At Grande Prairie Public School Division, our schools are welcoming, caring, safe environments where staff, students and families have a strong sense of belonging. Students' and staff's emotional and physical well-being and mental health are supported.
There are many opportunities for student support within GPPSD. The purpose of a Multi-Disciplinary Team approach is to support students by collaborating with our leadership teams to support teachers with strategies for optimum learning for all students.
Contact your child's school for more information on potential supports available.
Educational Programmers are lead teachers and coordinators for the Multi-Disciplinary Team. Educational Programmers work with the Director of Inclusive Learning, school administrators, learning Support Teachers, classroom teachers, Educational Assistants, parents, students (as appropriate) and other professionals to help identify processes, problems, and concerns and works collaboratively with this team to come up with appropriate recommendations for resolutions to ensure all students succeed.
The scope of Educational Psychology school-based practice includes, but is not limited to;
- Positive behaviour support,
- Emotional regulation,
- Executive functioning and attention,
- Social skills,
- Learning and academic functioning,
- Behaviour support plans,
- Psychological and academic assessment,
- Diagnosis of common childhood neurodevelopmental and disruptive/conduct disorders, and,
- Crisis counselling as needed.
The scope of Occupational Therapy school-based practice includes, but is not limited to:
- written work (printing, assistive technology for learning),
- regulation,
- sensory processing,
- motor skills,
- visual-motor integration skills,
- social skills, and
- self-care tasks (feeding, dressing, hygiene).
The scope of Speech-Language Pathologists in an educational setting includes, but is not limited to:
- Literacy (phonemic awareness and comprehension)
- Grammar
- Verbal expression
- Vocabulary
- Following directions
- Social skills
- Narrative production
- Speech sound production
- Alternative and Augmentative Communication
The Educational Assistants assigned to speech provide remediation services as directed by and under the supervision of the Speech Language Pathologists.
Mental Health Counsellors/Social workers support teacher capacity in supporting students’ mental health needs and provide school-based counselling for students. There are two Mental Health Leads who support the prioritization process to ensure equitable access across the division.
GPPSD remains committed to a collaborative approach for providing specialized services through Peace Collaborative Services. Professional staff who serve GPPSD remain part of PCS as well. Our support for students who require low incidence supports are met through the low incidence supports team members through PCS. Students requiring support for physiotherapy, complex communication, deaf and hard of hearing, or vision, will be referred by the school Learning Support Teacher (LST) using the PCS referral form.
Family Outreach is a flexible extension to the already existing support services within the Grande Prairie School District. Having the ability to meet in and around school hours and locations, Family Outreach is a great option for bridging the connection between families, school, and appropriate community agencies. By creating proactive relationships with the student and the caregivers, Family Outreach Workers can help to facilitate collaboration with the school and outside resources to help support engagement of services for improving student success.
Our family outreach support staff are trained in Triple P Parenting and can support families with this training as well on a referral basis.
