Programs
Outreach Counseling Services
Pikes Peak BOCES Outreach Counselors provide counseling and behavior intervention services to member school districts for students and/or their parents. Because of their strong clinical and counseling backgrounds, outreach counselors are able to offer a level of counseling services not normally available in their home schools. Outreach Counselors assist with conducting risk assessments and functional behavior assessments, and developing behavior intervention plans. Consequently, a primary focus of Outreach is to prevent students from being placed in more restrictive environments such as day treatment and residential programs.
Outreach Crisis Intervention Services
Crisis intervention services (e.g., for students with suicidal ideation) are available through the Outreach Counselor and school psychologist assigned to a given district. Postvention counseling services (e.g., following a tragic death of a student or staff member) are available to all member districts. To secure crisis counseling services to assist staff and students in coping with the aftermath of a tragic event, contact the Outreach Therapist assigned to your district or Denise Hartman, Coordinator of Outreach Services, (719) 570-7474, ext. 4028. Additional Outreach counselors and school psychologists will be released from their duties to meet the needs of our member districts.
Referral Process for Outreach Services
Requests by parents or school personnel for outreach services for a student should be made to the Director of Special Education within a large district, or to the building principal of our small member districts. Those designated administrators will make contact with the Outreach Counselor assigned to those districts. Administrators who do not currently have an Outreach Counselor assigned to their district, should make a referral to Denise Hartman, Team Leader for Outreach services (719) 570-7474 ext. 4028.
Satellite Programs
Ellicott School District
Satellite self-contained SIED and SSN programs
Ellicott School District hosts the self-contained programs for special education students with significant cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and behavioral challenges. Eastern Pikes Peak BOCES Districts sponsor the program. Students from other eastern districts may have access to the program, depending on available space. The program has the option of full day programming for those students who need the intensity that such a program would provide.
The SIED program provides services for students with a diagnosis of SIED at the elementary school, middle school and high school. Districts are required to provide documentation of intervention strategies that have been applied prior to referral to the program.
The SSN program provides services for students with multiple disabilities who require more specialized services in the physical and/or cognitive domains. These services are provided at the elementary school, middle school and high school.
Placement Decisions
A continuum of services should have been tried at the home campus before considering the Ellicott programs. When the staffing team determines, this process can be abbreviated in situations where the students are believed to be dangerous to self or others.
The home campus should contact Denise Hartman, Coordinator of the Ellicott programs, (719) 683-2700 ext.234 to ensure that the teacher, outreach counselor, school psychologist, and possibly a school administrator can be in attendance at a placement staffing to be held at the home campus. Copies of IEPs (Individual Education Plans), student files, behavior plans, etc, should be forwarded to the program staff prior to the placement staffing. These steps may require the staffing to be delayed one to two weeks. Districts have the option of placing students on home bound tutoring during that period if the student is dangerous to self and others or can no longer be maintained within his current environment. Districts may remove a student up to 10 days before a placement staffing must occur.
It is important that no decisions are made regarding the placement of a student prior to the IEP meeting. Several alternative options should be presented and discussed at the meeting before a final decision is made.
Steps prior to placement staffing:
- Student has had a series of pre-referral meetings to develop and revise behavior and academic interventions for student.
- Student has been evaluated and qualifies for special education.
- Student has exhausted a continuum of special education placements within the home district (i.e., consultative services, collaborative, resource services). Resource hours have been increased on IEP before considering self-contained services.
- School counselor and a special education provider (i.e. Outreach counselor or school psychologist) have provided counseling services.
- Community services have been accessed (e.g., probation, DHS, private counseling, psychiatric services).
Mental Health Services
Pikes Peak BOCES contracts with Pikes Peak Mental Health to provide counseling and support services for the program. In addition, school psychologists and outreach counselors will provide added mental health support.
Referral Process
Parents or legal guardians interested in the program should contact the child's special education teacher or the building principal. The steps noted above should be followed in most situations to protect the student's right to be educated within the Least Restrictive Environment. Building personnel should notify the district superintendent before referring a student to the program. Primary contact at Ellicott is Denise Hartman, Coordinator of the satellite programs at 719-683-2700 ext.234
Falcon School District
Falcon School District hosts the Falcon/Pikes Peak BOCES shared program for deaf and hard of hearing at Ridgeview Elementary School. This program is a cooperative effort between Falcon School District and Pikes Peak BOCES. Students must have a medical diagnosis of hearing loss as documented by an ENT. This documented hearing loss must be the child’s primary disability. The program utilizes a simultaneous sign language/voice communication philosophy while respecting the individual student’s Communication Plan. This program primarily serves students in the Pikes Peak BOCES region yet non-BOCES/Falcon Districts may refer students to this program based on availability of slots. Referrals to the program should be made to the Director of Special Education at Pikes Peak BOCES, Archie Neil (719) 622-2083.
Additional Services
Statewide Assistive Augmentative/Alternative Communication (SWAAAC)-Outreach Team
The SWAAAC (Statewide Assistive Augmentative/Alternative Communication) Team consists of a group of professionals who have been specifically trained through the Colorado Department of Education in the area of assistive technology. Our team, the SWAAAC Outreach team, is comprised of speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, adaptive PE teachers, classroom teachers, vision and hearing impaired specialists, psychologists and nurses. Unique in its design, our team is a collaborative effort between Falcon #49 and the Pikes Peak BOCES special education member districts.
| Purpose: | Our purpose is to provide information; provide support in technology; and augmentative communication; provide modification to home and school for access and assistance with funding sources. |
| Assistive Technology: | A.T. may be broadly defined as any item or piece of equipment that is used to increase, maintain and/or improve functional capabilities of an individual with disabilities and allow them to fully participate in their world. |
| Augmentative/Alternative Communication: | A/A communication may be considered as any approach designed to support, enhance, or supplement the communication of an individual who is unable to independently use verbal communication in all situations. |
| SWAAAC Referral Process | |
| Who can make a referral? |
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| Who is appropriate for a referral? |
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| Those students who meet the above two requirements should have at least on the following concerns: |
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| How to submit a referral: |
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