Family Advisor

State of Montana•Great Falls, MT

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Family Advisor Program supports families of children who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, low vision, or deafblind. The program aims to help these families access information and develop skills to meet their child's unique developmental and social-emotional needs from birth to age 22. Services are provided in the family's home or a neutral location, focusing on individualized instruction in areas such as communication interaction and methodology, psychosocial and behavior skills, educational and community resources, amplification and auditory skills, and assistive technology. The Family Advisor works on prescribed goals to ensure the child acquires appropriate developmental and communication skills.

Requirements

Identify the child's early use of signals and interactive responses to optimize daily communication in the home and how parents communicate with the child in early interactions which may include sign language instruction or the use of tactile and object cues in helping the child to understand his environment.
Work with the child to attend for longer and longer periods of time, reinforcing vocalization and emerging speech sounds, turn taking, establishing eye contact, back and forth communication, understanding the importance of facial expressions and intonation, interacting about here-and-now, and developing “Tactile Experience Books”.
Introduce deaf or blind role models to provide a foundation for understanding the importance and potential for early development of communication skills.
Specifically for the deaf or hard of hearing the family advisor must understand communication methodologies and communication choices including but not limited to ASL and Deaf culture, Total Communication using Manually Coded English, Aural-Oralism, and Cued Speech.
Specifically for the visually impaired, the family must understand communication media and formats, including listening, speaking, and object communication, which may include the use of tactile symbols and calendar boxes to print and Braille.
Specifically for the deaf and hard of hearing the family advisor must have knowledge of the structure of the ear, its care, causes of hearing loss, hearing tests-prep for fitting, hearing aids (parts, functions, selecting), maintenance and daily listening checks of aids, ear molds and tubing, consumer information, audiologists, care of aids and troubleshooting, amplification used in the classroom setting as well as other formal environment and its effects on a child with a hearing loss.
Specifically for the visually impaired the family advisor must have knowledge of the conditions of the eye, developmental and educational impacts of visual impairments, and be able to assist families to understand vision reports and functional vision assessments.
Specifically for the visually impaired the family advisor must have knowledge of the role of orientation and mobility goals in providing skills necessary for the child to be able to move independently in his or her natural environment.
Understand hearing and/or vision loss and its impact on the family, the grieving process, the sibling experience, the impact of family involvement on the child’s progress, and the importance of family involvement and school relationships.
Identify behaviors that interfere with learning and socialization.
Establish goals and expectations and develop interventions to reach desired outcomes.
Identify technology that will help the child access his or her environment.
Locate resources and public programs such as Part C service providers, Office of Public Instruction, Montana Association of the Deaf, the Montana Association of the Blind, Montana Empowerment, etc. to learn more and provide necessary services for their child.
Understand the importance of involving the child in school based and community sponsored activities as a means of supporting goals for socialization, and language and behavioral development.
Identify and utilize appropriate and culturally sensitive intervention strategies that meet the individual needs of families.
Research and utilize a variety of resource materials to develop effective IFSPs and IEP’s.
Utilize Community Based and School Programs.
Understanding programs and services typically offered by state and local government, indicators of quality programs and options available to parents.
Understanding how to communicate effectively, and access resources, information and training from the Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind, Part C Early Intervention Services Providers, the Office of Public Instruction and other community based service providers that support the child’s education.
Becoming connected to family advisors, and teachers within the community by understanding the parents role in service plan meetings and conferences, understanding how to access personnel and the importance of attending and participating in programs and activities and following policies and procedures.
Developing ways to facilitate home/school communication and the generalization of school instruction and vocabulary to meaningful, real-life experiences.
Providing opportunities for pre- teaching and preparation for school activities.
Explaining program goals and benchmarks and expected behaviors and levels of achievement for children at various stages.
Maintain effective and efficient work schedules in a telework position without close supervision.
Write professional reports summarizing assessments, and make appropriate recommendations and referrals for medical services.
Demonstrate effective interpersonal skills necessary to maintain positive and productive relationships with families and other service providers.
Participate as an effective member of IFSP/IEP teams.
Maintain student files in a confidential and secure manner.
Utilize effective oral, written and signed communication with parents, children, MSDB staff and other service providers.
Communicate in sign language at a level of proficiency sufficient for effective communication with deaf and hard of hearing students.
Identify and utilize appropriate and culturally sensitive intervention strategies that meet the individual needs of families.
Two years of full-time, paid, professional experience as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, Teacher of the Deaf, Interpreter, Special Education Teacher, Paraeducator, Braille Specialist, etc. working with students and/or families, which has included working with students with blindness/visual impairment, deaf hard of hearing, deaf/blind and multiple disabilities.
Must be able to get along with and communicate well with a variety of personalities, be pleasant and courteous.
Must be able to work effectively without supervision. Must be reliable and dependable at all times.

Nice To Haves

Considerable knowledge of child development, family engagement, play activities, first aid techniques and safety precautions.
Sign language skills are highly preferred if working with children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Understanding the impact of vision concerns on development.

Responsibilities

Assists the Outreach Consultant in executing a specific plan with goals to educate the family on the specific sensory needs of their child.
Works with the Outreach Consultant to understand the developed plan with goals, frequency, and budget to meet the needs of the child for the current school year.
Participates in activities within the home to educate family members on specific skills and knowledge to best support their child.
Provides support to the child by providing direction and instruction in a variety of activities based on individual needs, age, and goals developed by the Outreach Consultant.
Assists the Outreach Consultant monitor the child and families progress.
Alerts the Outreach Consultant to any concerns or special information about the individual child.
Prepares and utilizes materials for home visits as well as follow-up paperwork.
Carries out individual programming for the deaf, hard of hearing or blind, visually impaired child.
Keeps the child safe by immediately reporting concerns to the Outreach Consultant.
Other duties/tasks as assigned to meet the Family Advising Goals.