall of 2021.  

Please note that this is simply an overview of my family's experience.  I do not work for Disney and am not qualified to say who qualifies for this service.

What is DAS?

Disability Access Service (DAS) is a program offered at Walt Disney World theme parks to assist Guests who have difficulty tolerating extended waits in a conventional queue environment due to a disability.  Please contact Disney staff to determine if you qualify.  

More information: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/disability-access-service/

How to pre-register for DAS?

You can talk to Guest Services at the park, or 30 days before your visit, you can do a virtual video chat to sign up online.  When the new system launched the wait times were insane.  I tried on 3 different days, one being an entire Saturday, 15 hours waiting.  I think my issue was that after being open for a few minutes, even though my computer stays on, my browser goes to sleep which disconnected the chat.  For future chats, I avoided Safari and had much better luck.  

To do your video chat click this link: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/disability-access-service/register/

Near the bottom of the page, there will be a box that says 'Request Live Video Chat'.  Click there to begin the process.  Once connected, your cast member will send you a form to fill out, and then you will do a live chat.  They can determine eligibility and set up your pass if you qualify.  

How to pre-select your rides

After your pass is set up, you can pre-select two rides per day.  The cast member who set up your DAS will transfer you to this department, or you can return another day by clicking this link

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/disability-access-service/register/

More information about the DAS Advance Selections:

Not every ride is available for an ADVANCE selection.  See your options here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/faq/guests-with-disabilities/attractions-available-for-das-advance/

Your advance selections DO NOT impact how you use your DAS at the park.  These are simply two rides per day that are booked in advance.  This made using our DAS and planning for the day much less stressful.  We tried to have our advance selections a bit later in the day but knowing that we had those two rides already booked was very comforting.

You can see in the above screen shot that I have an advance selection scheduled, and a DAS ride booked.  

HOW TO USE YOUR DAS:

You must have the My Disney Experience (MDE) app on your phone.  Once your ticket is scanned for park entry (this can be a paper ticket, magic band or through your phone) and you are connected to the park wifi, then the DAS box will appear in your app when you tap the 3 lines on the bottom right.  If this box shows on your app but doesn't do anything, make sure you are scanned into the park and are on the Disney wifi.  

You are able to make your first ride selection as soon as you enter the park, even if you have advance selections scheduled.  You can make your next selections as soon as you scan into the first scheduled ride. Most of the time, this means that while in line, you can pick your next ride, however the Disney wifi doesn't work inside most of the buildings, so often we had to wait until after the ride was done and we were back outside.  

To redeem your DAS, you will enter each attraction through the Lightening Lane.  There will be a clock that shows the time and you can scan your ticket (or phone or magic band) when the ride shows the time of your reservation.  The person in your party who the DAS pass is for will have to scan into the ride first, and then the rest of your group that is reserved on that pass can scan.  Most of the time you will have to scan again closer to the start of the ride.  

You have a one-hour window to use your DAS.  If you miss this window, just talk to the cast member at the Lightening Lane entrance and show them that you had the ride booked.  

Every ride in each of the parks is eligible for the DAS, except Remy's Ratatouille Adventure at Epcot which uses a virtual queue.  If a ride isn't showing on your app that means it is either closed, temporarily unavailable (broken down), or the standby line is too long.  Yes, even rides that aren't an option for the advance scheduling are available for the DAS when you are in the park.  This includes popular rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Rise of the Resistance, and Flights of Passage.  

To scan into a ride using your phone, scan as shown below, do not hold your phone flat against the scanner.  Once the system acknowledges your eligibility, the light will turn green and you can go.  As mentioned earlier, the person who holds the DAS must scan first, and then the rest of the party can follow.  

Troubleshooting:

Sometimes, we would select our whole party when booking a ride even if not everyone was going to ride.  If not everyone in the party goes on the ride, they don't scan into the system and they aren't removed from that ride.  The system thinks they they haven't yet gone on the ride and they already have a booking, so they can't be scheduled for another ride.  Most of the time I could go back into that scheduled selection and select 'cancel' for the person still waiting to ride, and then proceed with a new booking.  A few times, however, there was a glitch and I wasn't able to do this through my app, but a quick visit to a guest services cast member at a blue umbrella and they could easily fix this.  

We also had to click 'confirm' a few times, sometimes, before the booking would actually go through.  On our first day at Magic Kingdom, the wifi was very sporadic and glitchy.  We would often have to walk around to find a better connection in order to book our rides.  The rest of our week was better, but we were there the week of American Thanksgiving, so it was very busy.  

