- An intake phone conversation with parents and/or teachers
- A checklist for parents and teachers to fill out to help consultants better understand your concerns and the teacher’s impressions
- An observation of the child in his/her classroom setting over approximately 2 hours so that several transitions and types of activities are observed
- A comprehensive, individualized report of impressions and recommendations
- An interpretive meeting with parents and school staff to present the report and strategize about next steps
Home Visits help parents with specific, recurring problematic issues or parts of their daily routine at home by using principles of applied behavioral analysis to determine a behavior's triggers, consequences, and function – why a child is doing what s/he's doing.
Together, parents and consultants develop a plan to reduce a behavior's triggers, teach a more appropriate response, and consequate an unwanted behavior effectively. Home visits typically take place at home without the child present.
Being in the home allows the consultant to see the physical environment and create highly individualized solutions. The goal of home visits is to teach parents how to analyze and address their children's behaviors, so that they have the tools to apply to future behavioral challenges.
Child Development Consultants employs a parent education model. Consultants are not mental health professionals and do not provide mental health services of any kind; however they are happy to refer parents to such professionals.
Play Facilitator/Shadow Training is a service that consultants provide when it has been determined that a child would be most successful in his classroom environment with 1-on-1 adult support.
While Child Development Consultants does not provide shadows, our team may train them once they have been identified.
Training includes modeling appropriate techniques, explaining best practices and potential pitfalls to the shadow, observing and providing specific feedback to the shadow, and identifying individualized strategies that may help the child be as successful as possible given his unique set of strengths and challenges.
Shadow training occurs over several visits so that the consultant can note progress and address challenges that may be developing, and the shadow has the opportunity to ask questions and receive feedback about particular situations that may have come up since the last time they met.
A La Carte services are typically used by returning families, after an initial observation-assessment or home visit, to provide follow-up feedback and support.
A family might choose to utilize these services when a child changes schools or classrooms, or when there is a new challenge in his environment for which the family or teachers would like additional support or guidance.