students working on the computer

Assesment and Intervention Center

 

25 William Street ~ Stoneham, MA. 02180

Phone: (781) 245-3443

Fax: (781) 245-3025

Director- Deana Trefry, LICSW, CSP

 

 

Mission

The SEEM Assessment Center is designed to provide support for students, school staff and administrators by offering tools that can assist in preventing and effectively coping with breakdowns in the learning process.

This is carried out by providing consultation, functional behavorial assessments, a 45-day program, achievements and cognitive testing, recommendations for support services and training/workshops.

The goals of the SEEM Assessment Center are to target student learning needs, decrease the amount of the student problem behaviors, and assist staff with creating and implementing interventions in an effective manner.

 

Philosophy

The Assessment Center team views students holistically and realizes that one's ability to learn is influenced by a complex interaction of individual and environmental factors. We consider all of these facets when determining the causes and solutions to challenging behaviors.

Every student deserves the opportunity to be successful in an academic setting. Our team accepts that truth... and we are dedicated to its fulfillment.

 

Services

Functional Behavioral Assessment
Behavior Intervention Plan
45-Day Assessment Program
Achievement, Cognitive, and Protective Assessment
Social/Emotional Assessment
Training/workshops
Onsite observation and consultation to districts
The Classrooms

The Assessment Center, is a 45-Day assessment program, established as a result if the 1997 Amendment to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 1997), targeting at-risk students who are experiencing difficulty in their current school environments. As a result of these requirements, area schools are required to provide educational settings for at-risk students who have difficulty in their current school environments. These students often exhibit behaviors that result in exclusion from their schools. Rather than exclusion, parents and school personnel are seeking assistance in understanding student learning needs, in addition to their social, emotional and behavioral issues so that behavioral intervention plans can be established and implemented. Upon conclusion of the 45 day assessment, the goal is for the student to return to the local district.

The Assessment Center classrooms provide a structured, therapeutic, tutorial-based, educational environment. During the assessment process, students continue to participate in a general education curriculum as provided by their sending school. Additionally provided are achievement, social/emotional and behavioral assessments as well as subsequent recommendations for positive behavior intervention plans, strategies and supports. Students are provided clinical and case-management services. Milieu support provides students with behavioral intervention, anger management, positive decision-making and skill building.

 

Assessment

The 45-day assessment is the primary focus of this program. The length of the stay is flexible based upon student need and sending district requests. Through an understanding of the determinants of behavioral issues, an intervention plan is developed that helps the students succeed in the school setting. The assessment, which occurs in an alternative setting with students from various districts, includes the following:

  • Analysis of problem behavior (Functional Behavioral Assessment)
  • Determination of academic, emotional, cognitive, social and behavioral strengths and liabilities
  • Behavioral intervention plans and strategies
  • Recommendations for related services
  • School Curriculum

During the assessment process, the students continue to participate in a general education curriculum as provided by their sending school. In addition, the following are included:

  • A tutorial model with staff trained and credentialed in special education
  • Small group setting
  • A social-emotional curriculum, which enables the students to explore their behavior and how it affects their functioning in school and community.

Subsequent to the assessment period, the center can provide technical and implementation assistance. Assessment Center staff will help the school execute the behavioral intervention plans and will monitor and evaluate the progress of the students when they return to their sending schools.

 

Referrals

Students are referred to the SEEM Assessment Center by their home school district. Candidates for the Center's services are public school students whose behavior impedes their learning or that of others.

Needs differ for each student. The SEEM Assessment Center evaluates each student on an individual basis. School districts should first call the Center to arrange a consultation with assessment staff. Following your consultation, we will offer a comprehensive menu of services designed to meet the needs of the student, the family and the school.