How to know what SN services offered at schools

[origami]

We are thinking about moving locally and our districts have the worst websites. I can’t figure out what SN therapies/services are offered, or typically offered, anywhere. I swear our districts put the least amount of info possible on their websites. This is a general question but I’m asking it because I have specific things in mind that we can’t get at our current school. My kids currently get ST & OT. I have a good idea of what they’d get with that elsewhere. I want to add more social group/therapy/skills, which would be new to me so I don’t know what to expect. Based on my current experience of being constantly disappointed in what the district provides and having to supplement with private therapy I really want to make sure we move to the right spot. Does anyone know what kind of social “therapy” (not sure of the correct term) is typically offered at elementary schools? Or what the best way is to find out, without having to call individual schools?

[freezorburn]

I would probably approach this from two angles -- 1) I would try the districts' special needs offices. Which I know can be obscure and unhelpful, but it sounds like you have very specific things you want to ask, and that might be a good place to start. 2) Whoever you have worked with in the past that might be familiar with your kids' cases. Might be a teacher or administrator who was involved in crafting an IEP, for example. My thinking is they have their own experience and insight with the district and why their skills and resources might be distributed as they are.

As for what social/behavioral supports are available, I can only speak to what we have experienced so far with DS, who will be going into 1st grade in the fall. Some of it may apply to your situation, or perhaps none at all. He is on the autism spectrum, high functioning enough that he is in a general education classroom. This past year his special ed teacher worked with him in the classroom. My understanding was that she would visit the classroom a couple of times a week, probably do a combination of observation or work on a skill -- depending on what was appropriate to what the class was doing at the same time. I think she worked with several other students at the same time, as it was a large class and I know there are several other students with IEPs in the class. His educational goals were things like, suggesting an activity 5 out of 7 times when asked; using appropriate voice level and language x out of x times, fully participating in small group learning activities x out of x times, self-reporting his level of comfort with a an assigned task.

Next year it will be much the same, but they will also be adding him to a small social skills group that meets 2x a week. We've also listed a number of accommodations on his IEP, such as noise-cancelling headphones at his desk and available for large assemblies, a privacy screen for his desk (to minimize distractions), advance notice of changes in the daily routine, and working with DS to make a plan for those changes.

[auntie]

This is intentional.

The school district does not want to be appealing to families who have children with expensive IEPs. A student with even moderate supports such as your child has can cost a district about twice what it costs to educate a typically developing student. In theory, federal funds are supposed to pay the difference but those funds don't always come through.

Many districts will not answer your questions until you have a lease or agreement of sale in hand. I found the single best resource for this sort of information was DS's psychologist who was my districts' and the county Intermediate Unit's ASD consultant. He was in and out of schools all the time- evaluating kids, training staff, etc. It's possible the private therapy providers may have some information about which schools seem better.

For most people, the best information comes from parents of kids with similar issues whose children are 1-2 years older than yours. Maybe you could find these people in the waiting room of your private therapy providers.

Social skills instruction is tricky. School can be an ideal place for this to happen, but only if the SLP can put together a cohort with similar needs and ages and only if the SLP "gets" social skills. DS's elementary SLP was an early follower of MGW back when social skills instruction was a new thing and most SLPs had no training in the area.

The situation at DS's middle school had been dire in the couple years before he transitioned. Their SLP retired, they went through 3 SLPs the first year (all quit for private practice) and brought the retired one back for a time, hired 2 new ones the next year (one went into private practice and the other took an elementary position) It was a cluster. There was a brand new SLP when DS arrived; she wanted to work in schools so she could be home with her own school-aged children. But her background was working with stroke, dementia and TBI. I was really upset about this. To her credit, at my suggestion she did a MGW conference in November and was terrific.


DS has done a couple of MGW Social Thinking programs- "TAY,TAM", Social Thinking and "Think Social"- they were really helpful for him. His private reading lab school did some "Skillstreaming" which is more rote and "training" vs "thinking". They also had Jed Baker work with their teachers to promote social skills for a time right before DS bridged.

[freezorburn]

auntie makes a good point about other parents being a good source of information.

We have a couple of local SN and ASD groups on Facebook that have been a great way to connect with other parents. People moving into the area frequently ask in there about schools.

[auntie]

origami , The other piece to this is that most families do supplement what the school offers. Even a robust IEP only addresses issues that are of an educational nature. While that can encompass things like appropriate behavior on the bus, taking turns on the playground and conversation at lunch, they aren't going to deal with issues that crop up at home, in extended family gatherings, at sports/scouts, etc. that are better addresses with something more like CBT.

[funchicken]

I agree that parents are a good resource, and my kids' preschool teachers have always been really helpful, too. One of them worked in EI prior to teaching preschool, and she had insight into how different areas were at providing services. I met a mom through DD1's summer activities who has two sons with ASD, and she's been helpful with what to expect at our school.

Our district uses Social Thinking, and our school SLP has a lot of extra coursework in it. Right now I'm supplementing with a summer social thinking small group with a private SLP.

[origami]

Jul 15, 2018 5:41:30 GMT -5 auntie said:

origami , The other piece to this is that most families do supplement what the school offers. Even a robust IEP only addresses issues that are of an educational nature. While that can encompass things like appropriate behavior on the bus, taking turns on the playground and conversation at lunch, they aren't going to deal with issues that crop up at home, in extended family gatherings, at sports/scouts, etc. that are better addresses with something more like CBT.

Yes I do plan on needing to continue private therapy long term regardless of the district. Is CBT similar to social skills therapy? I only know about CBT from an adult/anxiety perspective, not anything related to speech or kids. 

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Thanks everyone for your comments. I'll try to find some parents to speak to. I'm not sure how to find people in the know, but I'll see if there are some support groups or something. 

[auntie]

Jul 15, 2018 13:54:20 GMT -5 origami said:

Jul 15, 2018 5:41:30 GMT -5 auntie said:

Yes I do plan on needing to continue private therapy long term regardless of the district. Is CBT similar to social skills therapy? I only know about CBT from an adult/anxiety perspective, not anything related to speech or kids. 

CBT for kids addresses a lot of the same stuff it does for adults- it helps with anxiety, getting "unstuck" and reframing how a person thinks about something. CBT can support social learning by helping a kid relax enough to engage or to help them see social interaction in a more positive light. CBT did DS a world of good.

When you look for social skills instruction, you want something that helps your child think through social give and take rather than just learn a set of rules and scripts. 

[virginia]

Social skills have been unreliable for us. The school counselor will occasionally pull together a lunch group or something, but it changes yearly ( we often don’t have the same counselor two years in a row).
In our district the only standard therapy are speech, OT, PT and Adaptive PE.
Even when we were in an excellent district, the speech therapist put together a social skills group based on kiddos she had, so I’d imagine it’s the sort of thing they might not be able to tell you about before you’re actually in an iep meeting.