Services

Teletherapy Services

We want to ensure that despite the COVID-19 situation, we continue to support families in the most effective way possible. For the cases where it’s best to offer virtual support, we offer teletherapy services – virtual appointments in real time. This service is available for assessments, counselling and ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) services. See below for information about these services.

Assessment Services

Each child entering services will participate in an individual assessment. Whether your child is attending our program for an ABA/IBI program, behavioural consultation, skill development or play therapy, each child is individually assessed to determine their skill strengths and areas to be developed. Our assessment process also allows us to recommend the intensity of intervention required. A child’s schedule and hours are confirmed once the child’s assessment has been completed and we have met with the family or resource team.

Assessments

Our Assessment Team utilizes the following assessments as appropriate for each child:

ABLLS-R
AFLS
Brigance
Direct Instruction: Reading, Spelling, Writing, Language and Math
Essential Living
HELP Strands Developmental Assessments
Marshak Assessment (Play Therapy Assessment Tool)
Peak Assessment
Rossetti Infant Child Language Scale
Risk Assessments for children and youth experiencing depression and possible suicidal ideation
Social Skills Assessments
TELD-4 Language Assessment
Trauma Assessment for physical, emotional, and sexual abuse
VB MAPP

Behaviour Services

ABA Program Services

Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is the only intervention that has been scientifically proven to generate observable, measurable and lasting progress in children with autism. Studies to-date demonstrate that the majority of children diagnosed with autism, who participate in intensive and well-supervised Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) programs make appreciable and measurable gains in important developmental areas.

Utilizing the information gathered in the assessment process each child’s program is developed to build upon and reinforce their strengths and to develop areas in their skill profile where they may be functioning below developmental or functional skill levels. Our programs are based upon strong developmental understanding and theory; how often have you wondered why your child is being asked to perform a task in a setting, that he has no understanding or skill base, to allow for his/her success? Knowing that we need to “walk before we run” is fundamental to how we approach our program development.

Another key foundation to our programming approach, is found in the level of communication and support provided to the family and any other resources working with the child or youth. While we work with a child in our program for a specified number of hours each day, there are typically other settings that your child attends such as community programs for recreation, family/home, and daycares or schools. Our entire team works in a collaborative and cooperative manner so that as a large TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More), we can work to best support your child’s developmental outcomes. Often a small support in one setting has the potential to shift success in other areas of a child’s life and we look for those opportunities to expand your child’s success base!

Each staff member is carefully chosen for each child’s team to ensure a positive team compliment and a diverse skill set amongst the team, offering your child a naturalistic teaching and social approach for their learning. Specific individuals on the team may be tasked with introducing new materials, building practice routines, transferring skills from one setting to another, however the entire team works respectively and efficiently as members of a professional team of resources for your child and family.

Talk Tools Consultation & Therapy

Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) uses a hierarchical based approach, to improve speech clarity and feeding skills, in individuals of all ages and across numerous diagnoses. These innovative techniques focus on motor movement activities used to improve phonation, resonation, and speech clarity. Combined with a tactile-sensory approach, OPT provides a comprehensive solution to a variety of speech and feeding issues. OPT involves the use of therapy tools to train and transition muscle movements for speech production. The techniques, applied in combination with the tools, make significant differences in client’s lives. – www.talktools.com

Our Director of Clinical Services is one of few Canadian practitioners who is certified as a Talk Tools Therapist. She is currently pursuing her advanced level of certification to better serve client’s across the province in developing their articulation, volume and overall speech while improving their physical health by decreasing feeding issues through this incredible program.

Behaviour Consultation

It is important to create as much consistency in teaching approaches and behaviour management as possible across all of a learner’s environments. We want our students to be successful in every way and in order to achieve this success we often provide consultation to the student’s daycare or school setting to observe their performance challenges and share support strategies that are in line with the student’s home program. We frequently provide consultation services to families with the school board for IEP or IPRC meetings to assist the family in sharing information about their child and voicing any concerns so that the family and therapeutic team jointly advocate for the best interests of the child and make the transition to school or school experience a success.

