What are Consultation Services?
Many clients know us for our assessment and diagnostic evaluation services, but the Northern Colorado Assessment Center team also offers consultations, including for autism and ADHD. In some cases, these services are provided in combination with our assessments in order to help you understand your reports, analyze the effectiveness of treatment following evaluation, and ensure you receive necessary support and advocacy services. In short, consultation services allow us to help clients make the most of the information we can provide through clinical evaluations and testing.
What Types of Consultative Services are Available?
Some of the most common types of consulting services we offer for clients are defined and explained below.
Full and Individual Evaluations (FIE)
After your school district compiles a report and provides the results of a full and individual evaluation (FIE) required by school district administrators, some clients decide to schedule a consultation to discuss how these results could impact their child’s education. Some clinicians write clear and concise reports that are easily accessible for anyone, but if you’re struggling to understand the reports and their implications, we are happy to provide consultation services to ensure you fully understand the FIE report and its effects on your child’s educational support.
Individualized Education Program (IEP) Meetings
In many cases, an individualized education program (IEP) meeting is called following an FIE where several members of the school district’s administration will meet with parents to discuss special education needs and develop a support plan. For many parents, these meetings are stressful, confusing, and frustrating, so one of our clinicians can attend them with you as an advocate.
Review IEP Paperwork
During the IEP meeting, you’re going to get a lot of paperwork from the school district that includes testing reports, classroom evaluations, and documentation used to determine your child’s educational needs and create an IEP accommodation plan. Following these meetings, we often review and evaluate this paperwork with parents to ensure the child receives the accommodations they need to ensure a successful educational environment.
Section 504 Meetings
Legally, section 504 outlines the role and responsibility of schools to remove educational barriers and provide support and accommodation for students with disabilities. Following medical testing and/or psychoeducational evaluation, you can choose to initiate a Section 504 plan by scheduling a meeting with teachers, principals, school district representatives, and other administrators. To ensure you and your child receive fair representation at 504 meetings, one of our clinicians can attend these sessions as your advocates.
Response to Intervention (RtI) Meetings
Response to Intervention (RtI) is a comprehensive approach to offering support for students in need of educational or environmental accommodations to learning. After a student receives educational accommodations, RtI meetings are required to reassess the effects of accommodations and ensure learners are always receiving the support they need to be successful in the classroom. We are happy to sit in on RtI meetings as advocates as well as helping to assess RtI reports and documentation.
Follow Up Reporting and Support
We provide reports that describe the results of our assessments as part of the evaluation and testing process, but we are also happy to offer consulting services in order to provide more specific guidance and detailed recommendations for educational support or other accommodations. In addition to consulting in our office, our clinicians will also offer consulting via phone or email if you need additional help following your assessment.
Practical and Advice Consultation
This is the most common type of consultation service we offer. These sessions are typically called in order to discuss a specific problem you or a loved one experience. This may be before or after you visit us for assessment or completely separate from testing services. During these practical consultations, we can help you develop strategies to maximize strengths, make the most of accommodations, and create plans to ensure you successfully achieve your goals.
What to Expect from Your Consultant
When you work with us for ADHD and autism consultation services in Fort Collins, CO, one of our clinicians will offer concise explanations of reports, practical advice and recommendations, and advocate for you during meetings, legal hearings, and in other situations. Prior to our consultation meeting, we may request access to documentation, ensuring we have the necessary information to provide effective consultant work. After the consultation meeting or other service is concluded, we also provide necessary documentation and information, but don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions.