Consultancy for Learning Difficulties and Special Needs

Special Miles offers Consultancy/Screening/Early Intervention Services/Assessment/Therapies/Referrals/Follow-up for the following sectors:

 

Day Cares (Nurseries)   Schools   Parents

 

 

 

 

Day Cares (Nurseries)

Early Childhood Intervention for Parents and Day Care Centers

 

What is Early Childhood Intervention?

Early childhood intervention entails services that promote a child's age-appropriate growth and development while supporting families during the critical early years. Starting with a partnership between parents and professionals at this early stage contributes to the prevention of up possible upcoming challenges.

Early childhood intervention services are provided to infants and young children who show signs of, or are at risk of having, developmental and/or other challenges. These services are often tailored to the specific needs of each child with the goal of enhancing the child's potential for growth and development.

Early and prompt intervention programs can prevent or reduce the consequences of hindering conditions, particularly in young children. Services are also provided to assist families of children with extra support needs to access inclusive child care.

 

Who is eligible?

Children between the age of one year and school entry age who have, or are at risk for, developmental and/or other challenges.

 

Intervention Services:

1.   S-miles team offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary service system to address the needs of infants and toddlers who are experiencing developmental delays or a diagnosed physical or mental condition with a high probability of an associated developmental challenge in one or more of the following areas: cognitive development, physical development, language and speech development, psychosocial development, and self-help skills.

2.   Infants and young children develop best with nurturing and responsive relationships within strong supportive and caring environments. Therefore, S-miles team work with families and/or day care centers to develop skills needed to support child s development depending on the actual need of the child. Our services can be tailored to entail the following:

3.   Formal assessment and data collection through:

-   Child observation in different settings and timings

-   Parent meeting and questionnaire

-   Caregiver meeting and questionnaire

4.   Documentation of findings in formal documents

5.   Direct one-on-one intervention in your home or at our center

6.   Group intervention with the child, parent(s) or both

7.   Collaborative consultation to child care through individualized intervention within routines Family support and education groups

8.   Referral to other professional for further assessment or intervention may include, but are not limited to, Psychological services, medical services for diagnostic or evaluation services (pediatrics, neurologist, etc.),Mental health counseling services for children, parents and families, Nutrition services, Occupational Therapy services, Physical Therapy services, Speech-language Pathology services, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Assisting technology devices and services

9.   Transition planning to school and/or other services

10.  Development of individualized plans

11.  Family/Parent training - services provided by qualified personnel to assist the family in understanding the special needs of the child and in promoting the child's development

12.  Train day care centers to develop therapeutic early childhood classrooms, providing developmentally appropriate learning environments, and staffed by trained Early Interventionists

 

Why to intervene as early as possible?

-   Help prevent child abuse and neglect

-   Lessen the effects of abuse and neglect

-   Improve parenting skills and strengthen family relationships

-   Improve the child's developmental, social and educational gains

-   Reduce the future costs of special education, rehabilitation and health care needs

-   Reduce feelings of isolation, stress and frustration that families may experience

-   Help alleviate and reduce behaviors by using positive behavior strategies and interventions

-   Help children with challenges grow up to become productive, independent individuals

 

How Do I Get the Help My Child Needs?

The road ahead will be bumpy. There will be times when your progress stalls or takes an unexpected turn. When it does, try to remind yourself that these are speed bumps, not roadblocks. Take them one at a time. It is important that you start now! There are a variety of services available to treat and educate your child.

Special Miles services are provided in home and community settings, such as daycares and preschools.

S-miles team helps determine the family and child's needs and match these with the resources available in their community. Parents are involved at every step as the key partners in their child's success. 

 

Schools

Children come to school with a vast diversity of unique characteristics, interests, abilities and needs. It is the school's biggest challenge and responsibility to provide equal access to education as every individual has the fundamental right to grow and develop.

With the fast growing need and demands of today's school dynamics, Special Miles center offers consultancy services to help schools cater to the needs of all students giving them equal access to education.

