What is an Occupational Therapist?
The Occupational Therapist acts as a consultant to classroom teachers and parents to provide activities that can be done in the classroom and at home to enhance each child's therapy program. They also help adapt the school environment (ie: classroom chairs, bathrooms, etc.) and make adaptive equipment (ie: splints, adapted writing utensils, etc.) to allow each student to be as independent as possible.
What do Occupational Therapists Do?
The Occupational Therapist works with those special education students who exhibit sensory motor and self care delays which affect their educational performance. Qualifications for occupational therapy services would require problems that necessitate services beyond routine teacher training and education. The student must also exhibit a significant delay in test scores to receive direct occupational therapy services. If a child does not qualify for occupational therapy in the school, but the therapist feels the child needs therapy for a non-academic problem, a referral to a local agency may be made.
The Occupational Therapist's emphasis is on developing fine muscle coordination. Occupational therapy treatment utilizes purposeful activities to attain a specific goal and tasks are chosen in developmentally appropriate sequences to facilitate the child's progress. Children are seen individually or in a group as warranted. Students from 0-25 years of age may receive occupational therapy services in a variety of programs through the ISD (ie: infant development program; preschool programs; local district resource rooms; categorical classrooms; trainable and severely mentally impaired rooms.)
Lewis Cass ISD Occupational Therapists
The OT/PT room at Brookside Learning Center.
Occupational Therapy links