Counseling Department

The Counseling Department consists of clinicians who conduct counseling services including weekly individual counseling, "as needed" counseling and case management services depending on each individual student's IEP. There is ongoing communication and consultation with staff, parents and outside professionals. Counseling reports are written each term to document a child's progress with IEP counseling goals. Counseling staff also actively participate in Individual Educational Program meetings.

Individual Counseling

Counseling is provided for those students who demonstrate a need for additional social/emotional support within their academic setting per their IEP. Services focus on helping students to further develop their social, organizational and problem-solving skills, as well as other issues related to coping with their language based learning disability. Counselors work on developing and strengthening the following:

• Self-Esteem
• Social Awareness
• Self-Advocacy
• Friendship Skills
• Social Skills
• Self-Awareness
• Pragmatic Language Skills
• Independence
• Organization
• Disability Awareness
• Problem Solving
• Communication Skills
• Positive Hygiene
• Positive Manners
• Personal Responsibility
• Identification and Expression of Feelings
• Coping with Feelings Appropriately

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Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy services are an integral part of the programming at LPS. Each student at the Elementary and Middle School level is evaluated and, if indicated, an appropriate treatment plan is implemented. The varying services are as follows:

Elementary School Occupational Therapy Services

• Individual or group treatments
• Table top activities and gross motor or movement in the Sensorimotor Room
• O.T. consultations to academic teachers in order to assist with classroom accommodations to enhance performance

Visual perceptual motor skills addressed include the following:

• Fine Motor Skills- manipulating small objects, using scissors, pencil control, hand strength and bilateral coordination
• Visual Perceptual Skills visual discrimination, visual memory, spatial relations, form constancy, sequential memory, figure ground and visual closure
• Visual Motor Integration Skills- the use of visual perception and fine motor skills for writing, copying shapes and completing various complex fine motor activities (i.e. constructional)
• Sensorimotor- postural control, shoulder stability, motor planning skills, body awareness and ocular motor skills
• Gross Motor Skills-strength, coordination, balance, eye-hand coordination, ball skills and endurance

Skills addressed in O.T. sessions vary according to each student and are identified through an O.T. evaluation as well as observations made by an LPS Occupational Therapist. These skills are worked on through the use of a wide variety of techniques ranging from arts and craft projects, pencil and paper work and board games to strengthening and coordination exercises.

Activities in the Sensorimotor Room are implemented using a sensory integrative or perceptual motor approach and may include obstacle courses, activity stations, exercises, and therapeutic games. Various types of therapeutic equipment are used such as scoot.er boards, balance beams, body socks, a trampoline, therapy balls and several types of swings.

Thinking Maps are incorporated into treatment sessions to assist with organizing and completing presented activities.

Middle School Occupational Therapy

Middle School Work Center/OT is an extension of Occupational Therapy (ot) services for older children at LPS. The following skills are addressed in Work Center/O.T.

• Skills and accommodations for sensory, motor and visual perceptual limitations
• Executive functioning skills such as task initiation, organization, sequencing & problem solving
• Self-esteem, social skill development and self-awareness as related to the students sense of independence in school and at home

These skill areas are addressed within the context of practical learning experiences. Students engage in various activities involving students’ interests, life skills and age appropriate “jobs”. Students may be involved in the following activities in Work Center/ O.T.:

• Calendar/monthly planner skills activities
• Phone skills activities
• Basic cooking skills
• Off-campus activities such as food shopping
• Office type tasks
• School/community service activities

Involvement in these activities facilitates the development of Work Center/ O.T. skills. Work related vocabulary and basic work behaviors are emphasized throughout the curriculum. Tools are used to address skill development

• Organizational tools such as To do lists, calendars and task cards help students to initiate, problem solve, sequence and organize tasks.
• Thinking Maps are incorporated into activities to assist students with initiation, organization, sequencing, problem solving and overall independence.

Skills Rating sheets are completed at the end of each class to give students feedback on their performance in various skills areas such as attitude, initiation, independence, work quality and task completion.

The ACT Program (Activate/Calm/Think)

Many of the children in our Elementary and Middle School Program have mild to significant issues with sensory processing and modulating their level of arousal. These difficulties can have a significant impact on the student’s readiness to learn, ability to focus, and overall performance in the classroom. The ot Department at LPS has developed a simple program to assist the teaching faculty with the implementation of some strategies that can be utilized in the classroom and therapy sessions. These activities will hopefully help students “Activate/ Calm /Think” and therefore prepare their systems to learn.

The ACT Program was introduced in November 2006 to all Elementary and Middle school faculty. A school-wide presentation was conducted and received support and enthusiasm. Specific exercises and activities were demonstrated, posters were provided (including pictures of students performing the exercises), and “fidget boxes” were provided for every teacher. These exercises/activities may be done at the start of each class as part of the students’ routine upon entering the classroom. Or, the activities can be done during the midpoint of the period or during class transitions if the teacher determines it may be beneficial in order to re-focus the students. These activities will also provide much needed and legitimate “movement breaks” in a structured manner.

It is hoped that the program will become a natural part of the classroom activities and can be incorporated into the curriculum as we have with Thinking Maps. In this way, the students will also learn to independently utilize some of these strategies in school as well as ot.her areas of their lives. The program consists of five simple exercises that can be done in a variety of ways. Each exercise is designed to provide specific sensory input which have a “grounding” effect as well as provide ot.her sensory stimulation.

Specific exercises are the following:

1. Deep Breath with stretch
2. Chair Push-ups
3. Elbow Squeezes
4. Leg Squeezes
5. Shake Hands
6. Weighted Beanbag Toss

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Speech and Language

The Speech and Language Department services all the children in the Elementary and Middle Schools. The therapist presents a therapy program with specific goals per the IEP, which is designed to meet the individual language needs of the student. Therapists attempt to develop various speech and language skills at different levels. These skills include the following:

Vocabulary Skills

• Expand knowledge of words
• Retrieve specific vocabulary
• Use context cues to gain new vocabulary
• Associate and categorize vocabulary
• Decode vocabulary within sentences

Semantic (meaning) interpretation

• Interpret vocabulary to gain meaning of statement(s)
• Integrate meaning of several sentences
• Generate understanding of a topic
• Retain topic interpretation and related inferences
• Understand various grammatical and syntactical formats

Memory Skills

• Depict facts in statements
• Store, associate and retrieve long range facts
• Improve sequential memory of facts
• Enhance sequential language

Linguistic Formulation of Language

• Generate correct grammar and syntax
• Encode various sentence structures
• Produce sequential linguistic information
• Maintain semantic (meaning) clarity in verbal statements
• Target the correct words to use

Pragmatic Skills

• Initiate, maintain and terminate conversation
• Request explanations/help when confused
• Maintain good eye-contact
• Establish good listening skills
• Participate in conversations

Reading Skills

• Enhance phonemic awareness
• Identify rhyming words
• Strengthen segmenting and blending of syllables
• Reinforce sound symbol relationship
• Analyze sounds and syllables
• Develop factual, integrative and inferential comprehension