Developing a tailored program for
your child's education is a daunting challenge. Guidance and support
through that process from someone who knows both the educational issues and
the science behind effective interventions can be critical. Reinforcement
Unlimited offers consulting to parents on the development of
scientifically-sound educational plans that stand the best chance of
developing effective skills for their child.
Many ask: "What is the
difference between an 'Advocate' and an IEP-Educational
Consultant?" Often, in our experience, Advocates have terrific
training in the educational regulations, what the law says, and how to follow
the essential procedures of the IEP process. However, most - again in
our experience - do not have the training and experience in the science to
offer sound professional advice on what treatments, techniques, interventions,
and therapies are most likely to benefit the child. This is the role of
a well-trained and experienced IEP-Educational Consultant. The answer
for us is simple - our consultants bring two important sets of expertise to
the IEP process for you. They are both certified Special Education
teachers with direct experience in the classroom implementing IEPs and have
training and supervision as Behavior Analysts designing and implementing
science-based interventions for children with educational and behavioral
needs. Our consultants are not there to advise on regulations or the
law. They are there to advise and consult on the core issue - the entire
reason for involvement in Special Education in the first place - how to best
educate the child.
Consultation can occur at a
variety of levels of intensity. Each level involves more time and
commitment by our consultants. Each situation is different and each
family will determine the level of consultation that is right for their
circumstances.
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Basic Level: We
are available to review the current IEP and other treatment plans and make
recommendations to you regarding refocusing, altering
treatment/educational methodologies, improvement in data collection to
determine if progress is in fact occurring, and a host of other
recommendations. This process involves providing us with
access to all the IEP/Treatment records and meeting with our consultants
at Reinforcement Unlimited
's clinic. This process will prepare you to be more informed and
effective in your next "Team Meeting".
-
Intermediate Level:
In addition to reviewing the records as in the Basic Level of
Consultation, we can conduct probes on your child's skills independent of
the schools or therapist in order to provide you with a second opinion
regarding progress and generalization of skills. This process can
help reassure you that progress has been achieved or can provide you with
additional data to help you bring the issue to the attention of your
child's current teachers and therapists.
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Advanced Level:
In addition to the Basic and Intermediate Levels of consultation, at the
Advanced Level our consultants will accompany you to meetings with
educational and therapy service providers to assist in presenting our
analysis and recommendations for refinements in the services offered to
your child. While we are not there to serve as Advocates or
Attorneys we are able to speak directly to the current service providers
about our recommendations, explain our reasoning, and answer questions
about practical implementation issues that arise in the process of
revising the current interventions.
We look forward to assisting you
in refining your child's educational and therapy experience and increasing
their rate of progress. We offer additional services to address issues
like Evaluations, additional
services in the home and in
the clinic, parent
training, and other
issues.
If you have any questions
regarding this, or any other, service provided by Reinforcement
Unlimited
please contact us.
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