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,.