Social Coach In Schools /Para Support

Vanessa also provides ‘support professionals’ to people of all ages requiring extra help towards greater independence. ‘Support Professional’ helps provide a behavioral intervention. For children, a support professional refers to a Behavior Specialist assisting a child at school by first observing, taking data to come up with a behavioral plan.  Then the next still will be consulting with the child’s family and teacher, wherein the specialist can highlight areas of concern and develop a plan for behavior modification. The support professional then helps the child on a daily basis – first building rapport while meeting them where they are at physically & emotionally – then challenging the child to develop further self-sufficiency. The goal of a  is to assist the child without hovering or embarrassing them, while making discrete modifications to their behavior and classroom environment to set the child up for success. Oftentimes, the support professional will act as though they are an extra teacher in the classroom so that nobody knows which child is requiring extra help, to protect the child’s privacy. The ultimate goal of support professional is that the child will reach a great er independence at school, with a greater awareness of how to self regulate him/her own body.

How do you know if your child would benefit from a ‘support professional’?

  • Has your child’s teacher mentioned that your son/daughter ‘checks out’ regularly in class, and therefore, has great difficulty completing tasks?

  • Does your child struggle with sensory integration or an attention deficit?

  • Does your child have difficulty with executive function, fine motor skills, impulsivity, following instructions or being part of a group?

  • Is your child ‘acting out’ and being sent away from group/educational activities because of behavioral issues? Is he/she ‘in trouble’ most of the time, and missing out on vital learning?

  • Has your child’s school mentioned that without extra assistance, your child may be excluded because of behavioral issues or special needs that they can not reasonably accommodate?

Social Skills & Social Group

Vanessa believes that social skilling should be done in a natural setting and out in the community.  There are many ways to teach social skills to children who do not naturally pick up on non-verbal cues in the world around them.

Sessions consists of one-on-one and group sessions in the community.

Individual Sessions

  • We conduct one-to-one sessions with individual students out in the community, where we spend time observing life as it happens and teaching vital skills that are relevant to the child’s daily context- life skills!

  • A general session involves capturing naturally teachable moments, such as: how to cope with unexpected moments using appropriate voice level modulation for the situation

  • How to express opinions in a way that doesn’t offend others

  • Participation in conversation that involves/is interesting to everyone in the group and is back and forth

Each session offers direct teaching of social behavior, including the use of resources developed by leading experts in social skilling for children who struggle with understanding appropriate behaviors.

Group Session At KFS School

We also run social groups for children of all ages. Each group consists of anywhere between 2-6 participants matched by age and compatible needs. The groups help children learn that positive social interactions rely heavily on thinking outside of themselves, therefore focusing on building friendships by:

  • Sharing (physical items and ideas)                

  • Encouraging others

  • Thinking about other people’s feelings

  • Teamwork

  • Accepting others perceptives

Our goal is to have children develop a tool kit of positive social behaviors in order to sustain consistent friendships and feel confident in socializing and making friends.

 

Behavioral Consultations

Family life is difficult – it doesn’t have to be unbearable though.

When your kids have special needs or behavioral challenges, what seems like an everyday task can sometimes feel like mission impossible. We are passionate about helping families find joy in being together, despite the obstacles that may stand in their way. We help strengthen families by providing services that include Behavioral Consultations.

What is a Behavioral Consultation?

A Behavioral Consultation happens when one or more of the child’s parents/caregivers discuss family dynamics. The conversation is usually focused around one or more children’s challenging behaviors and the way that they affect the family’s ability to function. The Consultant makes suggestions and develops a plan of action from a toolbox of methods that they have been trained in, or previously seen evidence-based success in. At KFS, everything we do is relationship-based and individualized.

What does the initial consultation look like?

A Consultant comes to the family’s house and observes the children in their natural environment. (We do not meet in offices, as we know that unfamiliar surroundings cause people to behave differently than they would in their own home.) The Consultant makes time to spend with the children, then sits down with the parent/s for the consultation. Depending on the situation and ages of the children, we like to involve the entire family in the initial consultation.

What is the purpose of a Behavioral Consultation?

The purpose of the Behavior Consultation is not to fix the family’s situation his/herself. The Consultant is there to train and empower the parents to change the way they lead their family, by equipping them with strategies and tools to make life easier. The Consultant is the overseer, the parents outwork the plan – history has proven that lasting changes can not be made to a whole family dynamic unless the whole family is on board. Though it may seem as though one person of the family can be making things dysfunctional, every member of the family has a part to play in overall change.

After the initial consultation, how often do families see the Behavior Consultant?

It is recommended that in the first few weeks of the intervention that the Consultant visits the family on a weekly basis, to check in with how everything is going. It is likely that there will be a few “teething problems” with some strategies, and these kinks can be worked out with the consultant during consultations. The consultant can help families to start a culture of meeting regularly which can then be sustained without being present. The consultant is involved for as long as the family requires the assistance. One of the biggest advantages of having a third party involved in a family behavioral intervention is that the consultant helps to keep the parents accountable for reinforcing the strategies that will lead to change.

Parenting Course

“Parenting With Confidence” is a 4-week parenting course offered by Kahlon Family Services for parents of different, difficult or strong-willed children.

The course covers topics, such as;

  • Communication

  • Quality time

  • Dealing with meltdowns, and

  • Building the parent-child bond

Each session will involve practical content developed by Behavior Specialists, fresh ideas, strategies and challenges. There will also be time for questions, comments and discussion.

If you are at the end of your rope, tired of speaking to a “brick wall” or just seeking to know more about parenting – this course is for you!