October 24, 2023
Care Options for Kids, formerly The Hello Foundation
Let's face it: SLPs, OTs, and Psychs are hard to find. And once you've hired them, how do you know that they're doing a good job? Here are a few tips on how to spot high-quality service when you're doing your staff evaluations.
High Quality Specialists are judicious about eligibility.
They tackle eligibility criteria and pre-referral practices that address the impact of factors such as ELL status and poverty so that their caseloads only contain the students who are truly in need of their services.
High Quality Specialists engage in the RTI process.
They know what to recommend for intervention, and they effectively screen students and suggest teaching ideas for areas of concern way before kids succumb to a wait and fail model of special education. (Want to know more? Click here to download our RTI for SLPs document).
High Quality Specialists understand that special education doesn't have to be a life sentence.
The difference comes when service evolves into remediation. They understand that many students are capable of successfully exiting the system, and they actively work to make that happen.
Want to know more? This handy cheat sheet gives you 6 areas to focus on when you're evaluating your specialists this Fall. Simply click on the image below (or click here) to download your very own printable pdf.
This post was originally published 8/16/15 and most recently updated 10/17/2023
