Community, Kindness, ABA Therapy, and… Eagle Scouts!

Tis the season of giving and we’d like to give a huge shout out to an AWESOME young man who made a difference in the lives of our clients, and community, through an act of kindness!

Tanner, a sophomore at Middleton High School (and newly ranked Eagle Scout!), found a unique and engaging way to give back to his community this past year and we couldn’t be more thankful to him and his family…a toy drive for ACT staff to use in therapy!

Tanner loves theater, dance, karate and scouting! He started in Cub Scouts at age 8 and has actively pursued the next level of scouting each and every step of the way. Tanner shared that his dad’s side of the family has been involved in scouting for a very long time…so his passion is not only supported by his community, but he has a deep support and understanding from his family.

In order to achieve the Eagle Scout rank (the highest rank!), Tanner needed to complete an Eagle Service Project. This process is long, intense and so rewarding to all involved!

He explained that the toy drive for ACT was not his original idea, but rather he started a project putting up signs at nature parks and soon realized he wasn’t as interested in that and went back to “square one”. His mom, Amanda, suggested doing something with Achieving Collaborative Treatment, and Tanner said he immediately “got it in his head that [he] should do a toy drive”.

“I was diagnosed with Autism when I was three years old. ACT helped me in elementary and middle school and I wanted to pay it forward.” Tanner explained.

As a previous client of ACT, Tanner and his family know that one of the most important things to a successful therapy session can be reinforcers (i.e. toys, puzzles and games). Thinking back on his own experiences of reinforcement with his therapist, Kelly Ziccarelli, Tanner decided that he would ask his community to donate gently used or new toys to help stock our toy library with new, fun and engaging toys. Our therapists are then able to “check out” these items and take them to the families’ homes for therapy sessions.  We have a wonderful toy library at our office that many generous families and staff have donated to over the years, but as you know, interests change, things stop working, and children like a variety, so we are so thankful to Tanner and his wonderful idea!  

The Project:

First, he had to develop a detailed proposal of his plan and then talk with ACT, Kelly, his scout master, and district chairman to “get a bunch of signatures” before he could begin. His plan included every detail including who, what, where, when, how and why!

Next, he communicated with all involved parties to confirm that everyone was on board with his plan. This included recruiting many members of his troop, who were able to help provide feedback prior to starting the project.

Then, Tanner executed his plan efficiently and effectively. This involved obtaining a wish list from Kelly, designing a flier, mapping out each group’s route, what days they would hand out bags with fliers to houses, how and when would they explain the project to each household, organizing the pickup for each house, sorting the items, purchasing items still on the list with monetary donations, and organizing a delivery to ACT.

This project involved a LOT of planning and communication!

When the project was complete, he presented the project outcomes to the scouting Board of Review where they reviewed his project in detail as well as his whole scouting career. Needless to say, they approved it and Tanner is now an Eagle Scout!

Tanner had so much support from his family, friends, troop and community that combined they performed over 94 service hours to their community throughout this project!

When I asked Tanner what he hopes our clients and families get from his project, he said, “I hope they’ll have a lot of fun with the toys. I hope it brings happiness on their faces.” Therapy can be challenging at times for children, families and even staff, but it is always so rewarding when you can light up an individual’s face by reinforcing their hard work during a therapy session. ABA is the science of learning, and the more fun you can have with it, the more engaged the child will be.

Insight from a Proud Mom:

Amanda, Tanner’s mom, also provided some wonderful insight on this project from a parent’s perspective. In thinking back on her family’s time with ACT, she stated, “we tried various programs within Madison that do ABA, and it was important to find a company that worked well with our family and child.”

She said that one of the things she appreciated most about Tanner’s time with ACT is that the team always made things fun and engaging. She shared, “Therapy was good and the staff were great at making it fun and they need new fun things to make it engaging for children.” She loved the idea of providing new things for the children we work with to make the therapy process enjoyable for everyone involved. Amanda shared that the team was always good at customizing the therapy session to find different ways to motivate Tanner and achieve his therapy goals.

Amanda stated that she wants other families to have that same experience with their child and ABA therapy. She shared “Tanner wouldn’t be the kid he is today without going through that level of therapy with ACT.” She wants all parents to know that “you really can have an amazing outcome for your kiddo.” She stated, “Tanner was high functioning, but he needed some direction. I am so impressed by the patience and different outcome for his life now. He is now an actor. He is confident in who he is. He is not afraid to be himself. He is very good about caring for others and is always willing to help. I am impressed by his life now and a huge a part of that is his time with ACT! Sometimes when [parents] hear an autism diagnosis, they think the life they imagined [for their child] is over, but you adjust your expectations and learn your child can have an amazing wonderful life.”

An ABA Therapist’s Perspective:

Kelly Ziccarelli, an ABA senior therapist at ACT (and Tanner’s senior therapist), was extremely touched, impressed and so proud when he presented his project to her!  Kelly shared, “I thought it was so cool that he has the opportunity to do this service project to get his rank. It is so awesome that it benefited ACT and to see how he remembered his time with ACT.” Reflecting back to their therapy sessions, Tanner and Kelly shared that some of their favorite reinforcers included mazes on a white board, books and games!

Kelly shared how important the toy library has been to our staff for therapy sessions and social skills classes. She feels like this project has reinforced everyone, even the staff. She said they see the toys and novelty and that reinforces them to “check out” toys from the library and bring them to shifts. Staff are then able to see firsthand how it helps build that relationship and further the learning of new skills.

When talking with Kelly about what she wants our community, staff and families to see from this project, she shared she wants them to consider an act of kindness in their lives. Not necessarily to ACT, but to any groups or organizations that help children build those relationships and/or create opportunities for families and children in our community. She also wants her colleagues to use this project as inspiration to any aspect of their life that they have a connection to and feel fulfilled by.

She was so happy that this project really allowed “him to see firsthand how big an impact he can have.” She continued by saying that “he is giving it all to ACT without even being able to see the other side, but he knows it will be good” based on his own experiences. Amanda added “he has been in those kids’ shoes and he knows what it means to them.”

We hope you’ll join us in saying THANK YOU to Tanner, Amanda, Kelly, his family, friends and community members who helped make this project a success in so many ways! We hope everyone will take this act of kindness and bring it into your life as we begin a new year!

~ Kate Rusi, Project Manager