Training in
Plano, Texas (Dallas Area)

February 22-25, 2010

An Introduction to The Growing Minds Autism Program presented by Steven & Kaitryn Wertz

Would you like to:

• Increase your child’s motivation and cooperation
• Improve his or her language and social interaction
• Gain methods to reach important social, educational and behavioral goals

The program is designed and presented by Steven and Kaitryn Wertz, based on twenty-seven years of experience in training over one thousand parents and their children with autism-spectrum disorders. Central to the Growing Minds approach is the belief that many children can recover from Autism, Pervasive Developmental Delay (PDD) and Asperger’s Syndrome when their unique developmental needs are met. Even children with the most severe forms of autism have the capacity to improve intimacy and communication and to learn skills that enrich their quality of life.

Children on the autism spectrum develop most successfully and rapidly when their special social, educational and biomedical needs are met within an individualized program. Rather than trying to fit the child to the program, we tailor the program to the child’s unique strengths, difficulties, interests and abilities. The Growing Minds Autism Program integrates educational methods, play-based methods, and relationship-oriented methods and can improve your success with biomedical methods and sensory integration programs.

This program is recommended for:

• Parents who are stressed or burnt out and need new inspiration and ideas
• Parents who currently teach their child at home, either full time or after school.
• Parents interested in working with their child at home, either full-time or after school.
• Family members, volunteers and staff who support parents with a home-based program.
• Autism professionals.

The Growing Minds Program can improve your success with other approaches to autism treatment:

• Those using biomedical or sensory approaches will learn to support your child’s physiological changes with a strong relational and educational program.
• Those using The Son-Rise Program or with Floor Time (Greenspan) will gain skills to help your child accept direction, increase cooperation, improve attention and acquire the skills necessary to benefit from a school environment.
• Those using Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA, Lovaas and Verbal Behavior) will gain skills to build greater rapport with your child and help him or her initiate communication and enjoy social interaction.

Topics include:

Attitudinal training
The attitude of parents and teachers is instrumental in creating positive behavior change in children. This segment explores how attitudes, thoughts and feelings may influence your ability to teach your child, and how to harness the power of a positive attitude to encourage your child’s motivation and communication.

Improving communication and connection/rapport
We’ll provide specific techniques to help you increase your child’s attentiveness and rapport. In addition, you’ll learn methods to encourage your child to initiate communication and to strengthen your child’s motivation and ability to interact with you. These are practical techniques that you can immediately put into practice with your child.

Positive ways to change challenging behavior
Strategies and attitudes that will help you to minimize your child’s challenging behaviors and to make it less likely that problem behavior will emerge in the future.

Assessing your child
In order to set teach effectively, it is very helpful to correctly assess your child’s abilities and progress. The session will focus on identifying appropriate social and developmental goals for your child.

Teaching methods
An overview of various teaching methods currently in use for children with autism and related conditions, including play-based methods (Intensive Interaction, Son-Rise and Floor Time), Discrete Trial Teaching (also known as ABA, Lovaas and Verbal Behavior) Structured Teaching (also known as TEACCH).  This will provide a foundation for developing and synthesizing your own teaching style, and for customizing your program to your child’s unique needs.

Creating custom learning experiences
Using specific learning and curriculum goals, we will assist you to design customized learning experiences that will help you and your child to accomplish your objectives. Includes instruction on how to match your goals to your child’s interests.

Structuring your program
Suggestions on a variety of practical topics, such as: how many hours to run your program, what types of activities to use, how to sequence activities, how to vary your child’s day, how much directed teaching to provide and how to adapt your program to meet your family’s needs.

Teaching children with motor difficulties (dyspraxia) and
executive function problems
Many children with autism have obvious or hidden motor or executive function difficulties. These children progress more rapidly when the teaching strategies are adapted to their specific needs.  This segment provides information and discussion on identifying these difficulties and designing appropriate learning strategies.

Taking care of yourself while you help your child
Parenting or working with a child with ASD can be challenging and demanding. This segment includes ways to remain inspired, optimistic, motivated and balanced.

Special features of this program:

• Growing Minds is a comprehensive program, which balances your child’s need for social development with his or her need to acquire skills and to grow academically. You do not need to compromise one area of your child’s development for another.
• Presenter Steven Wertz is, to our knowledge, the only individual in the field of autism treatment to have earned certification in both Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and in the Son-Rise program, making him uniquely qualified to access and integrate the best of both educational and relational approaches. Steven has personally worked with over 1,000 children with autism spectrum disorders in his twenty-seven year career. Read Steven’s biography.
• You’ll receive a detailed training manual containing all methods taught in the program along with extensive background materials for your continued learning.
• You’ll have opportunities to network with and learn from other parents and professionals using a similar approach.
• We are specialists in making learning fun. We use humor, interaction, experiential learning, creativity, audio-visual presentations and real life examples to provide a relaxing, energizing and enjoyable learning environment.
• The Growing Minds staff works carefully with our local sponsors to make these programs as affordable as possible, in an effort to provide participants with an exceptional educational experience at a reasonable cost.

This program is sponsored by:

* Dr. Seshagiri Rao
* Excel Pediatric Therapy
* Kris Brown
* Rachel Piekarski

Program schedule:
Monday, February 22 to Thursday, February 25, 2010.  
9am to 12 noon and 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
The opening session is scheduled for Monday morning at 9:00am. Sessions will be held in the morning and in the afternoon. You are requested to present a video or DVD of your child (5-15 minutes), in order to help us better understand your questions and concerns.

Please note that this is a training seminar designed for adult participants (parents, relatives, professionals, support workers) attending without children. 

Location
St. Andrew’s Methodist Church
5801 West Plano Parkway
Plano, Texas 75093
Our location is 30 minutes from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport with easy access to major highways.

Program fee $800.
This single low fee allows up to four adults who are involved with your child to attend (for example, both parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles, teachers, therapists etc).
  
Special early bird discount
$725 for registration with deposit by October 31, 2009.

A deposit of $400 is due when registering. The balance is due January 15, 2010
Payment can be made by check, Visa or MasterCard.

Cancellation Policy
30 days notice is required notice for a full refund. A refund of 50% will be given for notice given from 29 to 5 days in advance. In case of cancellation less than five days before the beginning of the program, no refund will be given, although you can arrange for someone else to attend in your place.

How to Register

To register or obtain further information, please call:
Kris Brown: 214-707-0628
Rachel Piekarski:  214-316-0296
Chelsea (Excel Pediatric Therapy):  972-771-5731

15096 115th Avenue North, Jupiter, Florida 33478
Phone: 561-748-9697 Fax: 561-748-6543

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