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“In 2016, I went to the Saginaw Children's Museum for the first time with my family and thought that it would make an amazing pediatric clinic. There were so many awesome, play-based things there for kids to do that I could use as an occupational therapist, and that was the start of Game Changer Therapy Services LLC
Play is a natural mode of development for every child, it’s something they want to do. One phrase that we push throughout our agency is that if you are able to figure out what motivates a client, you are able to capture maximum participation, and play is a great way to do that. At Gamer Changer, there are rock walls and toys everywhere, and every single one of those has a functional, meaningful purpose for therapy.
My biggest ‘aha moment’ in therapy involved a kid who was having trouble pedaling his bicycle. We found that he was pushing down on both pedals at once, and we needed him to figure out how to alternate his feet. so I asked the parents what he liked. They said, ‘Power Rangers! Everything Power Rangers,’ So I printed them out big and laminated them and then we played a game where I would say, ‘Red Ranger’ or ‘Blue Ranger’ and he’d use his hand to press on one of them. Then we moved to the floor using his feet to press them, and then finally moved onto a bike. Over several sessions, we were able to do something incredible because of the power of motivation and play—especially when you make it meaningful.
Another thing we do at Game Changer is to not only focus on areas that need improvement, but also the areas of strength. While kids on the autism spectrum may handle social situations in ways that some may consider ‘abnormal’, they also have areas of brilliance, and we can incorporate and build upon those strengths.
Rather than just addressing their deficits and then saying, ‘Ok, now go do whatever you’re going to do,’ I see us working with these clients and moving the region to creating real opportunities for these kids to be successful.
“My wife, kelly, and I started Game Changer Therapy Services in 2016. I went to SVSU, graduated as an occupational therapist, and fell into my first role at Saginaw Community Mental Health. At that point in time, there was a big emphasis on autism based services within community mental health and I started to realize OT is a great discipline for kids because we’re working on activities of daily living like getting dressed and those things. But when we transitioned to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a discipline designed to work with kids who have autism. Then the focus for me became, ‘How do I integrate OT services into ABA so they complement each other?’
From the OT side, we may look at compensatory strategies we can use to create an immediate improvement, where ABA may try and promote certain behaviors or put certain behaviors on an extinction program, where they want those behaviors to fade over time. The ultimate goal between ABA and OT is improved community function, improved independence and improved response to everyday situations.”
“I recently took my kids to a baseball game, opening day for the Atlanta Braves. And I thought ‘how can I make this a super memorable moment for my kids with 60,000 people?’, so I decided ‘I’m going to start the wave’- I got my kids involved and we actually started the first wave for opening day. I try to create experiences my kids remember and say ‘Dad was crazy’.
My wife and I started the GLB Game Changers , a travel baseball organization, with the mission and the mindset that we don't want to burn kids out. We want them to go and have a summer that doesn’t revolve around practice. We said we weren’t going to have our kids’ entire summers be sports practices, and then we fell into that. Burnout is such a real thing, and we’re hearing from parents and professionals that kids who showed promise at age 12 are done with sports by 18. Things get so serious so soon, with some losing focus on the play aspect of sports.
So the idea for the Great Lakes Bay Changers is to create a fun environment with short-term seasons that promote local sport participation and multi-sport play. We want to create great experiences, but without the cost for everyday life and where kids can be kids.”
-—Scott Staszak, Co-Owner, Game Changer Therapy Services LLC
