Submission Type: Innovative Ideas
Final Rating: Innovative Idea
Date Submitted: Spring 2023
Focus Area: Social Emotional Well-Being
Focus Population: Children, Teachers, Caregivers, Guardians, Administrators, Parents
Contact Information:
Carol Stocking
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant
(580) 808-2010
Western Plains Youth and Family Services
202639 E. Co Rd 42, Woodward, OK 73801
Goals and Outcomes:
It is expected that the sustainability of this proposal will be in training early childcare professionals to recognize, regulate, and resource social and emotional disorders. Being able to detect and intervene at an early age is the best defense. It is also expected that by providing SEC services, children will maintain in schools thereby increasing their chance for educational success. Families whether foster, adoptive or biological will build trustworthy and connective relationships. The workforce will be developed by hiring team members that support IECMH and consultive services.
The goal of this proposal is to help children maintain in the classroom, empower and support educators, strengthen family involvement, and build connective relationships. It is expected that the quality of the teacher-child relationship will improve, a positive change in caregiver opinion concerning challenging behavior will result as a positive outcome of this proposal. It is also the intent of this proposal to foster and strengthen resiliency within the child by increasing social emotional regulation and decreasing the negative factors that often impair successful outcomes.Â
It is the hopes of Western Plains Youth and Family Services to also bring awareness to the school about social emotional development. We want this to be a standard in any school for children who need extra attention without an IEP or a 504 plan. This plan will decrease a stress on both the school system and the child. Our goal is to hire 3 Social Emotional Coaches who will have training in regulation, development and resources.Â
Statement Of Work: It is the plan and goal of this program to show validity and productivity as well as program enhancement. To do that we plan on using applicable scales, assessments, and data collection tools. Some of the tools that we plan on using include Classroom Strengths, Needs, and Resources, Intervention Plans (that will be reviewed at least monthly or as often as needed), Consultation Stages Checklist, Consultation Evaluation, Consultee Benefits, Goal Attainment Scaling, and a Final Report. Reflective consultation is highly valued in this field; therefore, it will be imperative for the SEC to meet with the Mental Health Consultant every two weeks or more often if needed. Job duties will include:Â
1. Responsible for creating a pleasant, warm, accepting environment in the delivery of agency services to the public, clients, families, agencies, civic groups and organizations requesting Western Plains Youth and Family Services, Inc. assistance.
2. Identify and support linkages to available community resources and services as needed.Â
3. Provide day-to-day social emotional support to children with behavior challenges. children include but not limited to being in the classroom with child during educational or elective hours, intervening before/when child is overstimulated or aggressive, helping child regulate emotions through designed interventions by Mental Health Consultant.
 4. Work closely with educators in developing relationship based social emotional support plans individualized to meet child’s need and empower the best outcome for school sustainability. At times being asked to help/support educators in implementing social emotional support plans in partnership with Mental Health Consultant.
 5. Work closely with School administration, Mental Health Consultant, and other professionals in developing relationship based social emotional support plans.
 6. Work closely with families to promote positive communication with the school system and other needed services as well as linking families to supportive services if needed.Â
7. Be trained in educational paraprofessional, wrap around, aggressive behaviors, and childhood behaviors, Circle of Security, or other relationship-based interventions.Â
8. Work closely with other supportive services to promote and provide best outcomes.Â
9. Maintain school behavior assessments and record keeping in a timely manner.Â
10. Report assessments and records to the program director and Executive Director.Â
11. Maintain Professional Development training for services.Â
12. Promote program and program sustainability through advocation and engagement.Â
13. Completes all documentation in a timely manner.Â
14. Complete other assignments designated by either program director or Executive Director.
Brief Summary:
The target population will be children in the Early Childhood Center (Currently 1 Headstart classroom, 8 prekindergarten classrooms, 8 Kindergarten classrooms, 2 special Education classrooms, and 1 early intervention classroom) in Woodward Oklahoma who have been identified/referred from a teacher and observed/assessed by the Mental Health Consultant as needing extra help with social emotional skills. There are 350 students projected for next year in the ECC. Once the child has been identified and assessed, the SEC will begin building a relationship with the child and empowering the child with social emotional skills needed for success.Â
Over the past 2 years, we have observed that children who struggle the most with Social Emotional issues are those who are in DHS custody or those who were socially isolated due to the pandemic. This group of young children cannot be ignored. We have also observed that the children who are in DHS custody and struggle with social emotional issues often have difficulty maintaining in school. We have observed that when the child is asked to leave school, they are often asked to be removed from their foster home. We know this creates another disruption in their life. The SEC will work closely with child, educator, administration, Mental Health Consultant, and foster parents to provide behavioral intervention plans that will reduce if not eliminate school disruptions. The behavioral intervention plan will include assessments and action/safety plans such as the SEC being in the classroom or with the child until the child is emotionally regulated. This plan will also decrease an economic stress on working parents and on the Northwest Oklahoma limited daycare system. When children are asked to leave school due to social emotional dysregulation (which is often the case), the parents often have to leave work and stay at home with their child or find a daycare/person that will take the child so the parent can work.
Western Plains Youth & Family Services