We have learned the importance of working closely with administrators, teachers, mental health, and special education staff in setting up and tailoring services to fit your needs, as well as the needs of your students and families. We encourage school districts to allow collection of outcome data on the effectiveness of our interventions. An example of an end-of-the-year program evaluation is presented below. We look forward to working with you and your staff. Please contact our office manager at 961-9435 for more information.

PAT evaluations address motivational issues, structures and supports, and task and skill demands associated with current assistive technology and alternative assistive technology. Questions for parents and educational teams include: Is assistive technology currently in place being used effectively? What can be done to improve assistive technology that is currently in place? and are there alternative assistive technologies available and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Assistance and support to school districts includes screening and diagnostic observations and interviews, functional behavior analysis, and designing and implementing interventions for the classroom and the home. We provide training on child development and childhood mental health problems, and how to incorporate functional behavior analysis into educational interventions.

Interventions for Self-Contained Classrooms. Training in communication, cognitive-affective and problem-solving skills is conducted individually and/or in groups every week over the course of the entire school year. Training sessions are held during school hours, in the classroom.

Interventions for Inclusion Classrooms. Training is initially conducted with the entire class every week over a four-week period. Training sessions are 15 minutes in length. Refresher training is held monthly or on request from the teacher, and consultation available throughout the course of the school year.

Pull-Out and After School Programs. Training is conducted in groups of 4 to 6 students every week over an eight-week period. Training sessions are 45 minutes long and are held immediately after school. Materials from last years program, including cover letters sent by school principals and the informed consent package, are available upon request.

This past year, EGT Inc. provided Sweet Home School District consulting services that included interventions for improving social and coping skills. One intervention, the Signal Cycle Program, used video game technology to present didactic material on communication, cognitive-affective, and problem-solving skills, and for practicing those skills with peers. A small-group format was used for training students identified by the school, with groups meeting once a week for eight weeks.

One condition of the agreement with the District was to conduct a program evaluation. The results of that evaluation were divided into three sections: (Section 1) student demographics, participation rates, and ratings of performance on exercises and pencil-and-paper tasks; (Section 2) parent and teacher ratings of satisfaction and effectiveness; and (Section 3) parent and teacher ratings of social and coping behaviors before and after the program on a standardized outcome measure (Social Skills Rating System -SSRS). Please refer to Enclosure A for tables and figures referenced below.

Section 1. A breakdown of students by grade and special education status is presented in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows that students participated in 91% of scheduled groups; one session was missed due to illness, the remainder were missed because a student failed to meet teacher or parental expectations. Figure 3 shows that every student demonstrated competence in performing exercises and tasks for social communication and social cognitive-affective skills, with ratings averaging 9.3 and 8.3 on a scale of 10, respectively. Three quarters of the students achieved competency on coping communication and cognitive-affective skills, with ratings of 7.8 and 6.8, respectively. The most difficult area was problem-solving, with 50% of students mastering the skill and an average rating of 6.5 on a scale of 10.

Section 2. Figures 4 through 6 show that parent and teacher ratings of satisfaction and effectiveness were positive, with parent ratings generally higher than teachers.

Section 3. Results from the standardized outcome measure were mixed, as shown in Figures 7 through 9, with parents more likely to report improvements in social and coping skills and teachers more likely to report no change.