Special Education and Occupational Therapy: Making the Relationship Work

Abstract

Working as an occupational therapist in publicly funded schools requires a variety of skills. These skills include assessing the needs of children, serving as a member of the multidisciplinary team, developing individualized education program (IEP) goals and objectives in conjunction with other team members, providing services, and coordinating efforts with parents, teachers, and administrators. To fulfill these responsibilities, occupational therapists must have a comprehensive understanding of the complex federal and state laws that mandate the provision of special education and related services. Therefore, the purposes of this article are (a) to describe the legal framework within which decisions are made to provide occupational therapy to students in publicly funded school programs and (b) to highlight the knowledge and skills occupational therapists need to work effectively in schools with teachers, administrators, and parents.

Survey of Interdisciplinary Activity between Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Pathologists in the Public Schools

“…Colman (1988) and Coutinho and Hunter (1988) discussed the implications of such public laws on the activities of occupational therapists and other professionals in the public school setting. These authors noted that new requirements will create greater demands for developmental service in the public school sector.…”

The use of the QNST–II as a measure for the identification of children with perceptual‐motor deficits

“…Since the passing of federal laws mandating that free, appropriate education be provided to all children regardless of the existence of a handicapping or disabling condition, a significant portion of the practice of paediatric occupational therapy has shifted from medical to school settings (Coutinto and Hunter, 1988;Niehues et al, 1991;Coster, 1998;Mellard, 2000). Function in performance areas is the ultimate concern in occupational therapy (American Occupational Therapy Association, 1994;Coster, 1998).…”

Occupational therapists as consultants in Florida schools : a survey

“…While the EHA mandates the provision of a free, appropriate public education to all children who are disabled, regardless of the severity of the disabling condition (Coutinho & Hunter, 1988), only those problems that affect learning may be addressed as part of the educational program (Dunn, 1989). The EHA mandates that children receive services in the least restrictive environment possible (Coutinho & Hunter, 1988). This environment is often the child's regular classroom setting.…”

“…As an education-related service, occupational therapy can only be provided to students who have been identified as handicapped under the definitions within the EHA and who need special education (Chandler, Dunn, & Rourk, 1989). While the EHA mandates the provision of a free, appropriate public education to all children who are disabled, regardless of the severity of the disabling condition (Coutinho & Hunter, 1988), only those problems that affect learning may be addressed as part of the educational program (Dunn, 1989). The EHA mandates that children receive services in the least restrictive environment possible (Coutinho & Hunter, 1988).…”

“…the child requires OT as part of the specialized education program, the OT must provide the team with the recommendations based on appropriate assessment procedures in a form that is comprehensible to other team members (Coutinho & Hunter, 1988) and in an educational context (Royeen & Marsh, 1988). The team translates the recommendations into an IEP for each child and compares service models to decide how the intervention will occur and be coordinated (McCormick & Lee, 1979).…”