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Social Skills Program
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Valley Achievement Center offers a structured classroom environment for individuals with in the autism spectrum in the Social Skill after school program. We teach social skills, communication and appropriate classroom behavior with a student teacher ratio of 3:1 or 6:1 based on an intake assessment and the functioning level of the student. Students are expected to function within a group. This program is offered 5 days a week from 2pm to 5pm and serves students ages 6-17. Each day is filled with different activities to encourage the children’s growth in these areas. They are taught through social stories, role-play and classroom activities such as: idiom lessons (teaching the understanding of idioms and how to use them within their own communication), sports (teaching sportsmanship), and board games (teaching sharing, compromise and turn taking). Along with their daily activities, they are taken into the community once a week. This allows them to practice the skills they are learning within the school and generalize that skill into unfamiliar environments. This program is beneficial for children who struggle with social skills and are striving to improve their self-help (hygiene, dressing etc) and social skills (organization, peer interaction etc). Each student is placed in a classroom but, has an individual program plan set up to achieve each of their individual goals. The goal is for them to obtain social skills and be productive in our community. Our focus is teaching: Is your child right for the Social Skills after school program? Prerequisite skills for the Social Skills after school program include:
Contact Information for the Social Skills Program: Valley Achievement Center: Social Skills
Program Staff |
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Robin Graham has been employed at Valley Achievement Center for 9 years. She has been an Instructional Assistant & a Program Manager in the After-school Program; a Teacher’s Assistant in the Basic Education Program, a Program Manager in the Social Skills After-school Program and is now the Program Administrator of the Social Skills After-school Program. She is currently working towards obtaining her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Child Adolescent and Family Studies. She has attended many autism conferences & workshops. She has attended training in the areas of Applied Behavior Analysis, Discrete Trial Training, Picture Exchange Communication System, Sign Language, Sensory Integration and Professional Assault Crisis Training. She has attended a variety of conferences with speakers such as Tony Attwood, Jeanette McAFee, and Amelia Davies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tara Haskell has been an employee of VAC since the end of 2005. She is the Office Manager for the Social Skills program. In addition to all the everyday clerical work that helps the program run smoothly, she assists the Program Administrator with keeping the facility in compliance with Community Care Licensing. "The most rewarding part of my job is the couple of minutes I get to spend everyday with each student as they come off the bus and come through my office. I love seeing each student progress and hearing the parent’s stories about the changes they see taking place in their child." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Stefani Sullivan has been an employee of Valley Achievement Center since 2002. She began as a part time Instructional assistant in the After-school Program and eventually moved to the Social Skills Program as a classroom assistant. She has been a program manager in the Social Skills Program for one year. She is currently a student at Cal State Bakersfield and will receive her Bachelors degree in Liberal Studies in June 2007. In the fall, she is going to enter the credential program to get her credential in special education. Stefani has had specialized training in Applied Behavior Analysis, Visual strategies for children with Autism, Professional Assault Response Training, and several other Autism training workshops. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tiffany Vejar has worked at Valley Achievement Center for about 3 years. She started working as a part time after school Instructional Assistant and later became a program assistant and is now a Program Manager. She has also received specialized training in ABA techniques. She is also CPR/First Aid and PART/Pro-Act certified. She had the opportunity to attend the Autism Awareness Conference, where the guest speaker was Janette McAfee, Navigating the Social World. She is currently attending C.S.U.B. majoring in Liberal Studies and hope to receive a credential in special education and eventually go back to receive her masters. She manages a classroom with a 3 student to 1 teacher ratio that focuses on communication. "The best part about my job is that everyday is a new experience and new challenge for me and the most exciting is seeing my student’s progress and learn." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 JoAnna Vega Program Manager |
JoAnna Vega has worked at VAC a little over 3 years. In the past, she has worked as a Recreational Leader for Bakersfield City Parks and Recreation. She also worked for them as a Life Guard and Swim Instructor. She has been working with children in different fields for about 6 years. Her current position at VAC as a program manager has been very rewarding. "I love to interact with the kids and be able to help them grow through new goals. In the future I plan on becoming a teacher, but as of right now I’m currently still in school working hard in order to reach that goal." She continues to learn and grow through trainings and conferences. Some of these include: ABA training, Pro-Act training, CPR and she also attended the Autism Awareness Conference with Jeanette McAfee who wrote Navigating the Social World. The classroom she oversees is a three student to one teacher ratio, dealing with more behavioral issues. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amanda Dominguez is a Classroom Assistant and an Instructional Assistant at the Social Skills program for Valley Achievement Center. As a Classroom Assistant she is in charge of meeting up with our program managers and making lesson plans for the week. She also organizes the classroom activities for the day. As an Instructional Assistant, she gets to work with the students directly and that is the best part of her day. "I find my job to be very rewarding. There's nothing like coming to work and seeing a student progress and getting to know each of the students and their wonderful personalities". She is currently a senior at California State University Bakersfield and is a Sociology major with a minor in Art. Her goal is to become an elementary school teacher and the future looks bright towards that goal. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
