GainDay Program

GainDay Group I:
GainDay Group I is designed to serve students who might not be mainstreamed in regular school setting for various reasons such as cognitive, physical, or behavioral disabilities and for students who desire to follow a vocational path. Class sessions are held daily from 8:00 am -2:30 pm and will incorporate hands-on, creative, and interactive activities to allow for the development of the students’ cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning. Our in-house developed curriculum is comprehensive in its breadth and rich in its quality that aims at not only fostering children’s academic skills but also boosting their emotional and social skills. The GainDay curriculum covers different subjects such as math, science, literacy, social studies, and art. In addition to these core subjects, students will be provided with a range of extracurricular activities that support their learning and include cognitive stimulation and brainteasers, mindfulness training, and sport.

The curriculum of GainDay Program as well as the daily routine that we build with our students not only help children in language and cognitive learning but also promotes independence, problem solving, creativity, persistence, and cooperation.

GainDay Group II:
GainDay Group II aims at serving students who may be mainstreamed in the future once they acquire the behavioral, cognitive, and social skills necessary for regular school settings. This program offers a formal education program for students who may benefit from experiencing an engaging curriculum that is taught by dedicated instructors and overseen by a support team, within a dynamic school environment. Through K12 Private Academy, students leverage K12’s quality curriculum and methods of instruction to receive a great education that will facilitate their mainstreaming into a formal school setting.  Through the use of an American curriculum coupled with the expertise of our staff, students are provided with skills, competencies, and knowledge-base that insure their active involvement in their learning.  The focuses of this program are on cognitive growth as well as social interactions and emotional development. Our staff prepares our children for future schooling by taking the learning process beyond traditional academic subjects and applying methods that promote independence, curiosity, decision making, cooperation, persistence, creativity, and problem solving in young children.

At Gain Contact, we believe that the body and the mind are in harmony and if you take care of one the other flourishes. Therefore, we highlight the importance of therapies.

We provide a range of additional support therapies to those students who can benefit from improving their language and speech, gross motor and fine motor skills, mind-body coordination, as well as social and emotional development. These therapies include:

Occupational Therapy: Occupational therapy helps children achieve independence in all facets of their lives.  Occupational therapists assist children in developing the ‘skills for the job of living’ necessary for satisfying lives.  They work with children on physical skills (handwriting), or basic social and interpersonal skills required for independent living (carrying a conversation)

Speech and Language Therapy: This service is designed to help children with speech delays or speech impediments related to developmental disorders.  One-on-one sessions are conducted with children to help in enunciation and pronunciation of English and Arabic letters and words. Speech therapy also improves conversation skills by demonstrating and practicing how to make statements as opposed to carrying on conversations and working on back-and-forth exchanges.

Recreational Therapy: Every child has the right to enjoy the fun of playing sports and engaging in some form of team activity.  Participating in sports promotes better emotional and psychological health by instilling a sense of self-confidence along with an improved skill in relationship building through working as part of a team.  Regular and organized physical activity can also improve overall fitness, support weight control and healthy bone density, as well as improve gross motor skills.

Art Therapy: Art therapy is proved to support the creative aspects of self-expression, self-awareness, and problem-solving. The intention of art therapy is to help children use art as a way to express and communicate feelings and to work through the issues and concerns that they face on a daily basis.

Music Therapy: Music therapy is shown to support emotional, cognitive, and social development in children, more specifically those on the spectrum.  Music therapy may help to promote wellness by helping the children manage stress, enhance memory, and improve communication. Children who participate in regular music therapy sessions are shown to exhibit more emotional expression and social engagement than in play sessions without music.

Yoga: Yoga for children aims at increasing strength, flexibility, and coordination through group exercises. Classes are intended to be fun and may include age appropriate games, animal sounds and creative names for poses.  Yoga has many emotional benefits that include greater optimism, increased self-esteem, and increased ability to relax and cope with stressful situations.  It also promotes a less reactive nature with added mental benefits including increased focus, concentration, problem-solving strategies, and improvements in the quality of sleep.  There is a body of research that points to improvement in academic performance in children who practice yoga regularly with noted improvement in developing increased confidence in physical abilities.  More specifically, yoga practice has an added benefit for boys as it protects them from increased negative behaviors.

The LIFE Skills Program at Gain Contact Group supports the belief that people with disabilities have the right to live and work in the most normal, least restrictive setting as is consistent with their abilities, and that they should be afforded the same dignity and rights as all other citizens. Our LIFE Skills Program has been designed to encourage the individual’s emotional and personal growth, improve on family and social relationships, and increase community involvement.

The LIFE Skills Program includes a wide range of experiences that promote knowledge and skill interactions believed to be essential for adult independent living. At present, many students with certain challenges have special needs that are not being met. These students require education and support to learn these necessary behaviors. For instance, children when reaching a certain age are expected to dress and groom properly, use appropriate table manners, make decisions about money, and use transportation to get to work. The major skill areas that need to be addressed are Emotional /and Psychological Skills, Independent Daily Living Skills, Personal Development Skills, Social Skills/Social Competence Skills, and Vocational/Occupational Skills.