Related Service Providers

  • School Nurses

    “We know that students need to be healthy to learn. School nurses play a vital role in making sure children are healthy and ready to learn.” -- Arne Duncan, Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Education.

    • Instructing staff regarding EpiPen administration and Blood Borne Pathogens;
    • Organizing Flu clinics for staff;
    • Developing health lessons for first graders, Health Bear Lessons;
    • Developing Health Care/Emergency Plans for students with significant health issues;
    • Preparing referrals and follow-up care plans for students who fail the vision and hearing screenings;
    • Ensuring a 99% compliance rate for immunizations;
    • Monitoring follow-up care plans for students who have sustained a concussion;
    • Contacts with community local physicians and community resources;
    • Meetings with school resource offices and school-based IST and coordination teams;
    • Participating in medical 504 meetings;
    • Meetings with guidance and adjustment counselors to assist in the development of behavior management plans that address issues of self-injurious behavior, metal health, eating disorders, suicidal ideation and or attempts;
    • Creating SMART goals and professional development activities;
    • Providing counseling for students who have experienced recent/historical loss and or trauma;
    • Connecting underinsured families with community resources (Lions Club, etc.);
    • Collaborating with the Falmouth Service Center, Katelyn’s Closet and other community resources for families in need;
    • Welcoming students who are not in medical need but emotional need;
    • Attending to the medical needs of school visitors and/or family members;
    • Organizing medical necessities and training for students and staff members for field trips.

     

    Speech Pathologists

    A speech pathologist in the public schools addresses students with the following needs:

    Receptive and expressive language skills (weaknesses in vocabulary, concepts and grammar) which may impact oral and written expression;

    • Articulation- difficulties producing speech sounds that impact a student’s ability to make effective progress in school;
    • Augmentative communication- Some children are not able to speak at all and need help learning other ways to communicate, we devise augmentative communication systems;
    • Social communication – how students interact with others;
    • Voice – how we sound when we speak (pitch, volume, quality, resonance);
    • Stuttering - fluency of speech;
    • Cognitive communication- thinking and memory which includes problems with long term or short term memory, attention, problem solving or staying organized;
    • Feeding and swallowing also called dysphagia- how well we chew and swallow food and liquid. (Medically complex children who enter the school system may have these types of needs.)

    Student Support:

    • Conduct both formal and informal screenings as needed. Informally, observe students in their classrooms to determine if they need further speech and language testing. Formally, participate in the annual Kindergarten screenings;
    • Conduct initial and re/evaluations of speech and language skills (these are new referrals or students that are currently on my caseload) and generate a written report to be presented at a Team meeting with the parents;
    • Participate in the determination of eligibility;
    • Collaborate in the development of IEPs.
    • Attend IEP meetings for all students on my caseload annually or as often as requested by the Team including the parents;
    • Provide a combination of services including one on one and small group therapy;
    • Provide assistance with children who are at risk for communication and learning problems in the classroom;
    • Determine if a child needs specialized instruction called response to intervention or RTI. I work with students who qualify for RTI within the classroom or in pull out sessions.
    • Ensure that communication goals support student’s learning and social skills in accordance with the Massachusetts state standards;
    • Facilitate social groups for children in need of explicit instruction and practice with social skills.
    • Monitor and report data on student progress;
    • Research best practices;
    • Develop and create materials for each therapy session;
    • Provide students with home programs to work on skills at home;
    • Implementation of student behavior programs and implement skills which I have learned in the Crisis Prevention Intervention program which may include restraints or transporting a student in crisis.

    Teacher/Classroom support:

    • Consult to classroom teachers in accordance to IEP’s (most students on IEP’s have 5-10 minutes of consultation time per week) as well as informal consultation with regard to students not on my caseload;
    • Attend Instructional Support Team meetings as part of the pre-referral process, provide teachers with suggestions for the classroom to improve student performance, or determine if a special education referral should be made;
    • Collaborate closely with special education teachers and teaching assistants for students who are part of the Therapeutic Intervention Program to address carryover of communication skills in the classroom

    Family support:

    Provide referrals/consult with outside agencies or write letters for parents to bring to doctors regarding speech language concerns;

    • Develop home programs for students;
    • Communicate with parents through emails, phone conversations, and in-person or through communication notebooks;
    • Maintain the website for families to access to increase carryover and support at home.

