Michelle Pérez guides families through the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process, provides crisis intervention and at-risk counseling for students and connects families with school-based and community resources.
What is the role of a bilingual school social worker?
I am a school-based support team social worker, so my main focus is on students who have IEPs. The school-based support team works with students who have an IEP or with parents who would like to evaluate their child. Once a parent requests an evaluation or a member of the school staff refers a student for an IEP, I connect with the parents to conduct a social history interview and ask them questions about their child’s upbringing, their struggles and what they hope to gain from the process. I also do at-risk sessions for students who are struggling academically or behaviorally or who are emotionally dysregulated. I have five schools in Manhattan in my caseload, including two where I go on an on-call basis for cases that require Spanish.
What inspired you to enter this profession?
There are individuals in my family who have mental illnesses, so I decided to go into a field that would help me understand and connect with them in a way that other family members cannot. I have my bachelor’s degree in forensic psychology and did my master’s in social work at Fordham University.
What is a typical day for you?
I usually have meetings with parents for social history interviews and conduct classroom observations. Then, oftentimes, there’s a crisis in the building, so I go and try to put out the fire. I’m proactive, so if I hear a student having an emotional meltdown or dysregulation, I come out of my office to assist. I’ll introduce myself, chat with the student and invite them to my office so we can talk more or play with games or toys. It usually gets them back to baseline and they can return to class. I also have meetings with the school-based support team. After that, I might follow up with a parent to help them better understand the IEP process or share a website that I created with resources for families who are seeking additional support for their child outside of school.
What are some of the challenges of your job?
Managing deadlines. With IEPs, there are deadlines and certain things that need to be done at certain times. But with handling crises throughout any given day, it can be difficult to plan accordingly. You try to plan, but things happen, so you need to know your deadlines and prioritize what comes first.
What has been most rewarding in your work?
I like building meaningful connections with students and their families and educating parents about the IEP process to help them understand what services their child can receive. By removing the stigma that is sometimes associated with the IEP, I get to empower the family to see it as a tool to support their child to grow, learn and be successful. For me, it’s a perfect blend of getting to work with parents and students.
At one of my Manhattan schools, PS 165, we now have children entering kindergarten whose parents remember me from helping their older child in past years. So I still have credibility from working with them in the past and meeting them where they were at the time. It’s heartwarming.
— As told to Rebecca Hadley