Therapy Services
Classroom CONSULTATION and Educator Development
Half Full Institute's staff has a long history of working within classrooms to improve overall behavior management strategies and skills. This is especially helpful in general education classrooms containing one or more children with moderate to severe behavioral or developmental disorders. Our staff works with teachers and administrators to assess and build on teaching team strengths to promote a classroom where all students can participate, learn effectively and access the material being presented. We provide classroom observation and reporting services, as well as teacher consultation and mentoring.
Half Full Institute will also support teachers’ development and excellence through the use of formative classroom visits, feedback, reflection, problem solving, and data collection and analysis with the emphases around Danielson’s Framework, as this model is crucial in effective teaching.
Half Full Institute recognizes that communities have their own resources to deal with psychological and psychosocial issues, and with support, can be empowered to solve their own problems in sustainable and culturally sensitive ways.
Behavior Modification and Management
Based in the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), Hall Full Institute’s Behavior Management program is designed to help parents and teachers learn new skills for supporting their child's or student’s development and managing problem behaviors. Generally designed for the short-term, Behavior Management plans typically focus on a few key behaviors that need to be reduced (such as tantrum behavior) or developed (as in self-help skills such as dressing oneself). Because our Behavior Management program focuses on parents' learning parents must be present and actively involved throughout the intervention.
Typically, Behavior Management services begin with an initial assessment, during which behaviors of concern and areas of development are identified, intervention goals defined, and strategies developed. Once the assessment is complete, the Behavior Interventionist (BI) begins by working with the parents/ teachers, training them in the techniques to be used. Then the BI models the use of the techniques and then coaches the parents/ teachers in implementing each intervention themselves. In between meetings, parents/teachers practice and track the child's behavior so that the BI can continue to refine the strategies and support the parent/teacher in managing the child's difficult behavior. Ultimately, the parent/teacher have the opportunity to learn skills which can help them support the child's desired behavior and development now as well as in the future.
PSYCHO-SOCIAL SUPPORT for Educators, Parents and children
While developmental disorders are biological, they have real psychological and social effects - both on the affected individual and those who care for them. Parents of a child diagnosed with autism or another developmental disorder must typically come to terms with the diagnosis, grieve the loss of their dream of having a non-disabled child, and cope with the day to day struggles of parenting an affected child. Quite often, family members handle these challenges differently, which can lead to conflict between parents, siblings, and others. Additionally, the demands of caring for their disabled child can cause family members to have problems balancing work and other pressures. Sometimes, it just gets to be too much. But what about me? is a special fact sheet for parents and caregivers on the effects of these pressures and strategies for coping with them.
Speaking with a therapist who understands developmental disorders can be very helpful at different times in this process. Half Full Institute therapists are skilled at helping individuals and families find solutions to their day-to-day problems, caring and supportive in exploring individual feelings, and able to support family members in communicating more effectively about their needs and preferences. In many cases, participating in therapy is an important step in getting the whole family together to more effectively support the affected child and each other. Unlike other counseling centers, our therapists also have training and experience in working with autism and other developmental disorders and understand the particular challenges faced by our clients and their families.
STRESS MANAGEMENT
We offer a variety of client-oriented stress management programs. Our focus is on helping individuals to help themselves. We teach our clients to identify stressors, evaluate responses and improve outcomes.
Therapeutic counseling
Our team of experts is prepared to provide both individual, group and family therapeutic counseling. Our therapy sessions are tailored to the needs of the individuals and groups they are delivered to.
Arts Services
ARTS INTEGRATION AND EDUCATION
Over the last 5 years, data from New York City Arts in Schools Reports clearly show that participation in music not only declines as students progress from elementary to intermediate and high school, but that overall participation has decreased over that same time period.
New York's most disadvantaged youth have even fewer opportunities, as most extra-curricular music programs are pay to play, and are not easily accessible to low-income neighborhoods. The Half Full Institute is working to solve this problem and create a new generation of young musicians in New York City.
The Half Full Youth Orchestra will eliminate the financial boundaries that prevent disadvantaged youth from accessing and succeeding in music performance.
Your donation will help give a student:
- Their own instrument
- Private lessons
- Ensemble performance experiences
With education and the arts under attack from Washington, your donation today is more important than ever.
Through the arts and community partnerships, we help our clients to develop meaningful relationships between life-long learning and self improvement. We help give learners access to arts experiences that will develop their overall learning and fortify their understanding of the world around them.