Project DIRECT provides clinical services...our efforts locally help each child get the healthiest start possible.
Project DIRECT provides a range of health promotion, prevention, and intervention services with a focus on social, emotional, and behavioral problems.
Project DIRECT supports each child's healthy development. We utilize an early childhood consultation model as the best-practice approach to working with young children. In cases where one child is identified, we conduct a thorough functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and create a behavior intervention plan (BIP) in partnership with the classroom teachers. Our team then works in consultation with the child’s teachers, preschool staff, and family to implement the BIP. In most cases, we do not pull children from their classrooms to work with them one-on-one; instead, the majority of the behavioral interventions we recommend are implemented, with our support, in the classroom setting and by the teacher or preschool staff. BIPs are reviewed by the team, the teachers, and the family every 3 months and are modified as needed to best support the child. The goals of these efforts are to promote school readiness for all children and to prevent children with behavioral challenges from being expelled from preschool, while also building community capacity in early childhood mental health.
Project DIRECT works broadly across classrooms and schools to promote the well-being of all children. In line with the Pyramid Model Framework, we also provide support for classroom- or center-wide initiatives related to the healthy development of young children and their families. These efforts include both School-Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (SWPBIS) and targeted group interventions like social skills groups or behavioral parent training.
Project DIRECT currently partners with 13 New Orleans childcares, Head Starts, and pre-K/K classrooms within charter schools, all of which serve low-income children. Additional services can be provided in Tulane’s Psychology Clinic for Children and Adolescents, an evidence-based practice clinic that uses a sliding fee scale and co-directed by Drs. Courtney Baker and Sarah Gray.
Project DIRECT's clinical team consists of master’s- and doctoral-level school psychology clinicians-in-training who are closely supervised by Dr. Baker. All Project DIRECT clinical activities are covered by Tulane University's liability insurance.
Project DIRECT supports each child's healthy development. We utilize an early childhood consultation model as the best-practice approach to working with young children. In cases where one child is identified, we conduct a thorough functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and create a behavior intervention plan (BIP) in partnership with the classroom teachers. Our team then works in consultation with the child’s teachers, preschool staff, and family to implement the BIP. In most cases, we do not pull children from their classrooms to work with them one-on-one; instead, the majority of the behavioral interventions we recommend are implemented, with our support, in the classroom setting and by the teacher or preschool staff. BIPs are reviewed by the team, the teachers, and the family every 3 months and are modified as needed to best support the child. The goals of these efforts are to promote school readiness for all children and to prevent children with behavioral challenges from being expelled from preschool, while also building community capacity in early childhood mental health.
Project DIRECT works broadly across classrooms and schools to promote the well-being of all children. In line with the Pyramid Model Framework, we also provide support for classroom- or center-wide initiatives related to the healthy development of young children and their families. These efforts include both School-Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (SWPBIS) and targeted group interventions like social skills groups or behavioral parent training.
Project DIRECT currently partners with 13 New Orleans childcares, Head Starts, and pre-K/K classrooms within charter schools, all of which serve low-income children. Additional services can be provided in Tulane’s Psychology Clinic for Children and Adolescents, an evidence-based practice clinic that uses a sliding fee scale and co-directed by Drs. Courtney Baker and Sarah Gray.
Project DIRECT's clinical team consists of master’s- and doctoral-level school psychology clinicians-in-training who are closely supervised by Dr. Baker. All Project DIRECT clinical activities are covered by Tulane University's liability insurance.