    Additional Responsibilities:

    • Engage in professional development activities to meet state and national certification requirements;
    • Document and report on the Medicaid website after each speech and language session for students who qualify for this reimbursement;
    • Present at staff meetings or with new staff at the start of the school year to educate them about working with students who have autism;
    • Perform daily/weekly bus and or recess duties;
    • Participate in meetings once a week before school to address the needs of students in the TIP program;
    • Participate in bi-monthly meetings with TIP staff and administration to discuss individual students and program needs;
    • Consult with Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) regarding individual students and program needs;
    • Participate in staff meetings and grade level meetings;
    • Meet with the school nurse regarding students who do not pass their hearing screenings.

     

    School Adjustment Counselors

    • Provide short- and long-term counseling to students and address social emotional, familial and mental health issues;
    • Investigate bullying claims;
    • Meet with families, collateral contacts, juvenile probation department, DCF;
    • Conduct mediations;
    • Connect families to the Falmouth Service Center;
    • Assist parents with health insurance applications (Mass Health);
    • Consult with teachers/guidance/administrators regarding students;
    • Provide direct services based on individual IEPs, provide documentation, monthly Medicaid billing;
    • Participate in IEP, Coordination, IST meetings;
    • Provide appropriate community referrals;
    • Conduct preliminary crisis intervention and arrange assessments by the PAT or DMH as deemed appropriate;
    • Facilitate re-entry meetings for students returning from hospitalizations or crisis team assessments;
    • Co-ordinate the delivery of educational services for hospitalized students;
    • File 51As on behalf of the school teams;
    • Conduct staff training around 51As as mandated by the state;
    • Act as the Supervisor of Attendance;
    • Adhere to the new CRA law and create and implement plans for students with attendance issues;
    • Provide home visits;
    • Take time samples;
    • Contribute to the development of BIPs;
    • Facilitate the mentor process;
    • Chair 504 meetings;
    • In 2013-2014 Elementary Adjustment Counselors assisted a total of 109 families (total of 265 children) during the holiday;
    • Facilitate “Girls Circle”, Alternative Ed and “Stinkin’ Thinkin’” groups as schedule allows;
    • Facilitate lunch bunch and social skills groups.

    School Adjustment Counselors are licensed clinicians in the building servicing students with acute and chronic mental health diagnoses. We are working with students and their families to build alliances and connect them to community support for long term care. We are helping the faculty understand how these serious mental health concerns manifest themselves in the classroom and how they will impact learning. We are working with Guidance to create academic success plans and providing the clinical perspective to teaching students with these high risk needs.

    School Psychologists

    • Complete psychological assessments for initial and reevaluations;
    • Evaluate “at-risk” students and make appropriate referrals to PAT, DMH, ER;
    • Manage plans for students with social emotional disabilities and/or executive function deficits;
    • Provide both individual and group counseling;
    • Present testing results in IEP meetings;
    • Review findings with teachers, parents, and students;
    • Consult with special and general education teachers regarding students in their classrooms;
    • Complete Functional Behavioral Assessments;
    • Develop and monitor BIPs;
    • Complete OOD evaluations on Falmouth students;
    • Consult with collaborative agencies to maintain consistency of services;
    • Facilitate/attend IST meetings;
    • Provide classroom support and intervention.

     

    Physical Therapists

    Primary concern is safety in school, maximize participation and promote independent functional mobility. Modifications and accommodations are provided and monitored to promote student success.

    Students that we see include those with developmental delays, genetic disorders, Down Syndrome, Autism, Coordination Disabilities, Cerebral Palsey, Muscular Dystrophy-Duschennes, Blind and deaf students, Anxiety Disorders, Congenital Cardiac and musculo-skeletal abnormalities, Respiratory concerns-Asthma, Seizure Disorders, Mitochondrial Disease.

