Occupational Therapy (OT) is concerned with a person’s ability to participate in desired daily life activities or “occupations”.
School-based occupational therapy is a related service provided to help children to prepare, perform and achieve academic success and social participation in the school setting.
Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants are part of the educational team within a school district. OT practitioners provide service as a collaborative member of the Individualized Education Program (IEP), Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) and Response To Intervention model (RTI) to students and on behalf of students through individual, group, whole classroom interventions and/or school wide initiatives.
Occupational therapy is a supportive service directly related to the child’s ability to function within the educational setting. OT observations, screenings, evaluations and treatment require a written consent from the student’s primary caregiver.
OT practitioners are highly trained to assist students accessing curricular and extracurricular activities through implementation of strategies by designing and planning interventions to achieve academic success. OT practitioners also play a key role in educating and training parents, teachers and caregivers to ensure overall success in the school setting.
*Based on Asher. A., et.al. (2010) “Occupational Therapy in School Settings”. American Occupational Therapy Association.
Reference:
Asher. A., Collins. A., Crabtree. L., Benen Demchick. B., George. B., Harrington-Kane. E., Schaaf. R., Schefkind. S., Scott. J., Watling. R. (2010) “Occupational Therapy in School Settings”. American Occupational Therapy Association. Retrieved from www.aota.org