Sponsor Spotlight: The Hope Source

BY JULIE GORDON, LCSW & GABBY BUSTAMANTE, RBT

On a fall evening in 2022, the red carpet was rolled out waiting for its stars. An audience of over 250 are dressed in their best. The smell of pizza, popcorn and anticipation fill the air. Over 12 weeks of hard work culminating on this night. Pure magic on the big screen bringing forth more proud smiles and happy tears than one room could hold.

16 years ago, The Hope Source went on mission to develop an alternative to the compliance-based, rote learning methods typically used in ABA therapy for ASD. We wanted to raise the bar, there was another way. A natural way. ABA can be developmental, trauma-responsive, holistic and relationship-based.

Learning the social, emotional and executive functioning skills of the brain’s pre-frontal cortex, requires real-world experiences with a trusted guide. Intrinsic Motivation, from personal and meaningful triumphs, is the most effective “reinforcer” for developing confidence and competence in these critical areas. In addition, the chronically stressed limbic brain of those with ASD needs a mindful and responsive approach to the anxiety that comes with trying new and hard things.

How do you create these types of experiences in the therapy setting for treatment goal attainment, while ensuring authentic engagements and natural generalization and without using tangible reinforcers like food or iPads? Purpose Project.

In 2019, The Hope Source elevated our unique approach to ABA with annual, themed units with our program, Purpose Project. It is a project-based learning therapeutic curriculum involves clients working towards an exhibition at the end of a 6-12 week rotation which showcases two novel, long-

term tangible products that clients have chosen, with the supportive and conscientious planning by their Behavior Technician and their Behavior Analyst.

In Purpose Project, we developed experiences where learning is imbedded to better focus on the social-emotional and executive functioning therapy goals; including but not limited to social communication and cognition, flexible thinking and information processing, coregulation and self-regulation, joint attention, and episodic memory. To demonstrate true acquisition of a skill, the program encourages clients to apply this new personal “tool” meaningfully and generalize it to other situations in their life.

The Purpose Project utilizes a balanced approach of process-oriented intervention and genuine engagement with performance-driven outcomes and data collection. With this program, autistic clients are not “working for” an external reward, rather intrinsically motivated by their own determination and success. Clients engage in the process of solving problems in the environment or breakdown in collaboration rather than being a passive or prompt dependent participant through experiential, active learning to develop meet personal goals, learn new concepts, and explore careers, leading to long-term confidence to try other novel things.

Each Purpose Project is broken down into manageable steps, realistic timelines and age-appropriate contributions so that every client can navigate the project at their own pace, starting skill level and/or newness to The Hope Source’s Purpose Projects.

We meet them where they are so that hard days never feel like failure and too overwhelming to overcome.

Some our Purpose Projects throughout the year include; HopeTank, learning about business, invention and valuations with a pitch to the sharks; Hope500, learning about advertising, graphic design and transportation with classic boxcar and pinewood derby races, HopeChallenge, learning about health, wellness, independent living skills with field day relay races, HopeGallery, learning about agriculture and natural resources through reproductions of famous paintings or sculptures. HopeTube, learning about the arts, performing and production with a talent show.

Every Purpose Project ends with an exhibition event where families can come through the Purpose Project Expo. Clients can choose to present and share about what they created and what they learned, or their technician can lead if they want support. This is when client proudly show their families the fruit of all they have been working on for the past several weeks (and likely what they have been sharing at home). The expos give parents the opportunity to see their child get to participate and shine in “school” type events that their child might have otherwise missed in other settings.

We believe our clients deserve the same opportunities as their peers, parents deserve to see their children exceling in things others never thought possible.

In the 2022 HopeTube expo, we went big! We adapted “Going on a Bear Hunt” children’s book into a comedy, drama musical. Our clients learned different dance genres of Ballet, Tap, HipHop, Jazz, Line Dancing, Ball Room and Contemporary to all different genres of songs. With the assistance of our Speech Pathologists, our clients learned about reading from a script, changing your voice to be a specific character, playing off another character and other acting skills. When you are learning chorography of a new dance from an instructor, you need to be able to jointly attend to monitoring their actions, co-regulate by coordinating to match their actions and self-regulate to adapt your pace to stay together with the group.

There is no greater motivator than watching yourself shine on a big screen with so many supportive people clapping for you, knowing that you began the project with uncertainty, kept trying, learned so many new things and overcame your own fears.This is how you ABA, the Natural Way.

Follow us on Facebook to see the process updates and final products of all our Purpose Projects.

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