    • Perform PK through FHS evaluations, observations, screenings, meetings;
    • Perform out of district evaluations (CCC, RFK School, home and private pre-school);
    • Provide direct service and consult to caseload (45-50 students/year);
    • Review and write IEP’s;
    • Provide alternative motor activities to TIP program;
    • Consult to Adapted PE at LAW and FHS, and to staff as needed;
    • Provide teaching to TA’s regarding safety and motor function in school (i.e. how to guard on stairs, cues for participation in PE, and travel throughout the school setting);
    • Parent communication provided on student progress;
    • Prepare and maintain progress notes for caseload;
    • Medicaid billing for direct service.

    Occupational Therapists

    Responsibilities:

    • Develop, implement, and coordinate Occupational Therapy services;
    • Use a Response to Intervention model to perform district wide screenings;
    • Perform evaluations to assess visual and fine motor skills, self-regulation skills, prevocational; skills, vocational skills, independent living skills, assistive technology;
    • Create Individualized Education Programs (IEP) specific to the student, write progress notes, data collection, 504 Accommodation plans, District Curriculum Accommodation Plans;
    • Educational planning: create accommodations for the classroom and MCAS testing, create Individualized Education Program goals and objectives to support student growth, provide consultative support to all specialized programs (TIPP, MALC, SLC, Integrated programs, Transition Program);
    • Transition planning: as part of the high school transition program provide prevocational and vocational training, independent livings skills, social skills, community development, in addition provide transition planning between grades, programs and schools;
    • Therapeutic intervention: provide direct services to students with visual and fine motor delays to access the curriculum, build self-regulation skills, organization skills, and sensory motor development;
    • Collaborate with families and other service providers (Physical Therapists, Speech Therapists, Psychologists, Adjustment Counselors, Job coaches, Administrators, Teachers, Specialists, Community agencies);
    • Review outcomes and modify intervention programs, clinical reasoning and professional judgment are essential to ensuring the safety of students and protecting liability of the school system and therapists;

    Occupational Therapy Service and Delivery:

    • Provide targeted, evidence-based therapeutic intervention to facilitate student participation within the school environment
    • Format of services: direct services outside the classroom, direct services in the classroom, job coaching in the community, consultative services to the (classroom teacher, special education teacher, TAs, specialists)

    Other related duties:

    • Support general education through informal consultation, screenings, classroom accommodations, staff trainings;
    • Ongoing consultation and support to TAs that work in the specialized programs (MALC, TIPP, Integrated classroom, High School program);
    • Member of the Instructional Support Team;
    • Member of the Preschool Screening Team;
    • As a department, present 5-7 in-service trainings a year (to staff as well as the community);
    • Provide summer services to prevent substantial regression;
    • Provide summer transitional services for students turning 18 years to develop daily living skills and vocational pursuits;
    • Provide assistive technology services; evaluation, consultation and direct service support;
    • Develop and continue to modify data collection procedures related to goals and objectives;
    • Submit Medicaid billing for reimbursement;
    • Provide three month long internship programs for occupational therapy students from local colleges;

    Occupational Therapy independent initiatives:

    • Initiated and implemented the Zones of Regulation curriculum (self-regulation skills) in the general education and special education classrooms in the preschools, elementary schools, middle school, and high school along with specialized programs (MALC, SLC, TIPP, Integrated classrooms, High School Transition program);
    • Applied for and received a grant to create fine motor kits in the regular education kindergarten classrooms;
    • Applied for and received a grant to build sensory motor strategies and tools in two first grade classrooms to promote self-regulation skills;
    • Applied for and received a grant for Educational Game systems to promote fine motor skills
    • Applied for and received funding for assistive technology device to promote continuity between home and school;
    • Applied for and received a grant for speech to text software;
    • Revised occupational therapy evaluation to reflect school participation.

    Professional Growth and Ethics:

    • Participate in continuing education for professional development to ensure practice is consistent with best practice and to meet MA licensure requirements.
    • Use professional literature, evidence based research, and continuing education content to make practice decision.