Fredericksburg Parent

www.FredericksburgParent.NET 21 Join us for the live conversation on Stay tuned in April for a video interview with Compass Counseling Services on the Fredericksburg Parent & Family Facebook and YouTube channels. Facebook: @fredericksburgparent • Twitter: @FredParent • Instagram: @fredparentmagazine a sk t h e e x p e rt Sponsored Material Q. Does a child need to have a diagnosis to work with Compass? Compass is a Medicaid-only provider, and we do need a diagnosis for services, but we are able to assist with getting a diagnosis if appropriate. We are able to provide provisional diagnosis for children who meet criteria and are waiting to obtain a full evaluation from a develop- mental specialist or psychologist in order to get services started. Q. What are some of the successes you see in your work with families? One of the most satisfying things I see happen is toilet training—it makes a huge difference in the parent and the child's life. Not being toilet trained puts a child at risk for victimization and limits family activities. We have been able to make a lot of progress with clients on this front, and it makes such a huge difference in family life. Another big area is communication. Seeing a child who previously had no way to say what they wanted have a lightbulb go off and be able to use a tool to talk to people is really life-changing. When the child can start initiating communication, we see tantrums going down and we see children realizing that the people around them can understand them. Q. How have your services evolved to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic? Our leadership team adjusted within the span of a week or two. We were able to use telehealth services where appropriate, and for some clients, we kept seeing them in the home, with extra precautions taken, such as having dedicated toys and materials that were client-specific. We are back face-to-face with most of our clients now, and we are continuing to take every precaution to keep our staff and clients safe. Q. What would you want parents of children with developmental disabilities to know, especially as COVID-19 has put increased stress on these families? Self-care for the caregiver is so important. Compass preaches this to its own employees: We can't help anybody else if we are not taking care of ourselves. Also, keep your eye on the small successes. The scope of ABA is wide, but our area of focus is narrow. We are looking for small steps of improvement in the direction of overall health. I think for parents, remem- bering to celebrate and recognize those small, gradual improvements in a child's behavior is important. To learn more, or to get in touch, visit compassva.com. Compass Counseling Services is a Medicaid-funded provider serving individuals in the Fredericksburg area, including Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline and King George counties and the city of Fredericksburg. Compass has also recently expanded to serve the Culpeper area. Q. How are parents involved in the work you do? One thing I really like about working with Compass is that we spend a lot of time work- ing on our parent training and making sure that what we are suggesting is useful in the home. ABA can fail if the solutions are not doable and convenient for the family in their home setting. We try to involve parents in every step of the planning process. We will do an assessment of the child's skills, and then we will sit down with the parent and discuss our recommendations for treatment. It's a back and forth and we hear from the parents about what is feasible, and what might be hard for them to do at home. We adjust the plan based on that feedback. We then try to involve them in some of the sessions so that they learn how to implement the interven- tions we are introducing. We also recognize that we are working in people's homes, and we try to be very aware that our outlook and perspective on certain behaviors may not be the same as that of the families, depending on their background and culture, even in deciding which behaviors we want to change. We try to establish very good relationships with our families so that they can feel confident helping us craft an inter- vention plan that is appropriate for them. Q. How does this look in prac- tice in the work you do at Compass with children who have an autism or ADHD diagnosis? For a child with autism, they may not know how to speak words, but they do know how to get their needs met. Maybe they go to the kitchen and grab an item, maybe they have a tantrum. These might be behaviors we try to reduce by building up more positive communication skills. One of the first things we do in these cases is look at what the child is getting when they throw that tantrum. We try to give them a better way to tell people what they want. This could be using sign lan- guage. It could be a using a picture exchange system, where they point to a specific picture. Sometimes we use a communication device such as an iPad, where they tap a button to make a specific request. If they are able to make and imitate speech sounds, we might be able to help them say words.

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