About The Family Center

Center Based Child Care Program | Partnerships with Parents | Onsite Special Education/Early Intervention | The Family Center as a Training Site | Home & Community-Based Program

Onsite Special Education/Early Intervention

In 1986, the Bank Family instituted a landmark program for including in the Center infants/ toddlers and preschoolers with developmental delays and disabilities. There are currently eleven spots available in the onsite Center-based component of our early intervention special education program. The staff is committed to fully integrating children receiving special education and early intervention services into the daily life of the classroom. The teachers work closely with the therapy staff, the family support coordinator, and the director to ensure that the day is structured to address the unique needs of each child. The educational goals and therapy services designated by the children's Individual Education Program (IEP) and Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) are incorporated into their daily activities. Physical, occupational, speech, and language therapists, a psychologist, and a social worker closely interact with classroom teachers, helping them to implement formal therapy goals and developing additional goals that emerge from a child's daily classroom activities. We encourage a transdisciplinary team approach. The team includes parents, teachers, therapists, the family support coordinator, and the director. This approach involves constant communication among the staff, therapists, and parents. The team aims to engage the whole child: physical, social/emotional, cognitive, and language development are addressed. For example, physical therapists must not only treat physical disabilities, but must also understand and include the development of language, cognition, and social/emotional skills in their work. We have a variety of ways in which we facilitate this communication:

Weekly clinical meetings (therapist/ teaching staff)

Team meetings (therapists/parents/teaching staff)

Communication books

Phone conferences

Special education parent meetings

Group parent meetings

Each child's program is tailored to his or her specific needs and may include: transdisciplinary play-based assessment, evaluations (as necessary), parent involvement and conferences, written reports and updates, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech/ language therapy, play therapy, parent counseling and consultation.