Beat the Odds®
Christopher Parise, BTO Certified Facilitator
Prof. Wendy Parise, BTO Assistant
Self-Determination Funding Option
Dear Families & Advocates,
We have great news regarding a possible funding source for participation in Beat the Odds. If your BTO participant is a Regional Center client, they can elect to use the Self-Determination Funding Option to pay for their Beat the Odds sessions. For more information as to how this works we advise clicking on the above link and contacting your regional center counselor for additional information. This is a wonderful step towards keeping our program alive and available to more clients who would benefit from the program.
Despite the challenges experienced during this time of unprecedented quarantine, social distancing, and disruption to “life as we knew it,” we are so proud of all our Beat the Odds players who gallantly mastered the art of drum circle participation via zoom. Great gains in self-confidence, musical skills and active participation have been clearly observed. Through the weeks we have formed a community of dedicated players! What an accomplishment to be able to relate to the computer and/or mobile device and be able to make some music with others!
Warm regards,
Chris Parise, BTO Facilitator
Prof. Wendy Parise, BTO Assistant
UCLA Arts and Healing
Beat the Odds® is an evidence-based and trauma-informed program that integrates activities from group drumming and group counseling to build core strengths such as focusing and listening, team building, leadership, expressing feelings, managing anger/stress, empathy, and gratitude.
UCLA researchers have shown that BTO can significantly reduce a spectrum of behavioral problems in children, such as behaviors related to inattention, withdrawn/depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, attention deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, and sluggish cognitive tempo (Ho, Tsao, Bloch, & Zeltzer, 2011). New findings show that the program is also highly effective for special education classrooms.
Beat the Odds® emphasizes process and not performance. It includes a therapeutic dimension involving such elements as positive affirmations, emotional coping strategies, and guided interaction with rhythmic activities serving as a metaphor for life, followed by reflection and dialogue—without the stigma of therapy.Beat the Odds® is an eight-session program delivered weekly for 40 – 45 minutes, and the easy-to-follow curriculum is in the form of a scripted manual. The program serves a whole classroom at a time and is sustainably designed for delivery by school personnel or individuals without musical experience. It can easily be adapted for any age group and also serves as an effective tool for community building with staff and families.
