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SPECIFIC SERVICES WHICH SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS PROVIDE:
Individual,
group and family counseling
Short-term counseling in general education settings for adjustment issues
such as:
- Underachievement
- Divorce, separation and family issues
- Grief and loss
- Social skills
- Emotional issues
- Prevention of at-risk behaviors
- Parenting issues
Ongoing counseling for school-based and center-based special education
students for chronic issues such as:
- Emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and others
- Conduct problems
- Limited social skills
- Attentional issues
- Family counseling and multi-family groups to support students in special education settings
- Classroom management and student support groups such as class meetings, lunch bunches, girls' prevention groups, and social change awareness groups
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Special Education evaluations
- Child Study Committees: Social workers provide support and consultation to school child study committees through providing expertise in child development, social and family issues, abnormal psychology and mental health treatment needs
- Local Screening Committees: Social workers serve as regular participants in determining the need and appropriateness for special education evaluations and/or additional interventions which may assist a student to be more academically successful
- Sociocultural Assessments: Social workers complete sociocultural assessments of a child and family in an effort to determine eligibility for special education services. These assessments involve a thorough interview with the child's parents/caretakers to gather pertinent information in the areas of family and environment information, developmental history, medical history, school history, a behavioral profile, and recommendations, if any, for the family regarding their child and family's resources and needs.
- Eligibility Committees: Social workers serve as ongoing members of special education eligibility committees to determine if a child meets the criteria for one of thirteen disability areas. In half of Fairfax County Public Schools, social workers serve as the eligibility chair/case manager.
- Administrative Reviews: Social workers serve as one of three panel members, alongside a psychologist and a special education educator, in determining the appropriateness of a base school decision when a parent disputes the school's decision regarding special education testing and/or eligibility.
- Preschool Diagnostic Centers: Social workers serve as a member of a multidisciplinary evaluation and eligibility team for children of preschool age for whom a disability is suspected. As in school-aged cases, preschool students undergo a comprehensive evaluation process, of which one component is a sociocultural assessment.
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Assessment, referral and case management
Social
workers provide referrals for parents to community services
in the areas of:
- Basic needs
- Housing
- Financial benefits
- Health care
- Day care
- Mental health services
- Re-enrollment services for students returning to the community after incarceration
- Child abuse & neglect referral and monitoring
- Depression assessment and screening programs
- Comprehensive Services Act referrals and case management: School social workers are the primary contact point for parents interested in accessing services through the comprehensive Services Act. Through this legislative act, community agencies are mandated to provide multidisciplinary planning meetings called Child Specific Team Meetings for families with children considered to be at risk.
- Child Find program support and case management services as well as coordination with Early Intervention Services.
- Neediest Kids' Funds: Social workers can help access limited funds for children who are in need of basic necessities on a one-time basis which would enable them to be more successful in school
- Holiday Assistance: Fairfax County Public Schools assist private agencies and community-based organizations in connecting needy families with volunteer donors during the winter holiday season. School social workers may complete referrals to the Holiday Assistance Program on behalf of needy families.
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Crisis Intervention Services
- Suicide prevention services: Within the school setting, social workers provide crisis intervention services to prevent student suicide when a student has suicide thoughts, ideation, gestures, or attempts. These services may be provided in the form of lethality interviews, suicide prevention counseling, referrals and safety planning with parents. In many cases, on-site support and advocacy services are provided to parents and students in order to secure immediate mental health suicide assessments from a mental health emergency department or provider.
- Crisis intervention counseling: School social workers provide immediate short-term assessment and counseling for students and parents regarding a number of stressful family situations including, but not limited to, child abuse, suicide, pregnancy, domestic violence, loss of employment or housing, and gang involvement.
- School
Crisis Team response: Most school social workers participate
on one of twenty-four county-wide crisis response teams.
These teams are called into action at the request of
a school administrator to provide stabilization and
grief counseling when a school community experiences
a school-wide crisis.
more information >
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Consultation to teachers and parents
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Family, school & community collaboration & advocacy
- Comprehensive Services Act referral and case management
- Parent and teacher workshops
- Collaboration with school attendance officers, school administrators and guidance counselors, Juvenile court probation officers, and parents to address chronic absences, truancy, tardiness, and school phobia problems. Many school social workers participate on and/or facilitate school truancy teams which review attendance records of students and propose interventions
- Reintegration services for chronically ill students following hospitalizations for illness or mental health stabilization, and prior to return from residential care
- Multidisciplinary and interagency team membership on teams such as the Early Intervention Team, the Juvenile Court Interdisciplinary Team, the Sexual Abuse Multidisciplinary Team and Comprehensive Services Act Teams
- Re-enrollment services for incarcerated students
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Staff and parent workshops
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Homebound program case management
- Conduct home visits to provide information about homebound services and determines the needs of the learning environment and submit referral to the Homebound Office
- Assist the parent/guardian in acquiring appropriate medical request documentation for homebound instruction
- Consult with medical personnel as necessary
- Inform special education departments of need to convene IEP for special education students
- Participate in the school reintegration process
- Provide
ongoing case management to insure student needs are
being meet
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School Social Work:
Linking School, Home and Community
to Provide a Quality Education for Students
| DISCLAIMER: This web page contains links to one or more web pages that are outside the FCPS network. FCPS does not control the content or relevancy of these pages. | Updated:
02/25/08 |