Occupational therapists are teachers? No,not exactly. However, OTPs (Occupational Therapy Practitioners) support teachers in helping students learn and participate throughout the day across the natural school setting. Therefore it only seems logical to be right there, alongside the teacher, in the natural school setting! 

Co-teaching is when two or more school professionals come together and merge skill sets to deliver instruction to a group of students in one space. It all starts with collaboration and rapport building. The OTP and teacher come together and merge education with life occupations and create a co-teaching session. Each brings something to the table, and in the end a cohesive lesson and activity is created and delivered to a group of students. 

The co-teaching sessions that I created included Google Slides and interactive materials. Each session included educational aspects such as cardinal directions, reading, maps, and social studies merged with occupational therapy areas such as hygiene, daily living skills, fine motor, executive functioning, sensory, and gross motor movement to name a few. 

In the example below, the students took turns reading the Google Slides with direction from the teacher, while I stepped in to bring awareness of the importance of caring for our skin. Following the Google Slide presentation, the students got to simulate the steps using a doll, basins with water, soap, wash clothes, towels, Q-tips and medical items such as Band-aids,.

Self Care and How to Help in All Tiers (1,2,3)

The ability for a student to complete functional self care tasks are so important to everyday living and functional skills throughout the school day. Self care includes hand washing, putting on/taking off a coat, zipping/unzipping, putting on a shoe, tying a shoe, putting on hats/gloves, wiping a face, washing a face, brushing teeth, completing a bathroom routine, etc. In the previous years I have implemented many Tier 1 (universal) groups working along with the teachers focusing on fine motor (handwriting and scissors skills). This year I wanted to try something new!!! I wanted to try specific self care groups in a Tier 1 (universal) perspective. My idea was what season are we in and how can I address a self care need in that season. My first step was to get a buy in with 1 teacher. I did, the teacher was immediately excited and willing to start this. My second step was how many minutes, how much time do we need, and how long per self care task. The plan was determined to make these mini sessions (20 min each) approximately 4 sessions, once a week. So taking a whole month to focus on 1 self care task. Each month changing that task. August/September Hand Washing for example. With it being the start of the school, what a great way to go over hand.