IMUA Family Services

Infant and child development program - is designed to provide early intervention Services that meet the developmental needs of children birth to three years of age and their families related to enhancing the child's physical, intellectual, social, emotional and linguistic growth. The philosophy that guides Imua's early intervention program is centered on a model revolving around three principles: enhancing the child's development, providing support and assistance to the Family through coaching and modeling and maximizing the child's and Family's potential in society. A family-centered team approach is utilized where all team members participate equally and systematically across discipline boundaries to ensure Imua stays true to this philosophy along with other appropriate techniques such as the primary service provider approach and coaching model. Approximately 354 children were served in fy 2023.

Imua inclusion preschool - the preschool serves 20 children and their families in a licensed preschool facility. 25% of children enrolled have a diagnosed special need or developmental delay as determined by a standardized assessment. The preschool provides a relationship, play and place-based experience for children three to five years of age. Approximately 22 children were served in fy 2023. The preschool is funded primarily through tuition from families, government/foundation grants, and fundraising revenue.

Imua discovery garden: Imua discovery garden is not a program by itself but will be an expansion of all of the Imua Services and programs. The critical difference is that the six acre garden space centrally located in maui's historic district will allow therapists, educators and service providers to provide clinical and educational Services in an outdoor nature based environment. This kind of philosophy and treatment is a growing model across the nation and the world as more and more children are staying indoors and are more connected to technology and devices than the outdoors and nature around them which is contributing to more increase in behavior issues in children. Imua discovery garden is currently in the beginning stages of development and planning. With the launch of the capital campaign in july of 2020, the focus has been on sharing the potential and vision for the space with prospective donors, businesses and supporters in order to raise the necessary capital to fully create the vision for the discovery garden. For the most part of fy 2023 the development phase of Imua discovery garden was working with architects, landscape architects and the maui of county permits department so that we would be ready for the construction work by the end of fy 2024. In spite of the early stages of development Imua Family Services was able to launch many exciting opportunities for children and families at the Imua discovery garden including: a new annual keiki halloween festival in october, our current annual keiki holiday festival each year in december, a new annual butterfly festival in summer. Additionally, we held childrens summer day camp program and allowed the neighboring preschool programs to visit the space for field trip activities throughout the year. Through these start up events over 3500 families and children have visited the Imua discovery garden.

