Emotional Support
The blend of educational and mental health support at Pace School can unleash a student's ability to learn. All decisions about services center on the individual and how to best help him or her achieve this goal.
Students receive evidence-based instruction in reading, math and writing. Pace School conducts progress monitoring in academic subjects that are the focus of annual, statewide assessments.
Community Meetings
Using SanctuaryŽ tools to build the milieu
The daily "Community Meeting" is conducted across the school and is one example of the overlap between education and mental health services. This routine, initiated early in the day, helps all students manage the shift between home and school and assists orientation to the day and to the routines.
Mental Health Interventions
Pace School offers a range of mental health interventions for students and families. These may include:
- Coordinating in-home services for a family
- Therapy to help a dangerously aggressive youngster recognize that depression is at the root of his behavior
- Coordinating agency support for a child involved in ongoing abuse
- On-site psychiatric supervision from Board Certified Child and Adolescent psychiatrist
Layers of support include: - Small class sizes with a low pupil-to-teacher ratio
- 20-day treatment reviews
- A special education teacher and mental health professional in every classroom
- Individual, group, and family therapy
- Specialized academic and mental health curricula
- Ongoing collaboration with families
Each child coming to Pace School already has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) based on their unique needs. The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students to work together to improve educational results for the child. The IEP is the cornerstone of a quality education for each child with a disability.
(Reference: U.S. Department of Education's Guide to Individual Education Program)
Each child also has a Behavioral Health Treatment Plan. Students benefit from education and mental health treatment specialists in every classroom.
By examining both the student's IEP and their Mental Health Treatment Plan, we can identify the following:
- Strengths and needs of the student
- Goals and objectives for academic instruction and mental health treatment
- The behavioral support plan
- Specialized approaches to instruction
- Related services that will help the student obtain educational benefit (for example, speech and language therapy)
