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Program Elements, Staffing and Funding

Program Elements
 

Independent Living Skills

  • shower, shaving and self-care

  • meal prep

  • household chores

Previous Volunteer Employment

  • warehouse at food bank (2013-6)

  • library mailing late notices (2013-6)

  • junior usher at theater (2017)

Current Plans to Start Entrepreneurial Ventures

  • EveryLastStraw.com eliminating plastic straws in Burlington

  • SingByExample.com performance demos for kids with developmental disabilities

  • participation in ItsMyBusiness.org entrepreneurial hub we are starting

Recreation and fitness

  • downhill skiing with Vermont Adaptive Sports

  • kayaking

  • rockclimbing and hiking

  • basketball

  • recumbent cycling

Essential for Living Skills

  • waiting for up to 20 minutes without complaint

  • accepting the removal of items and activities, transitions, shares and takes turns without complaint

  • readily accepts "no" and continues with ongoing activities

  • follows all directions involving matters of health and safety

Other Preferred Activities

  • acting, directing and singing

  • video-editing

 

Supervision and Staffing
 

Overall supervisor, Dr. Emily Kerwin, BCBA-D, All Points Licensed Behavior Analysts, Norwell, MA.

Additional daily support, Steve Kieselstein, Aaron's dad, nearly a dozen courses completed in teaching individuals with autism, including advanced problem behavior and program management coursework with Carbone Clinic.

Aaron's program is staffed by a team of up two to four instructors who work weekdays and on the weekends.

Over the next few years, Aaron is expected to transition to a shared living situation in an apartment that is purchased for his benefit, with an overnight care provider who has already staffed Aaron's at-home program through our program.

Funding 
 

Aaron's basic services were covered by his local school district in New York under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act until 2014, when he graduated with a special education diploma.

Aaron currently receives funding through his Medicaid Waiver, in a self-managed program for which the Howard Center of Burlington, VT provides medicaid service coordination and related supports.

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