Program areas at ACTG
Personal care attendant (pca) services A Chance To grows home based services department offers pca services To clients who qualify for hours following determination from A public health nurse. We currently have 4 programs available. Traditional pca serves children and adults. Our professional staff recruits and trains pcas. The pcas are trained To the clients need. Our choice program also serves both children and adults. Clients are responsible for recruiting and supervising the pca. A Chance To Grow acts as the fiscal agent in this program. Our final two programs are respite care and homemaking assistance.
A Chance To grows outpatient rehabilitation clinic offers speech and occupational therapy services. Our team offers A holistic approach To meeting the needs of the child. We collaborate with other actg programs and interventions as well as parents, teachers, special educators, physicians, etc. A Chance To grows vision department offers several programs for children and adults. Vision therapy is A combination of eye exercises that improve visual processing skills. Each program is individually tailored To the clients needs. Developing these visual skills makes reading and other schoolwork easier. Vision therapy can also reduce eye strain, headaches related To visual tasks, eye turns, double vision, blurred vision and amblyopia (lazy eye). In addition vision therapy improves reading speed, accuracy, comprehension and the ability To cope and take notes and athletic ability. Our vision department also offers vision exams for people of all ages. Other services include developmental and visual perception testing, preventative eye care and disease management, eye glass adjustment and sales, contact lens examinations and fittings, and dyslexia screenings. Recently, the vision department added mobile vision services for childcare centers. We travel To local childcare centers and provide eye exams To children six months To five years old. A Chance To grows auditory department offers auditory processing evaluations for people ages 7 years and up. We can provide apd screenings for 5 and 6 year olds. Symptoms of an auditory processing problem include: A history of multiple ear infections, difficulty understanding verbal information, trouble following directions, spelling and reading, social interactions, sound discrimination, etc. Every clients care begins with A one-on-one evaluation with actgs audiologist. A Chance To grows neurotechnology department offers two technologies To the community. Audio visual entrainment (ave) exposes the visual channel To pulsating lights and the auditory channel To rhythmic beats or tones. It allows one To reach A state of deep relaxation that fosters stress reduction and self-improvement. Through lights and sounds, ave exposes the brain To useful patterns and helps one access the brain more easily. The ave device is not only portable, but can be used in the privacy of the home. Eeg biofeedback is our other technology. Eeg biofeedback is A painless, non-invasive procedure where the client receives feedback from his or her brain with the assistance of sensors placed on his or her scalp and ears. Our system uses family-friendly movies and video graphics To help ones brain relax and reach optimal state, ideal for learning and efficiency. When A less desirable brainwave state emerges, the graphic or movie slows down and the brain responds To the slower feedback. This encourages an efficient brainwave pattern.
Childcare services turnquist child enrichment center is an naeyc accredited, 4-star parent aware, hennepin county strong beginnings early childhood program specializing in working with at-risk children and households headed by teen parents.. Early childhood programs accredited by naeyc's national academy of early childhood programs have voluntarily undergone A comprehensive process of internal self-study, invited external professional reviews To verify compliance with the criteria for high-quality early childhood programs, and has been found To be in substantial compliance with the extensive criteria. As A strong beginnings site, we believe that learning begins at birth and kindergarten readiness is key To all families' ability To find educational success. Our center works with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, elementary school students in after school care and their families To help prepare them for success in school and throughout their lives. We work on age appropriate literacy, developmental skills such as social and communication, large and small motor and problem solving while learning how To interact in A classroom setting. In independent testing of children entering the minneapolis school district, strong beginnings students tested solidly on track for reading success, surpassing the scores of all entering kindergarteners.
Training services - Minnesota learning resource center (mlrc) with A dual mission of replicating brain-centered interventions developed by A Chance To Grow and creating A community of educators who look at children developmentally, the Minnesota learning resource center (mlrc) is the internationally recognized teacher training institute of A Chance To Grow. Established in 1999 via funding by the Minnesota state legislature, the mlrc has trained over 6,700 educators To date. Additional financial support from the us department of education over A four-year period allowed the mlrc To expand into 13 other states outside of Minnesota, involving over 300 schools and 60,000 students nationwide in grades k-3. Educators from as far away as singapore, japan, bermuda, australia, germany and mexico have participated in mlrc workshops. Data collected over the years indicates that the actg interventions increase learning readiness for all students, both those who struggle and those already at or beyond grade level, in those early elementary years. Ranging from A purposeful movement program called s.m.a.r.t., To the use of cutting edge technology, the interventions all work To stimulate the brain and bring it To its full capacity for learning. In 2005 the mlrc launched A five year study involving 22 head start sites To determine the effectiveness of s.m.a.r.t. With children aged three To five, attempting To prepare children for learning prior To their entry To school rather than remediating after the child has started school. The results of the study, using standardized measures, showed that those children exposed To s.m.a.r.t. Entered kindergarten ready To learn and at A level equal To national norms. And when A subset of the head start children was followed into grades k - 2, they maintained those gains, thereby avoiding what's referred To as the head start fade. Both the s.m.a.r.t. K-3 and pre-k programs offer 3-day trainings for teachers and other professionals, follow-up, on-site mentoring and A variety of curriculum and program guides that detail the s.m.a.r.t. Activities and the relevancy To learning readiness.