A multidisciplinary approach is at the core of our mission at Links High School. Thanks to the expertise of our consultants, support staff and teachers, we can ensure individualized support for every student from their first day to their graduation.
Here are some of the available support services:
Role of Behaviour Technicians:
- Emotional regulation
- Social skills and inclusion
- Assist integration
- Address basic sensory stimulation needs
- Problem-solving and mediation
Other roles that can be incorporated are:
- Provide visual support using social stories, visual schedules, pictos, videos, modelling, role playing.
- Incorporate auditory, visual, tactile, proprioceptive stimulation using a therapeutic environment (The Oasis)
- The use of Zones of Regulation
- Personal and social education (hygiene)
- Providing individual or group support catered to social and emotional development.
Our school has a coordinator on staff who works with students who need additional time and support in learning their subjects. Oftentimes the tutor will work in classes as support to advance learning or provide remedial support for a student who is having difficulty. The tutor also helps animate activities with groups of students in collaboration with the classroom teacher to make learning accessible.
The speech-language pathologist’s primary role is to consult and collaborate with the school team in support of a student’s communication needs. The SLP focuses on the area of language, literacy, social communication, stuttering, and speech. Service delivery is primarily consultative in nature and encompasses prevention, assessment, and short-term focused intervention (for training purposes). After determining the student’s communication needs, the SLP develops programs, materials and strategies to promote optimal functioning in the relevant areas. This is to ensure that all concerned are meeting the student’s communication needs in a coordinated manner.
Itinerant Teacher (Montreal Oral School for the Deaf)
Itinerant teachers associated with the Montreal Oral School for the Deaf provide audiological evaluation and follow-up; consultation services for teachers regarding curriculum adaptation; IEP planning and exam modifications; management of hearing aids and other amplification systems; provision of in-service for in-school personnel; academic support to students.
The occupational therapist (OT) provides a school-based consultative service to students who are displaying difficulties at school due to fine motor, gross motor, perceptual, and/ or sensory processing challenges. OTs use in-class observations, screenings and/or evaluations to identify personal and environmental factors that may interfere with a student’s functioning and learning. In collaboration with teachers, parents, other professionals, and special needs education support staff, OTs make recommendations for school-based intervention plans as well as recommend adaptive aids to help improve a student’s occupational performance.
Special Education Technicians (Consultant ) work with a multidisciplinary team to apply special education techniques and methods in keeping with an individualized education plan intended for students with handicaps or students with social maladjustments or learning difficulties or in keeping with a program designed for students requiring specific support. The special education technician prepares, organizes and conducts educational or pedagogical support activities as well as cultural, recreational and sports activities designed to develop social, cognitive, and communication skills.
Our TEVA consultant helps ensure a smooth transition by guiding and supporting students and their families through the challenges of transitioning from the youth sector to adult life. Additionally, the consultant works in collaboration with the Health Sector and community organizations in order to facilitate access to services and maintain a collaborative relationship with the students and their family. The TEVA consultant also works closely with various professionals from the Student Services Department as well as the school team to facilitate the transition of the students with special needs.
TEVA planning takes place typically three years before students are expected to leave our school. Working with a team that includes parents, teachers and specialists. Each student leaves L.I.N.K.S with a plan to help them transition to adult life.
The TEVA Consultant is available to students as often as needed, by request.
The ASD consultant provides assistance and guidance to the school team, to students with ASD and to their families. They assess and respond to the needs of the students by supporting the educational personnel in developing their capacity to meet a wide range of needs in the classroom. They facilitate and support the specialized self-contained classes as well as the integration of students with ASD in the regular classroom. They do so through direct intervention, coaching, professional development, and the sharing of resource materials
The Spiritual Care and Guidance and Community Involvement Service and Animator facilitates the progress in the spiritual and community life of students through regular program activities which encourage a deeper understanding, meaningful reflection and community involvement. The work of the Spiritual Care and Guidance and Community Involvement Service and Animator covers the scope of Spirituality, religions, cultures, philosophies and ethical concerns that our diverse school populations bring to the education experience. One such program event is STM presentations, school beautification spirit quest which is a recognition of a spiritual journey, developing spiritual awareness and acceptance and understanding of others on the part of students. These kinds of events help students understand more about the diversity of spiritual practice in the world around them, as well as to tap into their own guiding practice or spiritual background.
Spiritual Care and Guidance and Community Involvement Animator also provide promotion and prevention programming promoting a safe and healthy lifestyle and a peaceful school environment. As part of this work, animators provide in-class programming on a wide range of cultural, ethical, spiritual and communal issues including some of the religious observances of different faiths, celebrations of common days like Thanksgiving, Earth Day and U.N. Day; universal themes like Light, Hope, Peace, Compassion; and communal themes like Remembrance Day, and Black History Month. We also offer a variety of programs aimed at helping students be better local and global citizens through offerings in areas of Character Development, Random Acts of Kindness, Anti-Violence, Moral Intelligence, and Leadership.
In an era of instant messaging and immediate gratification, one of the hallmarks of Spiritual Care and Guidance and Community Involvement Animator lies in our encouraging students to “go deeper” into the currents of the “Why?” questions of our day
Attendants work with a multidisciplinary team to apply programs developed by and with teachers, special education technicians and consultants. They spend time with students to build trusting relationships and assist students to participate in academic, social and recreational pursuits. In addition, they provide supervision and assistance with any tasks related to safety, hygiene, travel or autonomy.
The librarian delivers direct services to students by reading books, helping students select and check out books and maintaining the school's collection with exciting selections for students. Each month, our school librarian curates a collection of books complementary to our school theme. Some of these books remain on display for library visits, some can be borrowed locally, others are available online and still others are selected by teachers and our librarian to be read in class.
The librarian is available to students on average one day per week.
The primary concern of the nurse who intervenes in school is the health of the students. They are involved in promoting health, preventing and protecting health, as well as maintaining and restoring health. The nurse is actively involved with school staff in the development of the individualized emergency health plan when required, and provides the necessary training to school staff (caregivers) to provide care.
Additionally, as part of the provincial vaccination program or during a specific vaccination campaign, the nurse oversees and organizes the vaccination sessions with the collaboration of school administration. The school nurse will also, in the case of complex/chronic health issues, collaborate with the administration and staff to plan an adequate intervention.
Our school nurse is available once a week throughout the school year.
The school social worker works in collaboration with the school teams as they orient their intervention on the social functioning of the students. In order to support the development of the child, the social worker is in continual collaboration with the parents, the family, the school and any other organization that revolves around this child. They will also provide services to students who are experiencing difficulties within their environment that have an impact on their ability to function in school. The school social worker also works in other settings such as the CLSC and homes. The social worker is an essential partner in accessing post-secondary services, and collaborates in the development of the TEVA transition plan.