Psychologists
Our psychologists work in both our family support service within each of the Aspect schools (see below under Family Support Services), or in our Outreach services, providing assistance to families and people with autism spectrum disorders. Much of the work in Outreach is with young people with Asperger's syndrome attending mainstream public schools. For more information, visit the Educational Outreach page
Speech Pathologists
Speech pathologists provide specialist, consultative support to families of students enrolled in the six Aspect schools, Aspect's teaching staff and to external services and educational facilities. The speech pathologist is a member of a broader collaborative team comprised of the student, their family, Aspect staff (both within school and across units) and external agencies, who are committed to working together towards developing the most effective communication, behaviour support and educational programming for our students.
The speech pathologist's input may include:
- Functional or standardised assessment of communication skills (eg: FACS, FAES, TACL-R, CELF3)
- Collaborative input into programming for communication development across settings where the student participates
- Collaborative input into programming for the management of challenging behaviours across settings where the student participates
- Collaborative input into the IEP process and in programming for educational and learning goals across settings where the student with ASD participates
- Staff and parent education and training regarding the communicative and behavioural support needs of students with ASD
- Advocacy for children with ASD and their families regarding communication and behaviour support needs
Occupational Therapists
In order to increase the multi-disciplinary focus of its school services, Aspect employed its own OT professionals in early 2002. They provide valuable resources for assessment, therapy, sensory motor/sensory processing problems and include activities to encourage play.
Aspect Building Blocks Early Intervention for Autism
We have a large team of early intervention specialists, mostly teachers but also including other disciplines. They provide a range of home-based and centre-based early intervention for children up to school age. For more information, visit the Early Intervention - Aspect Building Blocks
Family Counsellors
We employ a family counsellor at each of our six schools. They are either psychologists or have a relevant counselling-related qualification. We look for experience and skills in family counselling and crisis management, and some experience within the disability sector is preferred.
Our counsellors provide counselling, support and referral services to the families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) within our schools and service demand lists, working in collaboration with teams comprising teachers, parents, teacher's aides, speech pathologists and other Aspect staff to help the families work through the issues they face and improve the information and self help networks they can access.
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