This year Seneca has partnered the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCC) to implement The Collaborative Program on public school campuses. The idea for the Collaborative partnership began when WCC was looking to serve their youngest high needs students with IEPs. The closest non-public school that serves Kindergarten and First grade students is Seneca’s Maya Angelou Academy, a 40 minute cab ride away. Way too far for 5-6 year olds!!! The SPED folks at WCC and Seneca’s leadership team put their heads together, and with the help of funding from the Thomas J. Long Foundation, West Contra Costa County Mental Health, and WCC SPED, we were able to create this amazing partnership.
The two campuses that are currently implementing the Collab Model are Montalvin Elementary and Wilson Elementary. On each school campus, Seneca provides a Behavior Support Specialist, a Clinician, and at least one Student Support Assistant. They each happen to be in Year 1 of the UE Model implementation and have a UE Coach on site in addition to the Collab team to focus on Tier 1 interventions. The Seneca team is integrated with staff from the school campus which include the General Education Teacher, Special Education Case Manager, any related service providers, and school admin. This robust, multi-disciplinary team meets weekly or bi-weekly and is designed to provide supports to Kinder and 1st Grade students that would otherwise be at a non-public school campus.
The two campuses that are currently implementing the Collab Model are Montalvin Elementary and Wilson Elementary. On each school campus, Seneca provides a Behavior Support Specialist, a Clinician, and at least one Student Support Assistant. They each happen to be in Year 1 of the UE Model implementation and have a UE Coach on site in addition to the Collab team to focus on Tier 1 interventions. The Seneca team is integrated with staff from the school campus which include the General Education Teacher, Special Education Case Manager, any related service providers, and school admin. This robust, multi-disciplinary team meets weekly or bi-weekly and is designed to provide supports to Kinder and 1st Grade students that would otherwise be at a non-public school campus.
As with all new programs, we have had our fair share of successes and challenges. Individual student successes include a decrease in elopement from the classroom, decrease in aggressive behavior towards other students, and utilization of positive coping skills. One of the students has even been able to start independently accessing their speech and OT services without the support of Seneca staff! The team has been able to provide structure, consistency, and the love of superheroes and trains to help the students make progress. Support for teachers on classroom wide interventions include implementing daily classroom circles, sharing social stories with all students, and developing classroom positive recognition systems. Another way Seneca staff help increase General Education Teacher capacity is by centering conversations about students around their Internal Working Models in Collab Meetings. Families have also come to see the Seneca Team as allies in working with the school system as they navigate the school system together.
We’ve learned that early and consistent communication with all stakeholders on campus, including school staff, administrators and parents, is key for buy in to this program. Without the proactive communication, misunderstandings and concerns had to be addressed in a more reactive manner. In addition, we have learned to be more thoughtful in our intake and identification process when students are entering the program.
Through the Collaborative program, we’ve been able to help our youngest high needs students stay with their peers on public school campuses. They’re been able to get support in order to access the general education curriculum, make friends, and experience success at the beginning of their school careers.
We’ve learned that early and consistent communication with all stakeholders on campus, including school staff, administrators and parents, is key for buy in to this program. Without the proactive communication, misunderstandings and concerns had to be addressed in a more reactive manner. In addition, we have learned to be more thoughtful in our intake and identification process when students are entering the program.
Through the Collaborative program, we’ve been able to help our youngest high needs students stay with their peers on public school campuses. They’re been able to get support in order to access the general education curriculum, make friends, and experience success at the beginning of their school careers.
Blog Post Written By: Laura Lin, Assistant Director of School Partnerships
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