SAFETY PLANS are the first step in individualizing the Sanctuary® Model. The Safety Plan is an important de-escalation tool to be practiced in the Sanctuary Community and every staff and student has one. Without Safety, the students are not able learn and develop. Staff Safety Plans are based on the role of being Safety plan mentors. It is difficult to help others do what you haven’t done for your self. Violence by youth against other youth is rampant. A Safety Plan is worthwhile if it puts our children out of harms way. Teaching Safety is what all parents have to do. Safety Plans must be simple so that they can be easily remembered. Many families use Safety Plans for themselves to help maintain safety in the house and community.
As a newcomer this past year, I did not anticipate being welcomed into an organization so willing to accept new ideas and try new things to help their students. For me, one particular classroom team’s efforts to overcome challenges and frustration throughout the 2009-2010 school year was a remarkable example of positive growth and change.
Faced with increasingly frequent and severe behavioral issues, the team members worked hard to address the problems within their classroom while also expressing their concerns and ideas to others staff members. »Read More
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Staff members and interns from Penn State Outreach are blogging from the National Autism Conference at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel throughout the week. The conference, which averages about 2,500 participants, features experts in autism, educators, autism advocates, people with autism and their families. In this summary of conference sessions, Erin Rowley, a senior majoring in journalism and history, blogs about issues that college students with Asperger’s Syndrome face, and Kyle Casey, a senior majoring in public relations, blogs about support systems at home and school. Both are interns with Penn State Outreach.
By Erin Rowley