We often consult on cases where, the student and family have been progressing well and at the time of our involvment may need some minor support strategies in that setting. Given the waitlists for government funding we are often called to work with community daycares and schools while the family is awaiting funding for direct therapy and require some strategies for success in the meantime.

We also offer consultations for families who are unsure of their next steps and are seeking support and direction. No matter what the reason, if a parent/ guardian feels that they need support, we are here to listen and provide whatever support we can.

Behaviour Supervision & Remote Behaviour Services

At times, our clients live in remote or distant locations and are challenged given local services may be difficult to access due to availability of skilled resources or long waiting lists. Our Remote Supervision Services were developed to meet this need both on an interim or long term basis. Through this program, Engaging Minds Learning Group provides the following services:

Recruit and hire a local therapist team for the family
Train the therapist team and the family
Perform child's individual assessement, develop report and initial program
Provide recommendations for program equipment and therapy room set-up
Provide ongoing updates to program
Supervise program implementation through regular video supervision, Facetime/Skype, and monthly team meetings
Consultation services as required for daycare/school support
Coordination of additional local resources such as Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech, and Language as required

Behaviour Training Services

We are pleased to provide training services to individuals, families and organizations. Our skilled team and extended resource relationships can provide full day training on a wide breadth of topic areas including but not limited to the following:

Bedtime and Sleep: Getting the Best Out of Your Day Through Good Nights
Behaviour Management
Creating Routines to Reduce Anxiety and Create Calm
How to Use Visual Supports
Helping My Child With Special Needs in the Community
Introduction to Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)
Non-Violent Crisis Prevention Training
Playing: A Parent's Support Curriculum
Social Stories for Life's Big and Little Moments
Special Needs Primer 1 & 2
Spontaneous Communication Training
Toilet Training
What Comes After Diagnosis?

Don’t see what you need here? Our Education Services team custom develops training for families or organizations upon request and would be pleased to work with you to develop a workshop to support your needs.

Do you prefer your learning in bite size pieces? Our social media support is able to provide quick access to tips and tricks to remind you of things you may have learned previously to help assist your child, and need a quick reminder on.

Counselling & Wellness Services

A number of years ago, Engaging Minds Learning Group saw a concerning trend in the community which from our perspective highlighted a service area gap. There was a lack of accessible, appropriate counseling services for youth and young adults who were struggling with mental health and were also diagnosed with some type of neurodevelopmental disorder. Out of this need was born our Counselling and Wellness Services Division. Our service model includes a range of treatment methodologies including Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Systemic Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Mindfulness) provided in both individual and small group therapy settings. Our unique difference is that our approach is based upon Applied Behaviour Analysis which when paired with the appropriate methodologies, has shown great success in moving the client forward where they have previously been “stuck” at a certain point when attending counseling services. Our understanding of Neurotypical Differences and Behavioural Principles combined with Therapeutic Counselling has resulted in success for our clients.

Our Counselling Services include consultation, counselling/psychotherapy with youth and adults, families and couples. While we don’t provide in-house services for socio-emotional and psychological/psycho-educational assessments, we work closely with a number of highly qualified service providers in the community who we refer to if those services are required. Our Wellness Services include Mindfulness and Meditation, Art Therapy, Music Therapy and Play Therapy. It is an honor to empower our clients to regulate, manage and achieve balance in their daily lives and communities.

Homestudy Assessments for Prospective Foster or Adoptive Parents

We currently have three SAFE Certified Assessors who have completed their supervisor level of certification with SAFE which enables them to complete homestudies for prospective foster or adoptive families. The assessment is recognized and accepted by any of the Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario as an approved assessment tool. Families looking to adopt or foster can complete a homestudy assessment with Engaging Minds Learning Group and include it as the homestudy in their foster or adoption application without having to redo the same assessment with a Children’s Aid Society which often assists in moving the parent’s application along in a more timely manner. The homestudy is an exhaustive assessment and it is important for the assessor to gain an accurate understanding of who the parent(s) are, their support systems, their core values and their strengths and weakness as individuals and as a couple. Contact us today to learn more about becoming a foster or adoptive parent.