“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Helen Keller
I remember a time when we provided services exclusively in-home. We received constant feedback that our therapists felt like they were on a lonely island. There was no opportunity for support or to problem solve with any other health care professional on cases and this led to a feeling of hopelessness and burnout with our providers.
When we moved to a center-based service, we made a conscious effort to open coordination with other healthcare professionals that were providing high-quality services to our clients. This decision would lead to one of the most fruitful and life changing experiences to the way we provide ABA services to children at BehaviorSpan.
Collaboration with members of the client’s care team, such as Speech and Language Pathologists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists and other medical professionals, may seem like an easy decision. Why wouldn’t we want to benefit from the experiences of all? However, while this should be best practice, it does not go without its tribulations.
We had to develop systems and processes of communications between the team, determine where we, the professionals for ABA services, may need to take a backseat to the evaluation and recommendations of other healthcare professionals.
We also realized that our involvement in the set up of services, that were provided by non-BehaviorSpan providers, needed us to be actively involved in intake, change of providers, feedback to the providers and coordination of interdisciplinary team meetings.
Since some of these providers were providing services at a BehaviorSpan center, we were required to have consent forms to share, policies and procedures signed for visiting professionals so that there was no conflict between the service delivery that each of us provided.
Each of the steps we took, led us to see increased success with the clients we served. The visiting Speech Therapists began collaborating and providing us with Speech Generative Devices with regards to Speech goals. The visiting Occupational therapists helped us determine structured activities and advised on play goals for our children that hastened skill acquisition. Mental health professionals advised on de-escalation and alternative replacement skills. The pediatricians, allergists and neurologists rule out biological causes, and keep us providing services within our scope of practice (“Do No Harm”).
In short, it takes a village to make a difference. We are so grateful for the work of our collaborators Solace Pediatric Health Care, KidsCare LLC and Children’s Hospital Colorado for working diligently with us to create a better future.
For information about the high-quality providers that we collaborate with in our BehaviorSpan centers, visit the Services Page on our website!
コメント