Commentary on Collaboration in School-Based Practice: Positives and Pitfalls

Handwriting Performance in Elementary School Children - Teacher and Therapist Viewpoint

“…Working together in the classroom with teachers to support activities and programs has become a primary role of occupational therapists in school-based practice [13]. A comprehension of instructor assessments and observations in assessing penmanship and the criteria they use to decide the nature of penmanship to refer to occupational therapy services is prime for a definitive achievement.…”

Implementing Partnering for Change in Québec: Occupational Therapy Activities and Stakeholders’ Perceptions

“…Potential equity issues with occupational therapy and support services are well described in the literature, and can be influenced by many factors, including personal characteristics of professionals and educators, but also school characteristics and service expectations ( Bose & Hinojosa, 2008 ). As recommended by others, clarifying what therapists can and cannot do, not only regarding their scope of practice ( Shasby & Schneck, 2011 ), but also with the time and resources allowed, and setting clear priorities with school teams (not only with administrators), may be a way to ensure all stakeholders share a common understanding of the proposed services and can identify realistic expectations.…”

“…Regarding therapy activities, both quantitative and qualitative results contribute to our understanding of how therapists spend their time in daily multi-leveled activities. A strength of our findings for clinicians includes the very specific activities described at each level of the model in the daily therapy journals, which can be very useful for others wishing to implement a model, assisting with suggestions that are readily applicable “on the ground.” Next steps might include more support for therapists, as already suggested, but also more materials or resources, training on multi-level service delivery models, pre-service training for occupational therapists and/or educators on collaboration ( Casillas, 2010 ; Dettmer et al, 2005 ; Shasby & Schneck, 2011 ; Vincent et al, 2008 ) and to building upon the repertoire of additional concrete examples of therapy activities in practice.…”

Inter-Professional Role Perception and Communication of Preservice Students and Therapists in Schools and Early Intervention

“…When roles are blurred or overlap, a therapist will transfer a skill or practice usually performed by him or her to another therapist or team member. Consultation, collaboration, and trans-disciplinary teaming all utilize aspects of role overlap (Moore et al, 2012;Shasby & Schneck, 2011). Characteristics of effective role overlap are similar to those needed for successful teams, including those that rely heavily on Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 09:27 13 December 2014 inter-professional role perception, such as "sharing of expertise; valuing the perspectives, knowledge, and skills of other disciplines; and trust-being able to 'let go' of one's specific role when appropriate" (King et al, 2009, p. 213).…”

“…In order to adequately implement interdisciplinary team-based approaches, it is essential for occupational therapists and other therapy providers to understand their role on the inter-professional team (Shasby & Schneck, 2011) and to be able to communicate effectively with other team members. To support the growth of inter-professional communication, students in the therapy disciplines who are training to work in schools and early intervention need to be educated about inter-professional team roles while simultaneously navigating didactic coursework essential to entering their field.…”