During a child's enrollment at the Bridge School, an educational team comprised of special education teachers, speech-language pathologists, an assistive technologist, a psychologist, and a highly talented group of paraeducators collaborate together to develop the communicative potential of each student. Students work within the Bridge School classroom environment as well as in classrooms at our shared public school site - North Elementary School, a Hillsborough City School District campus. This is an important step in our process of identifying the necessary adaptations and supports that will enable our students to be successful when they transition back to the public school setting.

The teaming process is the cornerstone of the Bridge School educational model. Given that the Bridge School was founded through a collaboration of parents and professionals, we have always strived to make the team approach work for the benefit of each of our students and the ongoing development of our program as a whole. It is our belief that our student's success lies in recognition that:

• Parents and family members are our student's primary communication partners, and the home and school environments must be working together to establish augmentative/alternative means of communication

• The home and community are key environments for communication intervention to occur

• The family is the only "constant" on a child's educational team - the only individuals who will play a role on that team throughout a child's educational experience.