How well do you work with your child's school (preschool, kindergarten)? We believe that the partnership between home and school is very important in the management of a child with special needs.
To help build this partnership, we have developed the CDN MaP* Folder. This document describes the MaP Folder, and some of the thinking behind it.
Most parents keep documents about their child's special needs. This collection of documents, however, could be considered a picture of the past - where you have come from. The MaP Folder is intended to be a guide to the future.
They key to any plan is a vision of where you want to go. We do this by setting goals*. The structure of the MaP Folder starts with two key goals - Developmental* and Resilience*.
Developmental goals are goals for your child's development - their mastery of skills, knowledge and mature behaviour.
Resilience goals are to do with your child's mental health*, happiness, confidence, ability to be vulnerable and take risks, their knowledge of themselves, and, their capacity to make the best of their own lives.
After these two key goals, you are able to set any number of other goals for your child.
The second step of the MaP process is to determine who you are working with, or who is in your child's team.
The special needs that children have, and the issues that need to be managed, often do not distinguish between home and school. If a child has a learning problem, for example, or is particularly fearful and anxious, then these issues need to be managed at home and at school.
If home and school manage these in different ways, the outcomes for the children are confusing and poor. It is important that home and school work together, communicate regularly and make sure that the approaches that they use to a child with special needs are synchronised as much as possible.
Our MaP Folder has been designed in such a way that it builds the partnership between home and school and enables each member of the team to understand the child in the same way and work together towards common goals.
The third step in our MaP Folder process is to decide how you want to educate members of your team about your child. If everybody in your child's team is to work together, they need to understand your child in the same way.
We can help you put together an efficient individual Single Page Summary for your child, or alternatively, you may want to use a letter from a professional.
We use your MaP Folder to assist your work with professionals at the CDN.
Firstly, we give details on who your child is currently working with, the area of need, how it is being treated and the progress that has been made. This can assist other people (like your child's school) to understand our role in your child's care.
Secondly, we hope that you bring your MaP Folder along to consultations you have at the CDN, so that any important information can be recorded.
Once you have identified who you are working with, and where you're going, the next challenge is to be able to determine whether your journey is on track. The MaP Folder can help you manage this journey by identifying how the team will communicate amongst themselves, helping you to keep progress notes, and, giving strategies on how to manage important events such as meetings.
You can construct a basic MaP Folder using the step by step guide on this website. For many parents this will be sufficient to get started. For those parents requiring assistance, one or our Education Specialists, Wendy Horton, can assist you in the following ways: