Community School

11/15/2025

Look at those LEARNING- READINESS skills in action! Did you know these skills are critical for school success, yet are often overlooked? These are the important behaviors that we don’t get grades on!

Here are some examples of skills children need to experience long-term school success:

✏️ GROUP INSTRUCTION: Can sit for appropriate amounts of time without disturbing neighbors, can attend to adults and peers in a group (visual & auditory), takes turn during activities, follows group instructions, etc.

✏️ ROUTINES: Can care for own belongings, transition from room to room or across activities, walks in a line, works independently, follows multi-step instructions, etc.

✏️ Other areas to develop include social skills, tolerance of aversive stimuli in a learning environment (ex: loud noises), adequate play & leisure skills, language skills, and gross/fine motor skills.

🌟IT’S ALL HAPPENING AT CS!

11/15/2025

We love these incredible docs! Some of our CS learners benefit from their amazing work. We love that this is offered in our own state. We highly recommend Dr. Manuel & others on the team. 🌟

New epilepsy clinic in Baton Rouge transforms care opportunities for children with seizures bit.ly/4oN72XW

It's the first such unit in the Baton Rouge area.

11/14/2025

Happy Friday!
Just a reminder that you can find joy even when you’re working on hard things. We finding that PAIRING is critical.

ABA appreciates Pavlov & his salivating dog. They taught us that positive associations can be made between a neutral stimulus & a reinforcing stimulus. Over time with repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus gains reinforcing value.

By giving attention to details, therapists are able to identify favorite items, activities, people, places, actions, etc. & pair them with learning. Learning should be something kids RUN TO, not RUN FROM. Not only should everyday stimuli be paired with reinforcing items/activities, so should people.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t challenge learners. There is no bribery, just consistency and clear expectations. We call these contingencies. That doesn’t mean we don’t have hard moments, but rest assure they are sandwiched with all the good, less difficult activities. We call this the Premack Principle.

You can employ these principles in your everyday life, too! Maybe it’s pairing your favorite coffee with your first tough tasks of the workday. Maybe it’s setting a contingency: after I complete X number of chores, I will go for a walk outside. Maybe it’s sandwiching a task you’re dreading is between two pleasant tasks.

🌟The principles in motion at CS aren’t just for kids, the autism community, or special education! They’re for us all! 🌟

11/14/2025

Please be on the lookout for Christopher. ❤️
Pray for a safe return home.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 14th—- He has been safely located!!

____________________
SPD Asks For Public’s Help Locating Missing Man With Autism

Shreveport, LA — The Shreveport Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating.

Family members reported him missing after he did not return home as expected. Police say he is on the autism spectrum and may become confused when approached.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of him is urged to contact the Shreveport Police Department at 318-673-7300, option #3.

11/13/2025

🌎❣️🌍❣️🌏❣️🌎❣️🌍❣️🌍❣️🌍❣️
Today is WORLD KINDNESS DAY!

This could not be a better example of kindness. Yesterday, Shreveport Diamond Youth Baseball presented students at Community School with a generous check that will help equip new classrooms.

More classrooms = More families served!

Not only did they gift us with this donation, they spent the afternoon meeting the children and staff of CS. Their support & love means the world to us!

On this special day, we are paying it forward. There are a million chances in a day to show kindness. Think of how you feel when you’re the recipient! Pass that oh-so-loved feeling along to the next person you encounter today. ❤️ Shreveport Dixie Baseball

11/12/2025

Tomorrow is WORLD KINDNESS DAY. 💜

Those of us who live in the…
• developmental delays world
• special needs world
• rare disease world
• neurodivergent world
…Dang, if you’re just plain quirky and out-of-the-box (and all of our favorite people are), then you know how much this day means!

Kindness makes the world go round. It gives us a chance to show love to those who are the SAME or DIFFERENT from us. It’s an opportunity for us to make our own little community a little bit better today and all of the days to come.

So listen up, Shreveport! Here’s your challenge today: Do a nice something for someone you encounter.

Kind words? They count!
A sweet, unexpected surprise? So kind!
Doing something behind the scenes to bless someone whether or not they’ll ever know? Extraordinary.

Here’s to putting the UNITY in COMMUNITY on this kind day. 🌎 And tag us to share your kind deeds.

11/12/2025

🗞️ March 11, 1928.

The Shreveport Times published a poem titled, “Going to the Circus”, written by Virginia Palmer, a student at the glorious Alexander School. There’s something timeless about a child’s point of view. Virginia’s poem is a reminder to slow down & enjoy the sweet, simple things of life.

The Louisiana State Fair 🎡 is happening now! Channel your inner child! Go experience the circus before it leaves town. Education isn’t always about setting goals & taking data.
It’s also about
EXPERIENCE + EXPOSURE + ENRICHMENTS for every learner at every age.

🎓 Bonus Points:
Virginia Palmer would be over 100 years old today. Does anyone know who she grew into? Was she a writer? Maybe she ran away with the circus.

11/12/2025

We have been loving all of our visitors lately. It’s our pleasure to share our beautiful new home with those we love & appreciate most.

If you are family, friends, community partners, or supporters of CS, we would love to have you come for a tour. We hope you feel at home here, too.

Hurry! Things are changing everyday around here. Schedule in advance to avoid interruptions to our daily programming. We can’t wait to see you soon.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

11/10/2025

That’s some FINE MOTOR you’ve got there.
☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼

Just a friendly reminder that we are always working on refining our fine motor skills, no matter our starting point. It’s part of on-going development for us all!

Our fine motor skills affect so many tasks across our day. For proper assessment, we keep permanent products weekly (such as the one pictured below) for comparison & assessment of intervention effectiveness. We also engage in daily activities that provide ample practice across “muscle groups” that lead to improved motor skills.

👀 Peep the fun activities you can do at home to support the development of these skills!

11/10/2025

💬💬 It’s MANDING MONDAY 💬💬

🎤 The word “mand” is derived from the words “demand/command”. It is a request for a want or a need.

🎤 That want/need can be a tangible item, activity, person, or place. It can also be a request for an action, attention, or escape from something aversive or non-preferred.

🎤 One may also mand for INFORMATION. We know. It’s hard to wrap your head around, but learners need/want information just like the rest of us. Mands may sound like, “When is dad coming back?” or “Where is my backpack?”.

🎤 People mand in a variety of ways: vocally (“I am so thirsty!”), non-vocally (learner gestures such as pointing or reaching), or with an AAC device (a device that speaks for the person when a particular button is pushed).

🎤 We strive for HUNDREDS of mands per day with every CS learner. Us grown ups mand minute to minute. Our learners should have that opportunity to also. Fluent manding increases independence, social interactions, and indices of happiness while also decreasing frustration and challenging behavior.

💬 Chart your mands today for one hour at work or while you’re out and about in the community. You can also tally the number of times other children request per hour. You’ll be amazed to find that the MAND dominates our social interactions. Tally away!

11/08/2025

🎗️November is Epilepsy Awareness Month!

Here at CS, we serve learners with epilepsy. They teach us so much about resiliency. We’ve learned a lot about prevention methods, environmental modifications, & proper scheduling of activities/rest periods. Our clinicians at CS may attend doctors visits with the family, aim to provide video footage of episodes when possible, & conduct monthly weigh-ins to monitor growth spurts that warrant medication changes!

Here are some other things to consider, brought to you by our friends at Epilepsy Alliance Louisiana:

✔️Take your medication on time, every day, exactly as prescribed.
✔️Talk with your doctor about all treatment options.
✔️Ask for a referral to an epilepsy specialist for the most up-to-date care.
✔️Keep a seizure diary to help spot triggers or changes.
✔️Create a Seizure Action Plan and share it with family, friends, coworkers, and school staff.
✔️Minimize injury risks by ensuring safe supervision or safety measures are in place.
✔️Consider a seizure detection device, especially during sleep.
✔️Always notify your doctor of any health or medication changes.

Every small step strengthens safety, awareness, and hope. 💜

11/08/2025

Today is National Cappuccino Day. ☕️

While we’re drinking our cappuccinos (or something like it), we’re taking a moment to be thankful. Our learners are healthy, safe, & secure. Our learners are loved, celebrated, & genuinely cared for. Our staff are generous, creative, & hard working. Our new schoolhouse is a gem of a home & the perfect place to watch each learner blossom.

We’re also thankful for our new Highland friends. We’re thankful for the outpouring of love & support from our community! It’s a good day to live in our beautiful city. ❤️