The other concern was around phone battery.  Between the DAS, maps and quick service food ordering, we were on our phones a lot, but other than our first day, I only needed to charge my phone at the park on the days when my phone didn't charge properly overnight.  On our first day at Magic Kingdom we were still figuring out the system and it felt like constantly trying to stay connected to the wifi, so we did go through our battery more.  I'm glad we had portable battery packs with us, but we didn't need them everyday.  

Genie+ and Lightening Lane

Disney has changed the Fast Pass system to the new Genie+.  This is a paid service, at $15 USD per person per day to skip the standby line.  This system is very similar to the DAS but is only available for select rides, and specifically excludes 2 rides per park.  Those rides offer an Individual Lightening Lane where you can pay specifically for one ride.  Even if you add Genie+, you still need to buy an Individual Lightening Lane in order to skip the standby line for those two rides per park.  The prices range from $7-$15 per person per ride and change based on season and demand.  If you purchase an individual lightening lane pass for a ride, you cannot purchase it again and would have to wait in the standby line to experience that ride again.

Except for the Remy ride, the DAS pass works on EVERY ride, including those that offer the Individual Lightening Lane purchase.  So if you qualify for DAS, it is NOT necessary to add the Genie+ service, or pay for an individual Lightening Lane.  Plus, you can use the DAS multiples times for the same ride.  On the day we were at Animal Kingdom, we started and ended our day with the Flights of Passage ride, as it quickly became our favourite.  

We loved being able to use the DAS.  We only waited in standby lines that were relatively short, and while we were waiting for our reservation time on another ride.  For a lot of our rides, we had to run up the ramps to get to the start as we bypassed a very long standby line (at one point it was a 4 hour wait to ride the Rise of the Resistance ride).  We constantly had standing reservations while we either went on other rides or took a break or had something to eat.  It felt daunting to be able to do all the rides we wanted but this system made it much more manageable.  

Canadians heading to Disney during a pandemic

In July 2019, our friends booked a cruise.  There was a kids cruise free deal, and Kyle and I decided to crash their vacation.  They then booked a 3 bedroom timeshare in Orlando for the week before the cruise to do Disney World, and invited us to crash that too.  We would spend most of November 2020 in Florida and the Caribbean.  We would dock 4 days before our daughter's 12th birthday, and 9 before their twins turned 9.  It would be the trip of a lifetime.

Enter covid.

So we postponed the trip.  We would spend November 22-26 at Disney World, with the 26th being my daughter's 13th birthday.  The new cruise would sail November 28-December 5th, 2021, December 1st being our friends twins 10th birthday.  This might work out better!

Except covid didn't go away.  Vaccines were introduced and requirements came into effect.  But that's ok, all of the guests aged 12+ are fully vaccinated.  Nope.  The two dads had the Astra-Zeneca shot combined with Moderna.  And the US CDC doesn't accept that combination as fully vaccinated.  So once again our trip was in limbo.  There was a LOT of back and forth, and a LOT of uncertainty and SO MUCH anxiety but we finally came to a decision, which isn't easy when there are 2 families with 9 people waiting to figure it out.  

In October 2021, the US government announced it was going to open the land border and would start to accept mixed vaccines as fully vaccinated!  Things were finally starting to come together.  Case numbers in Florida had started to decrease drastically.  But there were still too many unknown about the islands our cruise was to visit.  So we cancelled the cruise, again, and kept the Disney vacation.  

Then came the realization, I am one month away from going to Walt Disney World for a week!  Time to start super planning!  There was the normal stuff: clothes, toiletries, etc.  But with a trip like this came some new fun things: new walking shoes ($300 for 3 of us) and supportive socks, new Disney Ears, matching t-shirts (which only our family will have, our friends refuse to participate), refills for the first aid kit, airplane snacks and activities which a new adventure with pre-teens!  

Other than packing, there was another layer of planning-what we do while we're there!  Both my kids have ADD/ADHD so we can get the Disability Access Service (DAS) passes.  That was an ordeal of 3 days online to get a video chat done.  Then pre-booking rides with those passes, which took another whole day on hold.  We finally figured out that was probably because of the browser I was using, which kept timing out.  We also could book dining, but at this close to our trip, which is also over Thanksgiving week, dining reservations are few and far between so we will probably stick to mostly quick service food, which is fine with us.  

At this point, with less than 10 days until we fly, we still need to get our travel insurance, rolls of US quarters for the tolls and a few other accessories but even those we can get down there.  

