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Liaison-Your special needs coach can serve as a liaison between you and the school district to facilitate better cooperation between parties. This is particularly helpful when parents and schools have reached the point of distrusting one another. Unless a family plans to relocate, they and the school administration will have many years to work together. For this reason it become imperative for all parties to feel heard and valued. In this role, the coach focusing on helping both parties create win-win situations that enable the school to address the child’s special needs while also benefiting other students.
Records Review and Integration-There are times when parents receive multiple reports from professionals in different disciplines each working independently. The parent is left with the awesome task of trying to integrate all the information provided, prioritize needs and recommendations, and figure out how to address everything. Your special needs coach can do this integration for you and provide you with a functional plan to share with all of your service providers.
IEP Preparation-Involves the identification of goals, accommodations, modifications and related services that are appropriate to address a child’s special needs in order to maximize both educational benefit and functional independence. This may mean helping parents to research new assistive technologies, methodologies or interventions, sharing those with the school district and working cooperatively with school staff to determine which would be appropriate for a student and how the school could realistically provide those services.
Transition Planning-Involves identification of real life and employability skills that a student needs to develop in order to enter the job market and life as an independent adult, along with the development of a plan to cultivate these skills most effectively. It may involve directing young people and their parents to appropriate resources for additional information and working with schools to brainstorm ways of providing meaningful practicum with good mentors.
Behavior Modification-Your special needs coach can assist you in deciding what behaviors are most disruptive at home, what rules to establish, how to enforce them, as well as how to diminish the occurrence of undesirable behaviors while fostering habits that are adaptive. Your coach can assist parents in learning to work as a more effective parenting team, while decreasing the stress level for both parents.
Student Support-There are times when special needs students don’t need or want therapy, but they do want to learn more about their disabilities, what can be remediated and how, as well as how to compensate for or work around what can’t be remediated. Other times, they want help figuring out ways to tell friends or employers about their disabilities, to cope with daily stressors or to deal with bullies. Since young people are familiar with the internet, on-line coaching sessions to help them perform their best is a comfortable tool for them to use.
Overall, a special needs coach is just that: a coach. This is a person who motivates, encourages, directs you to resources, helps you prioritize goals and helps you work towards those goals as effectively and consistently as possible. There are no contracts and no set number of sessions, you ask for help when you need it and in the form you need it. This may mean support with on-line secure chat, brief telephone support in immediate situations, email feedback and direction, or complete written reports. You share your concerns, identify your needs, and we work jointly towards finding the solutions you need.
Services are also available for school districts that would like assistance working more positively with parents. If you are a school district looking to improve communications with parents or develop model programs for special needs students, please call us at 863-471-0281 to discuss the nature of your needs.
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