 

School Services offered by S-miles Center:

1.   S-miles center  provides technical expertise and guidance to schools in the preparation and implementation of special education plans; hence, we offer three types of support for inclusive schools of which:

-      In class support (accommodation/modification) where S-miles team collaborate with the mainstream class teacher to develop and implement specific accommodation and modification in class and at home for particular students.

 -      Pull out Sessions where S-miles team assist the special educator/teacher prepare an individualized program to cater for a small group of maximum six students in order to work on a specific difficulty in subject areas, study or organizational skills or/and social and life skills.

2.   School Screening: S-miles team can screen groups of students and detect who might be in need of extra support or referral for further assessment or/and therapy and intervention.  

3.   Personal Development for staff: S-miles aims to expand the staff's knowledge regarding essential educational concepts and techniques to enhance the quality of instruction and the degree of support provided for the vast needs of learners. 

-      S-miles team offers to staff members and administrators intensive sessions or workshops tackling critical issues and covering educational concepts such as differentiated instruction, learning styles, assessment, zone of proximal development, etc.  

-      Individual support: S-miles offers individualized support for teachers to tackle the needs of classes as a whole and of specific students based on differentiation philosophies and special education strategies and techniques.

4.   Develops special educational guides, policies, and manuals for teachers and administrators

5.   Develops comprehensive individualized programs for the education of exceptional children

6.   Reviews and evaluates individualized education programs already set by staff

7.   Maintains records and correspondence related to the work

8.   Prepares reports

9.   Consultancy for parents

10.  After screening S-miles center would refer students to therapists in/out of schools

11.  S-miles can also provide schools with therapists

12.  Offers students organization and study skills programs on individual or group basis

 

 

 Parents

Parenting a child with any sort of special needs and learning difficulties, regardless of the age and the nature of the need, is frustrating and painful for the parents or caregivers. It is a stressful and confusing journey that sometimes leads families and relationships to the breaking point.

As consultants, Special Miles prior target is to work alongside with parents in order to offer them viable options to help their child.

Parents of children with special needs and learning difficulties have to be exceedingly resourceful. They face all the regular challenges of parenting, compounded by an onslaught of additional challenges, when it comes to helping their children get through the day and receive the services and schooling they require.

Yet, what happens when parents have just received their child's diagnosis and feeling overwhelmed by the tasks ahead, not sure where to begin? Where to go? What to do? Or what if they have been struggling with their child for a few years, but still cannot feel growth and progress?

That's where S-miles come in, to guide parents in managing the kinds of educational, social, behavioral, medical, emotional, and daily routine challenges they face. S-miles team will listen and support parents throughout the whole process of helping them secure the best possible future for their loved ones.

 

S-miles services for parents entails the following:

-   Comprehensive screening process: Initially S-miles team meet with teachers and parents to collect essential information about the child and the family as a whole. The team later engages in a series of observation sessions to assess the child functioning in different settings. With consent from parents the team also collects information and data from all personnel involved in the child's education and upbringing and any professional who have had a working relationship with the student.

-   If needed, S-miles will guide parents to additional assessments required to ensure a customized program for their child.

-   Based on intensive data collection and analysis and on professional assessment results, S-miles team help the parents put a plan of action. If needed, a list of suggested professionals is shared with parents for placement options or intervention programs.

-   Further, S-miles center aims to serve as the child's advocate and as the parents' liaison with educators and professionals working with the child. Quality of service the child is obtaining in different settings is assessed by our team and feedback is shared with parents. Our team is also available for parents as deemed necessary.

-   S-miles team also helps parents of adolescents identify post secondary options to enroll their children.

-   Awareness workshops

 

It is very important to note that our primary job functions as a resource person who suggests placement and intervention options as well as action plans. However, we are not entitled to make the placement or take the decision. It is the responsibility of the parents to make appropriate decisions on behalf of their children.