Related Services (Parents)

An Overview of Communication Services and Occupational/Physical Therapy Services at the Experimental Education Unit

Communication Services at the EEU - The Basics

At the EEU the speech and language pathologist (SLP) is an active member of the educational team.  He or she works closely with the team to enhance communication skills in the classroom. Services are provided:

• In the classroom.
• By collaborating and consulting with families, the educational team, and with other related service providers.
• By designing materials and/or manipulating the environment to facilitate communication.
• By teaching facilitative strategies to other team members.

General Principles and Benefits of Treatment in the Classroom

As Speech and Language Pathologists, (SLPs) our goal is to increase functional communication skills that will have the greatest impact on a child's ability to be a successful communicator in his/her educational environment. The best way to achieve this is to carry out intervention within the environment of the classroom.

The benefits of providing SLP services within the classroom include:

• Better generalization of skills to a variety of contexts and people.
• Maximizing peer-to-peer social interaction opportunities for children that are not available in the 1:1 adult/child pull-out model.  Social interaction among peers is the most important communication skill that a child will ever learn.
• Providing more speech and language learning opportunities for the child: In addition to providing direct services to children in the classroom, SLPs instruct all team members in strategies for enhancing communication skills as well as individual intervention programs so speech and language instruction is ongoing.
• Allowing children with special needs to remain included while receiving vital intervention.  Children are not singled out by being removed from the classroom to receive services.

The responsibilities of the SLP at the EEU:

• Determining eligibility for services
• IFSP/IEP development with the family and educational team

Planning Treatment:

• Writing goals and objectives to work on with an individual child
• Creating a planning matrix with the teaching staff to determine the best time to work on IEP objectives within the classroom curriculum
• Determining the best methods and strategies to teach targeted skills

Initiating Treatment:

• Finding the best materials and contexts for addressing goals and objectives
• Making a plan for teaching and sharing that plan with the team
• Working with other team members, including families, to teach intervention methods/strategies
• Working in the classroom directly with children on individual goals as appropriate
• Providing families with information/materials to facilitate communication at home

Monitoring Progress:

• Ongoing assessment of child's skills especially in relationship to targeted objectives
• Development of data collection system that is implemented by SLP or other team members in the classroom

Reaching Decision Points:

• Using data to make decisions about treatment (continue/change/discontinue)

Reporting the Results of Treatment:

• Quarterly updates of IFSP/IEP objectives that are sent home to families
• End of the year reports for those children leaving the EEU

Assisting with transitions to new classes either at the EEU or at other schools:

• By providing augmentative communication materials
• By consulting with the receiving teachers about facilitative strategies, methods, and materials to help the child be as successful as possible in his/her new setting

An Overview of Occupational and Physical Therapy Services at the EEU

At the EEU the occupational or physical therapist is an active member of the educational team. He or she works closely with the team to enhance sensorimotor skills in the classroom, on the playcourt, and in the gym.

Services are provided:

• In the classroom, on the playcourt, and during gym time
• By collaborating and consulting with families, the educational team, and other related service providers
• By designing activities and materials to facilitate movement and coordination
• By teaching facilitative strategies to other team members

General Principles and Benefits of Treatment in the Classroom

As occupational and physical therapists, our overall goal is to increase the functional fine and gross motor skills which will have the greatest impact on a child's ability to succeed in his/her educational environment. This includes looking at the child's basic fine and gross motor skills (drawing, cutting, running, balancing, etc) as well as the child's visual-motor perception. We also work to assist children in sensory modulation and we make adaptations to the environment to ensure maximal performance.

An effective way to achieve this goal is to carry out intervention within the environment of the classroom.

The benefits of providing OT/PT services within the classroom include:

• Access to equipment and peers to help facilitate motor development. In the 1:1 adult/child pull-out model, children often learn skills in an isolated setting with specialized equipment. By teaching motor skills on the equipment the children use every day at school and by encouraging the participation of the child's peers, motor skills learned are more likely to be carried over to a variety of contexts and people.
• Providing more motor learning opportunities for the child: In addition to providing direct services to children in the classroom, OT's and PT's instruct all team members in strategies for enhancing motor development as well as individual intervention programs so that fine and gross motor instruction is ongoing.
• Allowing children with special needs to remain included while receiving vital intervention. Children are not singled out by being removed from the classroom to receive services.
• By providing intervention in the classroom we can better "strengthen developmental processes and increase functional skills"(Linder, 1993) within meaningful contexts.

The responsibilities of the OT/PT at the EEU:

Assessing motor skills for the purposes of:

• Determining eligibility for services
• IFSP/IEP development with the family and educational team

Planning Intervention:

• Writing functional goals and objectives to work on with the individual child
• Creating a planning matrix with the teaching staff to determine the best times to work on IEP objectives within the classroom curriculum
• Determining the best methods and strategies to teach targeted skills

Initiating Intervention:

• Finding the best materials, equipment, and opportunities for addressing goals and objectives
• Making a plan for teaching the skills and sharing that plan with the team
• Working with families and other team members to teach intervention methods/strategies
• Working in the classroom directly with children on individual goals as appropriate
• Providing families with information/materials to facilitate motor development at home

Monitoring Progress:

• Development of data collection system that is implemented by the OT/PT and other team members in the classroom
• Ongoing assessment of child's overall development and skills, especially in relationship to targeted objectives

Reaching Decision Points:

• Using collected data to make informed decisions about intervention (continue/change/discontinue)

Reporting the Results of Intervention:

• Quarterly updates of IFSP/IEP objectives that are sent home to families
• End of the year reports for those children leaving the EEU

Assisting with transitions to new classes at the EEU or at other schools:

• Consulting with the receiving teachers and therapists about facilitative strategies, methods, and materials to help the child be as successful as possible in his/her new setting

That's our commitment to your child...