Sweet Behavior, LLC

21/03/2023

Celebrating all our friends with Down Syndrome today! We believe our differences make us amazing! 🧦💛💙

05/03/2023

Yesterday the world lost a wonderful soul. Judith “Judy” Heumann passed away at the age of 75. Judy was considered the ”mother of the disability rights movement” and devoted her life to the cause. She was at the forefront of major disability right demonstrations, helped spearhead the passage of disability rights legislation, founded several national and international disability advocacy organizations, held positions in government on the federal level, as well as authoring books on her life’s experience. Her loss will be deeply felt by this community, but we rest assured that the world is by far a better place because of her.

We will keep your work going, Judy. Rest in peace and power. ❤️

Image description: Blue sky with cloud background. In the forefront, a black and white picture of Judy protesting at a 504 rally in the 70’s.

14/02/2023

We are sad to be saying “goodbye” to one of our finest this week! Briget Price is leaving us to pursue further education, and we wish her nothing but the best. We certainly hope that our paths cross again and fully expect GREAT things from her in the future!

If you were previously receiving services from Briget and need further assistance transitioning to another music therapist, send us a message!

Photo: Briget, a young woman in her 20’s, bending down slightly to assist an individual in playing an instrument during a group music therapy session.

04/01/2023

Remember… ALL behavior is communication. So listen up! 👂

Imagine this scenario:

A seven-year-old with "just" fine motor difficulties (i.e. -- no formal diagnosis of any medical/social/emotional condition) wakes up in the morning.

He struggles to get himself dressed, because the clothes that he wants to wear have small buttons on them that he doesn't know how to do. The last time he tried, he got upset and gave up, then his parent yelled at him for not getting dressed when he was supposed to. So he skips the clothes that he actually wants to wear, and puts on a different outfit.

He fumbles around brushing his teeth because it's hard to coordinate, then his parent gets onto him for not doing an adequate job of it and brushes the other half for him, doing it too fast and too rough and hurting his gums on that side. He struggles to get the zipper to catch on his jacket and finally gives up, wears it unzipped, and feels cold on the way to school.

When he gets there, he has to use a pencil that's the wrong size for his hand, and he holds it with a grasp that makes his hand hurt after awhile, but it's what he has to do in order to form letters with enough pressure on the pencil for anyone to be able to read them. Pushing down that hard on the pencil also makes his hand hurt. He tries to take a break and fidgets with something to give his hand a rest, then his teacher snaps at him for "playing" and threatens to take away recess.

He's supposed to be writing a sentence like the one they have on the board, and his hand already hurts. He has an idea and decides to try writing with his non-dominant hand, but that turns out not to work, it's barely legible. Not that his normal handwriting is that much better. He switches back to his tired, dominant hand, and tries writing again, pressing down hard on the pencil to make sure that it can be read, and--

SNAP!

The pencil breaks.

He's wearing the wrong clothes, he was too cold, people have gotten onto him all day, he feels like it shouldn't be this hard to write, nobody else is having to work as hard as he is, he's just bad and he's doing a bad job, he doesn't know why he can't keep up and why the teacher is always yelling at him, and NOW HIS PENCIL IS BROKEN??!!

He loses it. He puts his head down and cries. Or he stands up and throws something.

And the occupational therapist in the back of the classroom, who was observing him for fine motor problems and poor handwriting, nods and makes a note, "Low frustration tolerance."

But...if an adult had to handle that many frustrating things in a day, they'd be losing it too.

Maybe he has a normal amount of frustration tolerance. Maybe he just has too many frustrations.

It's an interesting thought experiment, anyway.

[Image description: A black-and-white picture of a child's hands writing on a notebook, with font over it that says, "Sometimes I wonder if children with 'low frustration tolerance' are actually just exhausted from tolerating a thousand small frustrating things in a day that we don't see."]

08/12/2022

Hope you’re planning on joining us tonight!! Swing by for a fun holiday time! 🎄🎶

Looks light the rain will let up just in time for our first Light Up the Night dinner/dance/party for adults and children living with special needs and their families or caregivers! See you tonight!

