Record Review
Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services will review all relevant school records and work with parents to develop a record keeping system which will keep track of vital documents. During the review of our findings we will assist you in developing a plan to obtain appropriate educational services through an IEP or a 504 Accommodation Plan.

Assessment/Consultation Interviews/Planning Meetings/Faculty Interviews
Our combined clinical and educational experience will be valuable tools in assessing your child’s satisfaction with his/her educational performance and help to guide you in the enhancement of your child’s self esteem. Consultation interview can be arranged by phone or in person to review pressing procedural matters or to review your child’s progress in their educational plan. Often, school based meetings become stressful uncomfortable moments for parents and students. Our staff will attend IEP and 504 planning meetings and parent/teacher conferences to help facilitate communication between the school and the family/student. The end goal is to further the school’s understanding of the child’s needs, and the services required for increased school successes. When it becomes necessary to provide your child’s teacher with a fuller understanding of the nature and scope of his/her disability or to assess the teacher/student relationship, our staff is available to conduct phone or face to face interviews with the district's faculty.

Structured Student Observations
A structured student observation conducted in the home, recreational, or classroom setting can prove to be an invaluable assessment tool in our effort to better understand your child’s academic and social/emotional skills. Observations serve as an important functional comparison to standardized and formal assessments.

Identify and Assess Out of District Placements
Special care is needed when choosing an out-of-district placement to ensure proper fit between the student needs and the philosophy of the prospective placement. We will help with the identification and assessment of out of district placements, should your child require an alternate school setting.

Selecting the appropriate educational path is one of the most important decisions for young people and their families. It is can be a difficult task for the "average" student and an overwhelming one for the parents of students with special educational or social and emotional needs. Whether you seek a nurturing atmosphere or one with in-depth therapeutic support, we can help you to navigate the maze of marketing lures offered by many institutions. Our staff will help you to determine and access the right educational placement options for your child. We have helped families match their child's needs for the appropriate placements in the following areas:

• Residential treatment programs
• Outdoor education programs
• Emotional growth schools
• Schools and colleges for learning differences
• Preparatory schools
• Colleges
• Graduate schools

Transition Planning
Children with special needs often need assistance moving between new phases in their lives, be it moving into a new school setting or into the workforce. LCCS-ED will evaluate your child’s transition needs and develop recommendations. In the case of students who are advancing to college, the placement selection is crucial because the protective umbrella of Special Education Law expires with graduation from college.

Parent/Student Education
It is important that both parent and child be aware of the nature and scope of the child’s disability. We provide parent and age appropriate child education. This educational process fosters an understanding of the child’s need, both educationally and emotionally as they move through the special education system.

Functional Behavioral Assessments/Behavioral Intervention Plan Development
We believe that the emotional demands placed on our children in the socially challenging and academically competitive school environments can result in behavioral problems and generate obstacles to learning. It is our belief that all behavior has a function and that all too often a child's challenging behavior is trivialized by dismissing it as a demonstration of rebellion, attention seeking, or an opposition to authority. These are not explanations for the behaviors but labels that we have come to accept as way of identifying the "cause" of the behavior.

Educational systems move much too quickly to develop behavioral interventions that are aimed at eliminating the problematic behavior when the behavior is more often than not only a symptom of the problem. The behavior appears to be the "problem" because it causes others a problem.

We are committed to understanding the multi-faceted function of the behaviors on which we are attempting to intervene. It is our belief that a child's behavior often serves many functions and the functions are rooted in the child's stressful relationship with peers, siblings, teachers, and parents. Most of us would prefer to identify a simple cause/effect relationship that will explain why our children are struggling academically or socially. To that end many will engage in useless "bashing" in an effort to blame someone for the "problem." We must all work together to build a plan that fully examines the nature of each of these relationships. Each member of the educational process must examine the role they play for we are either a part of the solution or a part of the problem.

The development of a Functional Behavioral Assessment and a Behavioral Intervention Plan is often necessary to successfully coordinate all the intervention strategies into a “student friendly” plan for change.

Monitoring Progress 
Monitoring IEP driven progress reports to assess the degree to which your child's educational plan is meeting his/her unique educational needs is a vital component in a plan for advocating for your child. The IEP's goals and objectives need to be objective, measurable, and realistic. School districts are quick to point to your child's motivation or his/her home life when insufficient academic progress is being made. There are many variables that effect progress such as poorly designed goals and objectives, inconsistent implementation of unique teaching strategies, and failure to make appropriate modifications in a particular subject area. Our staff will help you set up a system for monitoring your child's progress, review IEP driven progress reports and prepare recommendations for change if warranted.

Additional Services

• Assess Student’s Learning Needs
• Identify Parental Expectations
• Review School Record
• Review Independent Evaluations
• Identify Independent Evaluation Resources
• Attend IEP/504 Meetings**
• Attend Parent/Teacher Conferences**
• Develop Transition Plan
• Educate Family/Student Regarding Disability
• Maintain Liaison With Related Service Providers
• Conduct Functional Behavioral Assessment*
• Develop Positive Behavioral Intervention Plan *
• Provide Liaison With Attending Medical Personnel
• Monitor Student’s Progress Toward IEP Goals
• Facilitate IEP/504 Plan Articulation
• Maintain District Correspondence
• Identify Measurable Goals & Objectives
• Identify Related Services Needs
• Review Assistive Technology Assessment
• Identify & Assess Out of District Placements***
• Monitor Use of Out of District Resources
• Conduct Transitional Needs Assessment
• Accompany Parents To Mediation Conferences**
• Monitor IEP Driven Progress Reports

*Requires a three month contract
** Limited to two one hour meetings per billing period
***May involved additional time/travel expense for all meetings other than those held at LCCS offices.