Time to celebrate, we are actually going on vacation!!!

Vacation's over, back to reality

Ok so we've been home for a week but I was in denial about getting back to real life.  And after living in real life for a week, it's time to get back to the challenge!  I'll take this first week back to catch back up to where I had gotten before, so I'll go over the kitchen, pantry and dining room for a quick 'refresh', and then move on with the challenge. 

I just hope my dining room refresh includes fresh flowers again! 

For those followers who are doing the challenge, where are you in your home?  What's your favorite room so far and what's been your biggest challenge?

Getting the most out of your toiletries

Our family recently spent 2 weeks in the beautiful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  My biggest concern was how the kids, aged 9 and 6, would react to the sun.  So I was sure to bring ALL of our sunscreen bottles, some half full and some completely full.

When the first bottle became 'empty', I remembered something I do with my face wash and creams. 
I cut the end off and scoop out what's left inside.

  

This time, I went one step further and opened up the entire bottle.  Since I didn't have regular scissors, I used a small pair of nail scissors. 

 My favorite part of this was that what was left in this 'empty' bottle completely covered two adults!   I did this again with another bottle, and that one had even more left inside.

Use this trick with any toiletries you have in soft bottles, especially the expensive ones! 

Starting on the Dining Room

So, in the Organization Challenge group, people are posting pictures of their completed spaces.  Along with fancy house envy, it's a great way to get ideas for your own house.  So today, when I took the kids out of the house to get some steps, we went to Walmart and Costco, and picked up a table runner for the dining room table from Walmart, and I bought some bright flowers from Costco to brighten up the room, and hopefully help me keep it tidy.  I also finally hung up my family established Wall Art from Thirty-One Gifts. 

I haven't done under the tables, and there are some boxes still on the floor, but so far I'm pleased, and can spend this week putting stuff away.  I also finally want to get the rest of the Christmas decorations organized/purged and put away.  So here are the surfaces so far.  Hope you like it!

Working away on the kitchen

Well, I'm starting the kitchen and feeling really good!

It started with the pantry.  A few good friends have gotten me hooked on the look of Tupperware Modular Mates in the pantry, so I invested.  But never really had time to go through and do it all.  Until today.  This was getting done!  And I used my brand new (bought yesterday) label maker to help.  I labeled the items, and added expiry dates for those I knew!  How smart!  My few Thirty-One Gifts Your Way Rectangles hold items that are prepackaged.  I have one for my Epicure spices, one for dinner sides and one for snacks.  Now I need a few more (and they're on SALE in January) for the bottom shelf that has pasta and cans like veggies and soup.  But so far, I love it!

Then, it was onto the two corner cupboards.  One has always been sort of a mish mash of stuff, and the other, mostly bowls, baking dishes, and some other random items.  Oh, and I should mention that we don't use our dishwasher.  When we moved, the realtor said it was better to hand wash and put away instead of having dishes in the dishwasher when showing.  So we got used to hand washing, and never stopped when we moved in here.  We briefly started using the dishwasher again, but the it broke, so we stopped, and used it for storing pots and pans.  But, if I want to renovate the kitchen at some point, and maybe replace the dishwasher, then we need to find a better place for the pots and pans than in the dishwasher.  So I decided that the corner cupboard next to the stove is where the pots and pans should be, on the bottom shelf because they're heavy.  And the top shelf will be for food preparation items.  The other corner shelf will be for food storage items, because there's a bigger counter on that side and would probably be where we would pack up food, and do meal prep stuff after grocery shopping.  So, here's what I have so far. 

All of my food storage is Tupperware, of course.  And yes, I had to label it so my family would know which containers are for what.

 And yes, most of my food prep and cooking stuff is pampered chef or epicure.  Being in Direct Sales, I have to support my Direct Sales peeps!  Plus the stuff is amazing!

And of course the part not normally shown during an organization challenge, the mess. 

Yes, it's time to say goodbye to the deep fryer.  And the three extra glass baking dishes, and the 6 extra class bowls, and all the other random stuff that has no match or lid or hasn't been used in a few years, if it's been used at all. 

So, now comes the part of cleaning up the mess, and getting rid of the stuff we're not keeping.  I should have kept all those huge Thirty-One boxes from the crazy holiday season.  Time to get the business up again and collect more boxes so I can package this stuff up and take it to the thrift store! 

Then, onto the cupboards with the dishes, glasses/mugs, and (eeek) spices.  Then drawers, then I'm DONE the kitchen!