Employment Services for Adults – San Antonio
Heart to Home offers adults with autism spectrum disorder the opportunity to utilize their strengths by participating in a variety of programs geared to heighten their interest and maintain necessary skills
for gainful employment.
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Programs offered by
Heart to Home are:
Horticultural Therapy
Pottery
Piñata Making
Heart to Home Horticulture
Benefiting Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
“Channeling negative and creative energy into horticulture not only relieves anxiety,
but fosters growth and imagination” (Hewson 1994).
Purpose and Objectives of the Program
The purpose of the horticultural therapy program is to utilize plants and organic mediums to enhance the physical, social and emotional well being of people.
The Autism Treatment Center has over thirty years clinical experience treating children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The ATC Horticultural Program utilizes our clinical interventions and directs this towards helping individuals engage in constructive horticultural activity promoting independence, optimism, inner confidence, esteem and well being for oneself and the organic matter around them.
Many individuals with ASD suffer from communication and sensory deficiencies and especially struggle with the concepts of time and space. Using horticultural therapy as a medium to express lifecycles and how living organisms rely on one another to perpetually replenish themselves creates awareness of our living and external environment.
Goals and Objectives:
To provide an opportunity to build self-esteem through meaningful activity with living matter
To promote awareness of time and seasonal events
To promote problem solving techniques
To enhance perceptions of vision, smell, taste, touch and texture using plants.
To provide exercise, build endurance, coordination and strength while gardening.
To provide a pleasurable experience
To express oneself artistically with plants
Needs Being Addressed
Cognition and Perception
Horticultural therapy plays a major role in determining an individual’s level of functional ability through a variety of tasks. Individuals are first evaluated on their abilities to understand and comprehend. The natural medium of plants, insects and birds provides an excellent stimuli through vision, smell, taste, touch, and texture through their perception and recognition of plants (Hewson 1994). In addition, the environment will attract local insects and birds to provide a healthy habitat for wildlife and create more visual stimulation for the individuals involved.
Reality Awareness
The Horticultural Program will offer a medium to learn time and seasons. Individuals with autism often struggle with these concepts and using plant media will help illustrate how time and seasons interplay to create outcomes, e.g., seed, growth, cultivate.
Physical and Motor Skills
Horticultural Therapy allows the individuals to enjoy the outdoors in the safety of our own backyard. A variety of tasks will help refine motor skills and muscle conditioning, e.g., shoveling soil, arranging plants, trimming and cultivating, weeding, watering. Hand-eye coordination is enhanced by these processes and will maintain muscle tone.
Heart to Home Pottery & Piñata Studio
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The Autism Treatment Center’s Pottery and Piñata studio offers assistance to individuals with autism and related disorders through a personalized job training program. Initial tests, measurements, task analysis and one on one job coach training is offered to develop and practice the needed skills to do production line crafts, such as pottery and piñatas. The participants are matched with the appropriate trade and craft according to their skill and interest level, while following the recommended behavior plans.
Pottery
Adults in the program learn to create original, functional, and expressive works of art in the
form of pots for the plants grown in
Heart to Home’s Horticultural Therapy Program.
The pottery line has been divided into six steps
and skill levels; thereby offering tailored instruction for each participant. Everyone contributes according to their skill level, abilities, and interests.
As some of the participants prepare clay,
some create forms, while others apply paints,
glazes and final accessories.
Piñatas
The adults in our program like to celebrate seasons, birthdays and special events. With that spirit in mind, Heart to Home Piñatas, are hand crafted, colorful, high quality party pieces that will add zeal to your next special function.
The piñata production line has been divided into six steps and skill levels, maximizing each adult’s participation in the assembly process. Some adults create tissue decoration, while others create, design, or prepare the molds and forms.
To inquire about purchasing a Heart to Home product, please contact:
Colleen Allick
Employment Services Coordinator
Heart to Home Crafts
(210) 590-2107 x 116
callick@atcoftexas.org