Children's Learning Connection - Orange County, CA

What is an Interdisciplinary Team?

An interdisciplinary team is a treatment team composed of therapists from different disciplines, who work together collaboratively to provide assessment and treatment. At CLC, our interdisciplinary team is composed of behavior analysts/specialists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and developmental specialist/direct staff who come together to understand the individual differences and needs of each child, and provide assessment and treatment in a supportive and caring environment. In addition, parents are considered to be respected members of the team and believed to be their child’s best advocate.

All interdisciplinary team members are involved in the development of each child’s treatment program. Each team member takes the time to ensure they understand and are able to implement the goals developed by the other team members. A functional example of the interdisciplinary model would be the speech therapist who implements an attending to task program designed by the behavior therapist, or the behavior therapist who implements a gross motor activity designed by the occupational therapist before implementing a seated task. Each team member is not working in isolation, but implementing all the goals that have been designed.

What does each team member do?

The Role of the Parent(s)

In all CLC programs, parents are considered to be an integral part of the team. Parents are needed in order to improve the prognosis of the children that we serve. Without appropriate parental involvement your child’s prognosis will be affected. Parent education is heavily emphasized, to empower parents to be able to make a true difference in their child’s life. Each member of the interdisciplinary team will request your involvement in the treatment process. On average, parents will participate in at least one session per week per discipline. In addition, it is typical to have one parent training session per week with the behavior analyst/specialist. This session may take place in the home or community environment and the focus of the session is on parent education. CLC strongly encourages a hands-on approach so parents feel effective at teaching and playing with their child, as well as handling behavioral challenges in multiple environments. Parents may utilize these sessions to present a challenge they are experiencing with their child. The behavior analyst/specialist then follows a step-by-step training process:

• Determine, with the parent, the function of the behavior. In other words, why is the behavior occurring? What are the antecedents that trigger the behavior? What consequences are following the behavior that may encourage the child to continue the behavior?
• Determine a solution(s) to the challenge.
• Agree on a plan to deal with the behavioral challenge and write out the plan for all parents and caregivers to follow.
• Demonstrate the plan through role playing.
• Have the parent role play the plan.
• If appropriate, have the parent implement the plan while the behavioral therapist or other staff members are available. It is important to talk about the plan but it is more important to be an active participant in the implementation of the plan.

The Role of the Behavior Analyst/Specialist

The behavior analyst/specialist will often provide the foundation for a child’s program. This may vary depending on the child’s needs. During the assessment period of a child’s program, the interdisciplinary team will determine the primary focus of treatment for that child. Frequently, that primary focus is determined to be learning readiness. When this is the case, the behavioral therapist will lay the foundation for the team. (There are other cases were the child is more challenged in the area of fine and gross motor skills, or speech skills. In such cases, the occupational therapist or speech therapist would lay the foundation for the team.) It is important to state that the interdisciplinary team will often change the primary focus of treatment from one discipline to another as the child progresses and needs change. However, whatever the primary focus, good therapy is always based on sound behavioral principles. The primary role of the behavior analyst/specialist is the following:

• Conduct ongoing behavioral assessment to determine what behaviors are interfering with learning as well as design programs to address the identified behaviors.
• Provide parent training on a regular basis.
• Develop and implement goals and objectives in the areas of cognition (e.g., problem solving and play skills) and social-emotional-behavioral development (e.g., social skills, perspective taking and behavioral feeding challenges)
• Provide supervision to developmental specialist/direct staff on the team
• Provide written data after each session.
• Collaborate with all other team members.
• Provide appropriate referrals to other professionals in the community

The Role of the Occupational Therapist

The occupational therapist will often play a key role in providing many foundational skills in a child’s program. Many children who enter our program lack the necessary sensory processing skills to learn from their environment. In these cases, the occupational therapist would assist in the development of these skills, and ensure that all team members understand what skills the child needs in order to be a successful learner. As previously mentioned, the interdisciplinary team will often change the primary focus of treatment from one discipline to another as the child progresses and needs change. However, whatever the primary focus, good therapy is always based on sound behavioral principles. The primary role of the occupational therapist is the following:

• Conduct ongoing assessments to determine what sensory processing issues are interfering with learning as well as design programs to address the identified behaviors.
• Request parents to take part in therapy sessions.
• Develop and implement goals and objectives in the areas of fine and gross motor skills, visual motor integration, motor planning, daily living skills, sensory or motor based feeding challenges, and reducing rigidity and increasing flexibility within daily living routines
• Provide written data after each session.
• Collaborate with all other team members.
• Provide appropriate referrals to other professionals in the community

The Role of the Speech Therapist

The speech therapist will often play a key role in providing many foundational skills in a child’s program. Many children are more challenged in the area of speech, language, communication or language learning strategies. In these cases, the speech therapist would assist in the development of these skills, and ensure that all team members understand what skills the child needs in order to be a successful communicator. As previously mentioned, the interdisciplinary team will often change the primary focus of treatment from one discipline to another as the child progresses and needs change. However, whatever the primary focus, good therapy is always based on sound behavioral principles. The primary role of the speech therapist is the following:
· Conduct ongoing speech, language, communication, and language learning assessments to determine the direction of the program and design programs to address the identified challenges.

• Request parents to take part in therapy sessions.
• Conduct ongoing assessments to determine what communication issues are interfering with learning as well as design programs to address the identified behaviors.
• Develop and implement goals and objectives in the areas of speech (e.g., to address articulation, childhood apraxia of speech), language (e.g., to address receptive and expressive language disorders), communication (e.g., social language/pragmatics) and cognitive skills.
• Provide written data after each session.
• Collaborate with all other team members.
• Provide appropriate referrals to other professionals in the community

The Role of the Physical Therapist

The physical therapist will be a part of an individual child’s team if that child demonstrates significant deficits in the areas of mobility, gait, gross motor development, motor skill performance, balance, postural control and alignment, strength, endurance, coordination, motor control, motor learning, flexibility and/or muscle tone. In these cases, the physical therapist would assist in the development of these skills, and ensure that all team members understand what skills the child needs in order to be a successful learner. The primary role of the physical therapist is the following:

• Conduct ongoing assessments in the area of physical development.
• Request parents to take part in therapy sessions. ·
• Develop and implement goals and objectives in the areas of mobility, gait, gross motor development, motor skill performance, balance, postural control and alignment, strength, endurance, coordination, motor control, motor learning, flexibility and/or muscle tone
• Provide written data after each session.
• Collaborate with all other team members.
• Provide appropriate referrals to other professionals in the community

The Role of the Developmental Specialist and Direct Staff

One of the most important roles on the team is that of the Developmental Specialist or Direct Staff . These team members are trained ABA instructors. They work under the direct supervision of the behavior analyst/specialist on the team. They also collaborate with ST, OT and PT staff on the child’s interdisciplinary team and are highly skilled at implementing goals across all areas of development. The developmental specialist or direct staff will provide the majority of the intervention hours. Their services are often provided in the home, school and community settings. The primary role of the developmental specialist/direct staff is the following:

• Work under the supervision of the behavior analyst/specialist on the team
• Provide written data after each session.
• Collaborate with all other team members to help implement goals and objectives designed by the interdisciplinary team.