PBM, Inc.
10330 Hickman Mills Dr.
Building 2
Kansas City
MO 64137
Ph: 816.501.5138
Fax: 816.777.0626
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Teaching Skills to Children With Special
Needs
Our goal is to involve all of the people working with the child to create a comprehensive and coordinated teaching effort. Through this cooperative effort, we surround the child with people who know how to teach him or her most effectively. Objectives are individualized and are based on current skills and immediate, short term, and long term needs with the result being maximized learning in the least restrictive environment. Teaching strategies are matched to the child's learning style and all learning environments - thus each child's program is designed specifically for him or her.
Again, we consider PBM, Inc. to be a teaching and training organization for behavioral approaches to managing behavior and teaching new skills.
Each individualized program may involve a continuum of strategies:
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teaching via 1:1 work with the child
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discrete trial strategies
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small group teaching
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large group teaching
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incidental teaching
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visual support
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augmentative communication
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home teaching
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classroom teaching
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community teaching
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functional assessment
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behavior management strategies
If a child has skill or behavior deficits, our skill-building consultants provide the support and services necessary to meet those needs. We tailor our services to provide our clients with the tools for success. Below is an out line of some of the services our consultants provide.
Please note: we consider a "teaching team" to consist of at least Mom & Dad, with additional support from family, friends, school officials, and hired assistance such as PCA's. Our goal is always to train the "team" to teach the skills themselves - thus reducing the need for our involvement.
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PCA
Team Organization: Consultants provide assistance with
team training on how to systematically teach skills (e.g., morning
routines, activities of daily living, etc.).
- Team Training Workshops: The team-training workshop is designed to allow the consultant time to work with the child, to teach and train team members on positive behavior support procedures, discuss behavioral goals and objectives, and to set up and run the teaching program.
Our
typical team training workshop schedule includes three components:
Component
One: To individualize our workshop and to address the needs of a child our consultants use the first visit to get to know the child in an informal meeting. At this time, consultants try different teaching strategies with the child, discover some of the child's special ways of learning, share any of the resources parents have requested, and discuss the family's priorities, goals and insights. This information is then incorporated into the workshop and is used in the formulation of goals.
Component
Two: This is the heart of the workshop as it brings together all of the people involved in the child's intervention for comprehensive teaching sessions. It consists of learning basic teaching techniques, role-playing, and ideas on how to organize the teaching team. Consultant's alternate between setting goals in each life domain (communication, play/leisure, self-help, social, etc.) and practicing teaching techniques with the child.
Component
Three: Follow-up meetings in which the team meets and, with the child, we practice teaching techniques in each life domain. Team members receive feedback from the consultant, practice giving feedback to each other, and review teaching principles. We also discuss issues regarding how to deal with siblings, making therapy fun and creative, confidentiality, and professional conduct.
We leave behind an organized and comprehensive "team notebook" that includes a copy of the child's goals and written programs describing all of the techniques used to meet those goals. These three components take up to 16 hours to complete. This workshop is designed to be supported by our consultants through follow-up consultation, however, as parents, teachers, PCA's, etc., become increasingly proficient in using the teaching techniques and learn how to effectively teach individual skills the need for our consulting time is reduced.
All of our skill building programs are data driven and we require that team members always document progress.
Skill Building Consultation Services (either as follow-up or as stand alone services)
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Program
Review for Team (up to 6 hours per mo.)
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Follow-up
program reviews, after the initial workshop, are set up to:
- give
the team additional teaching time with SAIL consultants
for ongoing support
- provide
training for new team members
- problem
solve in critical areas
- correct
any errors in teaching procedures
- provide
in-person feedback on programs and team progress
- develop
new goals and add advanced curriculum
These sessions include the whole team staff and the child, lasting from 2 to 5 hours while the child's entire intervention is evaluated and updated. We recommend that the team meet with the consultants on a regular basis. Typically, visits are conducted more frequently for new teams and less for established teams. These meetings are critical to insuring the integrity of our programs.
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Team
Meetings (2 to 3 hours)
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Follow-up team meetings, after the initial workshop, are designed to give the team contact with a consultant for short periods of time to:
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highlight specific goals
- problem
solve areas of concern
- advance
teaching curriculum
These
sessions include as many people from the home team
as possible and concentrate efforts on parts of the
child's intervention.
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Family
Consultation on an "As Needed" Basis
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Consultants are available to consult with families on specific skills or behavioral concerns not necessarily related to a home teaching team. This type of consultation typically addresses one area of concern and may involve consultation on an as needed basis.
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Phone
and E-mail Consultation
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Scheduling phone or e-mail consultation with consultants is another way we provide feedback between monthly consultations.
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Special
Request Paperwork
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Consultants are available to provide additional written information which is not already included as part of the workshop or on going follow up consultation. Such requests may include person Centered Plan Goals, IEP goals, progress reports, observation summaries, graphs, etc.
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