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Behavioral Building Blocks - Click here to view the agency profile.
Specializing in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) interventions for children with developmental and behavioral disorders
P.O. Box 184
Lincoln Park, MI 48146

Introduction to Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) - Relationship Development Intervention is an ongoing program of clinical development and research begun is 1996. The primary goal of RDI is to remediate the recognized core deficits of ASD. RDI provides individuals with ASD the cognitive, emotional, communicative and social tools that are geared towards remediation rather than compensation.

Art Therapy: How Creative Expression Can Heal - Janette is six years old, her brown eyes weary with the haunted wisdom of a child who has seen more than any six-year-old should ever see. She witnessed her father, in the frenzy of an alcoholic rage, kick her pregnant mother in the stomach and saw the police come and drag her father out of the room, and she was there when her bruised and tearful mother returned from the hospital and told her that she wasn't going to have a baby sister after all.

MI Euro-Peds North Oakland Medical Centers - Children and young adults with cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular disorders receive intense physical therapy at the Euro-Pēds clinic, the world's first and only hospital-based intensive therapy program, in order to achieve maximum improvement in minimal time. Children with all levels of involvement are treated and for thousands of children, it offers treatment options never before explored such as SUIT Therapy and the Universal Exercise Unit (UEU). Many patients learn to do things they never did before in their lives - roll, sit, crawl and even walk. To learn more, visit http://www.europeds.org/epp_epd.htm.

MI Great Expectations: Parents Put Faith in Learning Programs - Like all parents, Staci and Steve Bockmann expected their son to talk by a certain age. When Blake continued to babble at 2 1/2 their concern turned to shock when the diagnosis came back as autism.

Featured Website: Music Therapy: The Power of Music - Examines the power of using popular music, something people already listen to, in therapy. Includes examples of therapeutic messages in popular music as well as original music by Freudian Slip, therapeutic rock band.

Camp: Disabled Youths Learn to Use Devices That Help Them Speak With Others - For 12-year-old Zachary Bryant of Hampstead, attending summer camp is about more than having fun. He is learning to master a device that helps him do something most children take for granted: communicate.

Birmingham's Variety FAR Conservatory of Therapeutic and Performing Arts: An instructional and therapeutic center for persons with mental, physical, and/or emotional impairments. The FAR Conservatory offers Art Therapy, CAMP FAR OUT, Dance/Movement Therapy, Gymnastics, Ice Skating and Hockey, Music Therapy, Softball, Special Group Classes, and Theater Arts Therapy.

Brushing: Wilbarger Protocol - Comments from a parent who experienced this form of therapy with her child: "I did it with one of my sons. We did it every 90 minutes for 2 weeks then were to back off to 3 times a day after that. Initially it helped him sleep through the night but the effects seemed to wear off. We do an oral program now and it does help with tooth brushing."  Note: Intervention always must be directed by a professional who has received training in the Wilbarger protocol.

Brain Disorder, Auditory Hyperacusis, and the Promise of Music Technology by Dr. Wayne J. Kirby, D.A., The University of North Carolina at Asheville - "Over thirty years ago, a French physician and noted ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Guy Bérard, began noticing that the hearing problems exhibited by many of his child patients were affecting their school work. He discovered that many times the learning and associated behavioral problems of the child were rooted in hypersensitivity, as well as below-normal sensitivity, to sounds at particular frequencies. It appeared to Dr. Bérard that both of these auditory conditions were "clearly associated with many behavior and learning problems, including hyperactivity and dyslexia" (Bérard, 1993). In response to these observations, Dr. Bérard set about devising an auditory training program designed to normalize these hearing anomalies and ultimately cause the "amelioration of [the] behavior or learning problem" (Bérard, 1993). This technology-based auditory training has since come to be known as the Bérard Method of Auditory Integration Training (AIT).

The American Music Therapy Association - By educating doctors, nurses, teachers and families about the many uses of Music Therapy, the American Music Therapy Association works to ensure that every child, adult and family in need of Music Therapy has access to first-rate programs from qualified professional Music Therapists in their own communities.
 
Study: Music Helps Kids' Verbal Memory - Remember those piano lessons you hated, or those dreaded hours practicing the violin? It turns out they might have gotten you better test scores.

Book Review: Music therapy, Sensory Integration and the Autistic Child

Linking Music Learning to Reading Instruction (PDF size=205kb) - Tracking the relationship between reading skills and the skills used in music-text and score reading reveals that music education enhances reading abilities.  From the Alabama Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association (Orff Schulwerk is a way to teach and learn music.)

A website geared towards speech therapists from the Indiana Resource Center for Autism: www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/IRCAarticles/fcommunicationarticles.html
 
The Role of the School Speech Language Pathologist and the Student with Autism from the Indiana Resource Center for Autism: http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/communication/roleslp.html
 
Social Communication and Language Characteristics Associated with High Functioning, Verbal Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder from the Indiana Resource Center for Autism: http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/communication/socialcomm.html

Birmingham's Variety FAR Conservatory of Therapeutic and Performing Arts

1669 West Maple Road
Birmingham, MI 48009
Phone: 248.646.3347
Fax: 248.646.4480

 
Our offices are located at 15 Mile/Maple Road between Cranbrook and Southfield in room 201 of the First Presbyterian Church
 
Mission: The Variety FAR Conservatory of Therapeutic and Performing Arts is an instructional and therapeutic center for persons with mental, physical, and/or emotional impairments.

The purpose of FAR is to provide an atmosphere where the creative talents of the individual may be challenged and expressed, thereby enhancing the intellectual, social and cultural well being of each student. By gaining knowledge and understanding of the chosen artistic discipline, students gain a personal sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. All classes and activities offered through FAR Conservatory are structured to meet the diverse needs of a specialized clientele. We at the FAR Conservatory are committed to ensuring that all projects, activities and performances in which a student is involved upholds the life affirming philosophy of the Conservatory. The FAR staff of professionals and volunteers are dedicated in their service to provide fun learning experiences and help each student become well rounded, happy and healthy.