"You know as a parent you are in a constant state of sleep-deprivation, you rush your kids in the morning to get out of the door to be on-time at school and work, you cook a meal that somebody doesn't want to eat so you often prepare more than one dinner and then you dread going to the shop because you know your child will ask for a chocolate bar, you will say "no" and they will scream and yell so you will buy them the chocolate...well Jess helps parents to establish a morning routine so you have calm mornings, she can increase your children's food tolerance so you can confidently cook only one meal and she can also help you shopping peacefully with your child!"
This is how I was explaining to parents at the Early Years Fair what Emu Education does!
Jess and I had a great time last Saturday morning at the Early Years Fair in Canmore meeting parents, professionals and noticing how children were, in their unique way, drawn to a specific toys.
It was a great opportunity for us to meet other dedicated individuals supporting families in the Bow Valley and discover more services we didn't know were offered. We connected with occupational therapists from Alberta Health Services (AHS), met a librarian from the Canmore Public Library, discussed with a dental hygienist from Luminous Dental Hygiene on how to support scared children when coming for a teeth cleaning, saw kids rolling and jumping with the physiotherapist of Canmore Recreation Centre, connected with Rocky Mountain Adaptive to offer a volunteer training, discovered the program "Healthy Families" from Closer to Home community services, explained our services to the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) representative and enjoyed a fun and interactive music performance by Miss Tangle from Entangled Puppetry.
As Jess is the "magician" in positive behavior change and I am more of a spreadsheet wizard, I listened and observed how she was engaging with parents and children.
Next thing I knew I was alone at our booth to represent Emu Education and I was explaining a 8 year-old what a token chart is after he politely asked! He then asked me if it was free, which it was, and proudly showed his mum his new dinosaur token chart and explained her what it was for and how to use it.
I'm glad we found a better way to explain what Emu Education does! I too often noticed confusion and low interest in parents' facial expression when I was name-dropping all Jess can do:
Specialized behavior support
Skill building programs
Potty training
Pre-school preparedness
Routine building strategies
1-on-1 ABA therapy
Self-care skills programs
Emotional regulation
Parent & professional coaching
BCBA candidate supervision
It seems like Jess can do it all! She can also work with young children 2 year-old to teenagers close to their 20s. Jess has worked extensively with neurodiverse children, with teenagers with violent behaviors and also with neurotypical children who at some point of their life were demonstrating challenging behaviors for their parents.
After using a story-telling approach, I got more "Yes please", " Tell me about it" and "How can you do that" than stern faces.
I can tell a little bit more about how to get peaceful shopping experiences, calm mornings and cooking only one dinner but mentioning positive behavior change strategies she uses, contemporary ABA, how she coach parents to pre-teach their children skills before they find themselves in the challenging situations and highlighting steps on how to respond to challenging behaviors.
BUT Jess is much more qualified than me to explain that.
So if you would like to know more about how Jess does her magic, join us for a complimentary webinar on May 16th from 8 to 9:30pm MST (Edmonton time). Register here to secure your spot and receive the workbook.
You will realize this is not magic, it is 20 years of experience working with children with autism, tons of study and constantly staying up-to-date with evidence-based practices.
Take out the guessing work in parenting and learn the basics of behaviors with Jess!