29/10/2022

Your annual reminder that the Blue Pumpkin Project is not an inclusive practice, trick or treaters don’t owe you an explanation of their behavior or possible neurodiversity, and everyone deserves the chance to celebrate the upcoming holiday the way they want, if they want. 🤍🌈

If you aren't familiar with the Blue Pumpkin Project, it is a movement started in 2018 that attempts to encourage autistic children and their families to carry a blue pumpkin while trick or treating to signal to others that the child holding the blue pumpkin is autistic, and thus may decline to approach a house or to say the expected "trick or treat!" and the homeowner giving candy can adjust their expectations and actions accordingly.

While we believe it may have been well intentioned in the beginning, the Blue Pumpkin Project is a harmful and non-inclusive practice.

Having autistic children carrying blue pumpkins is a form of forced self-disclosure to strangers. No one is inherently entitled to know your child's diagnosis, no matter the social activity. It perpetuates ableist ideas that non-speaking children or children who decline a certain level of participation need a public excusal. This is untrue. Halloween brings on social interactions that children do not engage in on a regular basis, and it is unfair and unreasonable to expect differently from them just because it is October 31st.

So this Halloween... grab that orange (or green, or red, or neon pink!) pumpkin and get your kiddo some candy! 🎃

Disclaimer: Not to be confused with the Teal Pumpkin Project. That one is fine 😁

Graphic: Blue background with an image of a blue pumpkin. Text reads “Reasons we do not support the blue pumpkin project for autism.” Sweet Behavior logo in the bottom right corner.

27/10/2022

If you’re in the Fort Wayne area, there’s a local exhibit you need to check out!

This beauty was brought brought to life by Susan Janow, disabled multimedia artist! Susan is an artist with Creative Growth in California and her work is being displayed at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art between now and December 4, 2022.

Check out the exhibition if you are in the area and let us know what you think! 🖼🎨
Photo: Artwork of geometric shapes and colors by Susan Janow, Untitled (SJ 312), Ink on paper, 2020. Loan from Creative Growth.

15/10/2022

Accommodation and true inclusion!! This is an above and beyond example of what it looks like!

The crowd at Mosinee High School agreed to sit quietly so that senior Melina Carattini’s brother Payton could support his sister in person.

11/10/2022

October is Disability Employment Awareness Month! We’re going to start with what we love doing best - amplifying disabled voices!

Listen to Whit’s story… outrageous and unbelievable.

We MUST do better. The future IS accessible!



Video: Whit is a white woman in her 30’s with a pixie blonde haircut wearing glasses and a “Disability Is Not A Bad Word” tee. She is seated in a wheelchair.

07/10/2022

JOIN US for an awesome community discussion!

Next Thursday, October 13th at 11am, our own Loren Pilcher will be presenting on editor and activist ALICE WONG'S DISABILITY VISIBILITY: First-Person Stories From the Twenty-First Century (2020).

We will be discussing first person perspective of the lives of disabled Americans brought to life by Wong's work through the Disability Visibility Project.

This discussion and community event will be held at the Jeffersonville Township Public Library and is hosted in conjunction with the Indiana University Southeast Honors Program students and the IU Southeast Common Experience.

https://jtpl.evanced.info/signup/calendar?et=5,10 #

23/09/2022

What do you think? Do you agree?
Graphic: Colorful background with translucent white circle in the middle and Sweet logo in the bottom center. Text reads “when a child gets partial attention most of the time, but undivided attention when they act up, chances are they will start always acting up.”

19/09/2022

What do you think? Not a half-bad idea! 😂
Graphic: Cartoon Jack-o-lantern in taupe coloring with text reading “children who sadly lack autism should use taupe pumpkin buckets on Halloween. This signifies that the child sadly lacks autism. Everyone has a right to know that a child is allistic. .”

10/09/2022

Come see us at the Disability Resource Fair! We’ll be here until 1:00pm at the Knights of Columbus in New Albany!

03/09/2022

Who was your grown up that made all the difference in your life?

Via Josh Shipp 🧡