Our Purpose - SEEM Collaborative


Our Purpose The purpose of the SEEM Collaborative is to assist member districts in building capacity at the local level in order that appropriate programs and services may be available to all students in their local communities. If this is not possible, the Collaborative will then provide special programs and services as required. It is also the purpose of the Collaborative to enhance the practice of collaboration among its member districts through education and information sharing, responsive consultation and planning, and direct program support. As social definitions and objectives shift in relation to special education so do the purposes of the Collaborative. As an extension of its member districts, the Collaborative has a responsibility to educate both collaborative and member district staff, through training programs and professional development activities that are in the forefront of research-based best practices. At the same time, the Collaborative must be prepared to respond to unique and specific program needs in the district by providing on-site consultation, demonstration of best practices, and remaining available to ensure transference to the local instructional team. The SEEM Collaborative is a living human system interacting within and with its member districts always conscious of the need to be constantly redefining its future. These interactions have resulted in conversations and agreements that in our work together all students will be seen as equally valuable, that all students can learn, and that all students benefit when they are educated together. Our responses to the needs that arise must be practical but also moral. Some students have existed at the margins of systems but when we choose to look to the margins we bring those who have been excluded into the center and this fosters fairness and innovation, which brings us back to the purpose of the Collaborative – to educate, to collaborate, to train, to create. This is the future we are working towards, however, in the meantime, the need for programs and services such as those currently provided by the SEEM Collaborative must continue in much the same way as they are currently configured. SEEM Collaborative programs are designed to accommodate school-aged students whose needs are so unique that local special education teams have determined that their needs cannot be met by the local school districts. SEEM programs provide environments which include extensive therapy for the students and sometimes for the families, individualized special education programming, and a therapeutic day school experience, provided by highly trained staff in a consistently caring and nurturing environment. The goals for each student vary according to individual needs, but in general, the programs strive to prepare each student to return as soon as possible to his/her local public school and to assist the school staff and the family through the transition. SEEM staff also assist local districts in their attempts to maintain placement in the public school settings when requested. SEEM Collaborative programs serve the needs of students in a number of different areas including autism spectrum disorders, development disabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, hearing impairments, to name a few. Students referred and accepted into SEEM programs require unique programming which includes support services, such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language therapy, itinerant services from teachers of the visually and hearing impaired, as well as clinical and therapeutic interventions as needed within the individual programs and as indicated within individual students’ IEPs. Additionally, SEEM Collaborative has developed a number of program components that enhance programming and/or provide support to public school districts. These components include: The Community Work Program, The Assessment Center, the Resource Center, the SEEM Collaborative Assistive Technology Team (SCATT), the Municipal Medicaid Program, and special needs transportation. This level of service is possible only when local school districts operate in concert to achieve the necessary economies of scale.