Will the School Allow It?

Depending on the school, they may let outside providers provide therapy in their schools. Private schools are more likely to let outside providers come into the school.

School Social Work Caseload:

School social workers often have a heavy caseload and may not have time to see your child for more than one session at school. Typically, the social worker can see your child once a week, possibly with another student. What if you want your child to have more time with a social worker and independently? Your outside social worker could potentially come into the school to provide services. The outside social worker can also continue to remain in contact with your child’s school social worker.

Scheduling Conflicts:

What if the only time you have available for a social worker to see your child is when they are in school? If your private social worker can come into the school and provide services, parents would not need to stress about driving them to therapy at their appointment time.

Seeing How Your Child Presents in a School Setting:

Not only is this beneficial for your child’s progress in therapy, but it lets the social worker see how they are presenting at school. An after-school social worker usually doesn’t get to see the whole picture. It would be beneficial if the social worker could see what happens at school and that they can help your child through a dysregulated episode at school. Oftentimes clients forget what happened in school to process with the social worker. This would provide the social worker with a “fly on the wall” lens to see the action and how your child is tolerating difficult situations. From being a “fly on the wall,” a social worker can come up with new goals for treatment progress, but also get a better understanding of what your child may be struggling with. Social workers could also see if your child is using the skills being facilitated and discussed in therapy.

Your private social worker would be able to see how emotionally, socially, and behaviorally your child is presenting at school. For instance, the social worker can see how social interactions are forming, or if any event occurs, the social worker can immediately talk about it with your child. Emotionally, the social worker can observe your child’s progress on emotional regulation and use coping strategies if or when your child is feeling overwhelmed. Lastly, your child’s behaviors can be observed by the social worker and see what accommodations may need to be implemented. This can also help the social worker determine if certain behaviors are crossing over into other environments.

Remember, private social workers only see how your child presents when they come to therapy. They only hear what the child is willing to tell or remembers from their day. Your social worker may also see more progress here in one-on-one therapy than how their progress presents at school.

IEP Accommodations:

Your child’s private social worker has the opportunity to get involved with IEP recommendations and accommodations. If the social worker is at school, they can also contribute to behaviors observed in the classroom and how to give strategies in the classroom. They can provide more information by looking through the school environment lens.

Check Your School:

Check to see if your school would let your Eyas Landing social worker perform services during the school day. This can help give your child more therapy services. Your Eyas Landing’s social workers would love to come see your child at school.