The Home School Collaborative Model (HSCM)
VCLC’s education model and approach promote the development of partnerships with parents in all phases of their child’s education, from assessment through intervention. Parents contribute important information which helps the professional staff gain a more complete understanding of their child in all settings. Together, parents and professionals help children achieve their full potential, and their inclusion in school, home and community.
• Parents are part of their child’s interdisciplinary team.
• The interdisciplinary team includes the teacher and teaching staff, the related therapists for each service the child receives (which may include the speech pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, depending on IEP mandated services) and the family’s social worker.
• There are two parent/teacher conferences each year: In the fall to discuss the child’s adjustment to school, In late winter to early spring to prepare for the student’s annual review with the school district
• A social worker is assigned to every family and will meet with them for parent counseling and training as well as general discussions about their child and family.
The Family Service Department provides the following activities:
• Individual parent counseling and training
• Short-term parent support groups led by a social worker
• Parent education groups on various topics including but not limited to transitioning from CPSE to the CSE, language development, toilet teaching, home routines, motor development and more.
• Parent Liaison Project where the social workers contact newly admitted families regularly to answer questions and offer support prior to their child beginning school.
• The Family Organization, open to all VCLC families, plans activities for the children and families as well as fundraising campaigns.
VCLC offers a Sunday Respite Program funded by the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and Medicaid for those students (3 – 10 years old) who are OPWDD eligible and live in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
