Psychological Assessments: From Confusion to Clarity
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Today we’re continuing our series exploring services that we use to help get your learner on a path to school success. When applied with the expertise and tact of GPS Education Consulting L.L.C., these tools work wonders!
Last week, we wrote about psychological assessment reports. We summarized (from our experience writing hundreds of reports over the years) some challenges and threats that are encountered when hardworking school professionals attempt to do the impossible within overburdened and under resourced school systems. We’re talking about: completing comprehensive assessments while effectively communicating the results to parents and staff, and collaboratively applying the findings to important decisions for a learner’s education.
This is a recipe for several obstacles. Today we’re tackling the first obstacle:
“Opportunities to collaborate with experts in various aspects of the learner’s life shrank.”
While this is often an unfortunate reality, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Today we’re sharing additional insights and ways we can help you move past obstacles to get your learner on the path to school success without wasting any more precious time in their educational career.
Unfortunately, when parents are advocating on their own it is often challenging to get all the people that are needed into the same room (or Zoom call) for a meeting, and even harder to get people to stay for the whole meeting.
There are many reasons for this, but usually, its because it’s not possible to find coverage for staff to attend the meetings, or because related service providers are split across multiple schools and have to choose between missing services for students and attending a meeting. It usually points back to the recurring theme of allocating limited resources to the system’s ever-growing needs.
This may sound like an inconvenience (and it is), but there can be more serious implications. Here are just a few:
Parents / Caregivers don’t have the opportunity to ask questions to fully understand and meaningfully participate in decisions because:
A staff member is absent,
There’s not enough time,
Parent/Caregiver is feeling pressured to proceed to avoid wasting time, etc.
Drafts of documents needed for the conversation are not sent home ahead of the meetings or are put together haphazardly.
Meeting minutes and follow-up documentation are hastily completed and may leave out key details needed by interested parties (e.g., attorneys, private psychologists, therapists, parent representatives, future IEP Teams, school district staff, etc.) to effectively advocate for your learner’s growth. Think:
Types and Frequency of services,
Testing and Instructional Accommodations,
Goal/Objectives,
Location of services (Inside or outside General Education),
Placement (what school/setting can implement the student’s educational program), etc.
Input is condensed into a few sentences, and there may be key pieces of the puzzle that are not shared due to time constraints.
Meetings require rescheduling or additional meetings because a school professional isn’t available to share their insight and expertise.
Professionals are pulled into meetings without advanced warning and opportunities to prepare, review data, and seek input from colleagues.
How we help:
Often times, when a parent informs the school that they have representation from a Non-Attorney Advocate, additional resources and meeting calendars tend to free-up quickly.
While we wish that this wasn’t the case, we’ve previously detailed the daily challenges that well-meaning school staff face when the school system is overburdened and under-resourced. As a result, resources (including time) are often triaged and allocated to the highest priorities.
So…the first way that GPS Education Consulting can help you move from confusion to clarity is simply by serving as the child’s educational advocate.
Hiring us is just the start though, we provide life-changing education consulting and non-attorney educational advocacy services every step of the journey.
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Together, as one… Navigating the path to school success!