Early childhood development program - provides Services to children age three to six who are at risk of or have developmental delays that fall outside the scope of department of education special education Services. The needs of each child will be met through Imua Family Services' provision of professional therapeutic Services for the child and support for those involved in the child's life in order to help them thrive in the home and community environments, and be better prepared for kindergarten and beyond. Approximately 50 children were served in fy 2023. Camp Imua - camp Imua is a week-long overnight camp experience for children of maui county ages 6-16 years with special needs, developmental delays and disabilities. Camp is a supportive environment where everyone is able to participate in activities that build confidence and self-reliance: horseback riding, swimming, surfing, kayaking, hiking, yoga, arts & crafts, music, dance, concerts, talent show, outdoor movies, and helicopter tours to name a few. Campers and counselors build unforgettable relationships. In 2023, camp Imua took place from june 2 - june 9 at keanae in east maui. Forty-five (45) children with special needs and eighty-five (85) volunteers spent a week together, enjoying many activities and adventures. Twenty-one local businesses donated in-kind Services and supplies. Six maui non- profit agencies assisted with camp Imua: maui huliau provided their zero waste service. The keanae local community brought the camp for excursions to the taro fields. Tim lara and Hawaiian sports paddle provided kayaking an ocean sports at hana bay in hana. Meo provided bus transportation. Maui food bank supplied supplemental food and beverages for the camp. Dream Imua - the dream Imua program continues to provide special experiential dreams to children in difficult times of crisis, abuse and neglect. In fy 2023 there were 16 program referrals from social workers and pediatricians, 16 intakes were accomplished, and 7 children received dream day packages, while at christmas time 66 children from 21 families received christmas gifts pkgs. The dream Imua program is supported by fundraising event pedal Imua - a bike ride around the west maui mountains with around 130 supporters participating in the 60 plus mile ride. Imua autism Services: with the increase in prevalence of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders reaching 1 in 36 (autism speaks/cdc, 2023), Imua Family Services has created a program targeted to treat individuals in the early childhood age group who are diagnosed with the disorder. Treatment for these individuals is based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (aba). Aba is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behavior. Aba is widely recognized as a safe and effective treatment for autism, focusing on making data-based decisions to guide an individual child's learning program. Treatment targets the reduction of challenging behaviors including aggression, self-injury and non-compliance. It is also important to target the acquisition and increase of socially significant behaviors to include functional communication, social skills, motor, and cognitive skills, guided by typical developmental milestones in the development of goals and objectives. Treatment is designed to meet the individual needs of each child and their Family. Location, time, and duration of Services are individualized based on clinical need and availability. Treatment takes place in the home, community, or in the Imua aba center, and can be delivered using a tiered service delivery model. Service delivery is comprised of program development and supervision provided by a board certified behavior analyst who is licensed to practice in the state of Hawaii, as well as a registered behavior technician who carries out 1:1 Services. Parent training sessions are also a part of treatment to promote generalization and maintenance of skills, as well as empowering parents as active participants in their child's treatment. Services are available to families who hold med-quest insurance as well as commercial plans such as kaiser, ohana health care, aloha care, hmsa, etc. Ias has served a record 12 children and their families, with 11 becoming full-time clients. We have provided over 2200 hours of treatment of treatment and over 100 hours in assessment, which also includes the provision of parent/family training opportunities. We have provided Services in our aba clinic, in the community, as well as in-home. We had our first ias "graduates" leave the nest this year, celebrating all they accomplished as we worked in concert with the hidoe to get them into their new and appropriate programs as their school careers begin. Accomplishments during this fiscal year include: "hosting ceu events for bcbas with co-presentations from the team "clinical meetings continue once per month where we discuss clients and situations where increased supports may be necessary. "have fielded many calls and in-person consultations from parents sharing their difficulties with getting appropriate help within the doe. We have attended several ieps "to support our families, and families that only request help with this one issue. "with the addition of hiring another bcba, we have been able to serve families with a 50% increase in the number of clients. We continue to build our program slowly and soundly. "ias has worked in concert with Imua inclusion preschool to cover needs for students with autism via both programs. This is a beautiful partnership that likely does not exist on our island in any other location "our bcbas have worked diligently with the hidoe to ensure appropriate placement for 6 students (some who attended our program, some we'd never met). This partnership is critical to the continued success of our ias children, and beyond. Imua autism Services continues to hold practitioners to the highest standards of service provision, soap note writing, adhering to the bacb regulations/ethics, and working on insurance allotments and reform. Kokua- in collaboration with dhs med-quest division and malama i ke ola, healthcare navigators of Imua Family Services help maui county community in the navigation of the often confusing process of applying for health insurance. These community health workers assist the uninsured and underinsured in applying for med-quest or healthcare.gov. Individuals and families within the maui county community who qualify for a special enrollment period through the federal health insurance marketplace and who want to make changes to their plans during open enrollment, which runs from november 1 through december 15th, can reach out for assistance. Individuals may qualify for special enrollment if they have experienced any of the following life events in the last 60 days: lost employer-covered health insurance, experienced a change in household income, moved from another state or country, got married or had a baby, lost coverage due to divorce, or recently been released from prison. Healthcare navigators of Imua Family Services connected with hana health, lanai community health center, and molokai community health center to support the needs of the community by leveraging existing relationships and partnerships. The kokua health navigators reached out to libraries, hale kau kau, feed my sheep, maui food bank, the hr for all major hotels on island, minit medical, maui county correctional center, all non-profits that are part of the maui non profit directors association, maui medical group, maui memorial, hmsa, kaiser, alohacare, farmers and ag huis, churches with a focus on cofa serving churches, ka hale a ke ola, maui aids foundation, Imua preschool families, trilogy, maui soda works and other small businesses, maui county through mayor's office, maui mommies groups on facebook, instagram, and many more avenues from kokua health navigators' personal and professional networks. This lead to over 16,900 engagements, over 4,500 maui county consumers reached and over 500 enrollments in med-quest and healthcare.gov in maui county in fy 2023.