Our Services
Support and Outreach Services
Support Group:
If you feel alone and need a smile or someone who will listen, this will be a safe haven group for all to talk about being a family member or a caregiver or a child with special needs
The group facilitator, Consultant Dawn Ham-Kucharski has found that surrounded by others, we can open up, cry, and share a smile and unload from our everyday experiences.
The group meets at the Dearborn Therapy Center on every month.
Male Caregiver's Support Group:
If you are a dad, grandfather, uncle, friend, 18 and older brother, caregiver of individual with special needs or a male professional who works with individuals with special needs, Rich Ham-Kucharski will help you to open up, from a man’s perspective about what experiences you have encountered and what resources there are for all of us. Discussion is open to any topics, but will focus on the daily struggles you experience as a male caregiver, spouse, and what is your role between the hectic life of work and family, where do you fit in? Rich Ham-Kucharski is father to Alex, a fantastic kid who happens to have autism, cerebral palsy, and hearing loss. A former Plymouth-Canton School Board Trustee, Rich has been active in the special needs community for years, and has participated in programs with the PLAY Project, the University of Michigan Medical School, Lansing, and Mott’s Children’s Hospital.
Ladies Night Out:
If you, too, are in need of laughter and understanding, and if you are a female, eighteen or over, and a relative, friend, caregiver of an individual with special needs or a professional who works with individuals with special needs, join Dawn Ham-Kucharski for a night out.
For many of us ladies, this is the one night every other month, when we get to get out, laugh, share information and resources, be waited on, have fun, and get a good night’s sleep, afterwards, knowing we are not alone.
Guy's Night Out:
Rich Ham-Kucharski and The Futures HealthCore feel it is a great and beneficial idea for gentlemen to get together to share friendship, insights, resources, and understanding of our roles as fathers, uncles, brothers, grandfathers, and caregivers of individuals with special needs; we would also like male professionals who work with individuals with special needs to join us, too. If you are over 18, join us every other month for an evening of fun and a chance to discuss our roles in the lives of those close to us with special needs, and what we can do to not only take care of those individuals, but ourselves as well.
Contact Dawn via email for further information on any of these support groups and social gathering outreach opportunities.
The Futures HealthCore Yahoo Group:
The Futures HealthCore help children and adults achieve, one step at a time, and this Yahoo group promotes this achievement by being a safe place for individuals to share resources, information, and support. Because of the sensitive nature of private health information, you must get permission from an original sender before forwarding their post and remove all personal information before sending on the forward. Personal attacks will not be allowed; this will be a safe haven for all individuals, families, and Health and Human Services and Educational professionals.
Classes
Yoga Therapy: In this class, occupational therapists will help to increase the child’s attention and self control while utilizing yoga movements to work on coordination and body awareness. Yoga has been shown to improve immune functioning, decrease anxiety and stress, raise confidence, improve balance, and promote general health and well being. Class is limited to five participants.
Social Skills: This class is designed and run by occupational and speech therapists. The focus will be on improved ability to transition between tasks; gross motor coordination and body awareness; social skills, including the ability to share; and interpersonal interactions by use of gross and fine motor games and music in a play setting. Class is limited to five participants.
Super Heroes: This class is designed and run by occupational therapists. Enhance gross motor coordination and strength while having fun in a small group setting. Class is limited to five participants.
Fine Motor Skills: This class is run by occupational therapists, and is fine motor activity oriented offering sensory based pre-cursor exercises to printing and writing. Don’t make learning to write a struggle, let us make it fun! Class is size is limited to five participants.
Feeding and Tasting: This class is designed and run by speech and occupational therapists and is suitable for children who are having difficulty tolerating a variety of foods or unwilling to try different foods, and also kids with some oral motor difficulties causing feeding struggles. There will be a lot of parent education; parents are invited and encouraged to observe the group through our one way mirror. An independent evaluation needs to be completed prior to the class starting for each child, either at the therapy center or in the home.
Kid's Club: Stay and Play with occupational therapists and speech and language pathologists. Gross motor play, fine motor activities, snack time, and language development. Child must be toilet trained.
Individualized Therapies
ABA Therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis): Our psychologists, Alicia Kendall, who has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts Degree in Applied Behavioral Analysis from Western Michigan University; and who is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Jennifer Skundrich, who holds both a Bachelors of Arts and Masters of Arts in Applied Behavior Analysis at Western Michigan University and certifications as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and a Certified Brain Injury Specialist (CBIS) and who has also received training and certification as an instructor through the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), bring a well researched and experienced history in ABA therapy to our organization. After an initial assessment with your child, Alicia or Jennifer will provide ABA therapy that is tailored specifically to meet the needs of the child and their family. By working with the child and training of the child’s caregivers, ABA works to teach people socially and age-appropriate ways to improve their quality of life and engagement with the world.
Handwriting without Tears: We have occupational therapists certified in this incredible approach to developing your child’s written communication. Handwriting without Tears is a multi-sensory approach to handwriting taken by the occupational therapist, which includes strength, coordination, and spatial awareness. These sessions are designed to decrease frustration with acquiring handwriting skills. An initial OT evaluation is required. Available only at the Therapy Center.
Therapeutic Listening: We also have occupational therapists whom are certified in therapeutic listening. Utilizing CDs and Auditory Equipment, therapeutic listening expands on sensory integration therapy. Therapeutic listening trains the auditory sense to help better regulate vestibular issues, awareness of body space, to help provide awareness and body grounding in concepts of space and time, while helping to work on sensory sounds that may be over stimulating your child and lead to inappropriate behaviors. An initial OT evaluation is required. Available only at the Therapy Center.
Speech and Language Therapy: Individual Private Speech and Language Therapy at the Home or at the Center—An initial evaluation required
Occupational Therapy: Individual Private Occupational Therapy at the Home or at the Center—An initial evaluation required.
Physical Therapy: Individual Physical Therapy at the Home or at the Center—An initial evaluation required.
For registration information, contact Dawn Ham-Kucharski, Consultant for Futures HealthCore at 734-407-2500 ext. 359
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The Futures HealthCore Therapy Center