Integrated Student Support Professionals:
Occupational Therapists

Role

Occupational therapists (OTs) who work in schools collaborate with a team of professionals to assist children to become as independent as possible. OTs assist children in gaining access to general education and play/recreational environments by assessing activities of daily living, object manipulation (e.g., scissors, pencils, keyboards), organizational and sensorimotor skills. Occupational therapy services improve, develop, or restore functions impaired or lost through illness, injury, or deprivation. If occupational therapy is deemed necessary by a student’s PPT, these can take the form of school-or family-based consultation or direct services.

Click here to read more about the profession of occupational therapy.

IDEA '97 regulations specify the services offered by occupational therapists in schools, which include:

• self-help skills or adaptive living (e.g., eating, dressing);
• functional mobility (e.g., moving safely through school);
• positioning (e.g., sitting appropriately in class);
• sensory-motor processing (e.g., using the senses and muscles);
• fine motor (e.g., writing, cutting) and gross motor performance (e.g., walking, athletic skills);
• life skills training/vocational skills; and
• psychosocial adaptation [Section 300.24(b)(5)]. NICHCY News Digest

The roles of OTs and other student support services professionals are articulated in the Connecticut State Department of Education document Position Statement on Student Support Services (2001).

State Organization

Connecticut Occupational Therapy Association

National Organization

American Occupational Therapy Association

Connecticut State Department of Education

Guidelines for Occupational Therapy in Educational Settings (1999).

For more information, please contact:
SERC Consultants: Ruth D. Kirsch, LCSW, Ph.D., (860) 632-1485 (ext. 364) or Donna D. Merritt, Ph.D., CCC, ext. (337)