How to get administrative support
Needing stronger administrative support for your services for implementing the Alert Program®? Here are a few things for you to consider in bolstering support for your efforts:
- Identify who makes decisions about therapeutic programs and related budgets.
- Get to know this individual and learn what information or data is most valued and influential. What are the issues and challenges?
- In “getting to know” this individual, be sure to observe his or her sensorimotor preferences and self-regulation strategies. Look for opportunities to help team members and your administrator experientially learn about self-regulation. Click here for suggestions.
- Collect data regularly that speaks to the identified issues/challenges and provide data to show improvements in areas that this individual values most.
- Meet with this “decision maker” regularly to maintain conversation and to share how you are contributing to the success of a particular program, in terms that relate to the administrators values. In your meetings, bring self-regulation strategies and offer when the “decision maker” is in a non-optional state (perhaps after you have been meeting for awhile and it’s becoming more difficult to focus and attend to the conversation, you might say, “I teach my clients about how to stay alert in a meeting like this one. Want to try fidgeting with one of my pipe cleaners or take a brain break to get something to drink to see if it helps us both focus better to complete our meeting?”)
- Encourage the administrator to support a program evaluation model that collects data regularly related to the efficiency and effectiveness of the services you provide. And we can help you do this through our “Tracking Success” consultation services. Contact us to learn more.
- Generate a brief annual report that reflects the attainment of short and long term goals (especially those focused on identified issues/challenges) as well as your needs for the next year in improving the level of successful implementation of the Alert Program®. Contact us if you’l like support to encourage classroom, school, and/or district-wide implementation.