Occupational Therapist

Having the right learning tools and equipment is crucial for success

Making sure Rotorua students with special education needs have exactly the right pens, seats, desks and chairs to learn is the job of occupational therapist, Glenda.

There's a lot more to Glenda's job, of course. But partly it's about using her specialist knowledge to help children aged 5 - 21 perform daily living skills in the classroom and at home, with maximum independence.

And mostly that involves making sure students with special education needs have the tools and equipment they need to access and take part in lessons.

For example, one of Glenda's students is eight-year-old Janine (not her real name). Janine has cerebral palsy. She's non-verbal, but can communicate using her hands. Janine moves involuntarily at times, uses a wheelchair and walking frame, and has fulltime teacher aide support.

Janine's physical needs mean she can't easily climb in and out of her wheelchair to join her peers on the mat to share story time. So, Glenda worked with Janine's classroom teacher, teacher aide and physiotherapist to apply to the Ministry of Education for a tailormade stool for Janine.

The application (a formal process that takes at least eight weeks) involved filling out forms and describing how the stool would enable Janine to sit on the mat and take part in lessons.

After the application was accepted, Glenda asked a furniture manufacturer to make the stool and send it to Janine's school. When Janine no longer needs the stool, it will be loaned to other students with similar needs.

"The seat is great for Janine's posture, it's comfortable and, when her teacher aide is behind her, Janine can put her hand up and answer questions," explains Glenda.

For Tim (not his real name), a ten-year-old boy who has difficulty with tasks involving high-motor skills such as tying his shoe laces and writing legibly and quickly, Glenda recommended a specialised word processor called an AlphaSmart.

She recommended the AlphaSmart after firstly testing the effects of an adapted pencil and desk and after working with a larger team of specialists and educators to observe and assess Tim's needs. The team comprised Tim's classroom teacher, his physiotherapists, his special education advisor and a psychologist.

"Sometimes students need their desk tops angled to suit the way they sit or are positioned. Sometimes they need a desk top fitted with Velcro or blue tack so their pencils don't roll out of reach. At other times they simply need better access to the blackboard - it really depends on their needs at the time," says Glenda.

Glenda's qualifications, training and work experience

Glenda has a diploma in occupational therapy and is working towards a post-graduate diploma in occupational therapy. Her studies include a range of physical, biological and behavioural sciences and the application of occupational therapy theory and practice. Glenda regularly attends health sector conferences about dyspraxia, autism, and specialist equipment or technology. She provides training workshops on special education to classroom and specialist teachers together with speech-language therapists, physiotherapists and resource teachers: learning and behaviour.

Occupational therapists are employed by GSE and by other fundholders including special schools, schools with special education units and Accredited Service Providers (ASPs).

Glenda has worked as an occupational therapist in the Rotorua area for eight years, firstly with Specialist Education Services (SES), then later, the Ministry of Education, Special Education (GSE). Prior to that, she spent ten years as a school-based teacher aide, mum of four children and an occupational therapist in the health sector.

"Working in the classroom as a teacher aide, I started to see the importance of changing a child's learning environment and materials - both are crucial to a child's learning success," says Glenda.

Working with Glenda - the process

Glenda works with school-aged children and young people assessed as having `high' or `very high' special education needs, who have successfully applied for the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes (ORRS). Other occupational therapists may also provide support to students who have moderate physical needs.

Glenda works four days per week.

Usually a child is referred to Glenda by their health sector physiotherapist or education specialist who's worked with that student from when they were a baby. Once a referral is made, Glenda talks to the student's support team to find out what support she might provide and how she might provide it.

A student's support team can be made up of their mum, dad, teachers, teacher aide, caregivers, wider whānau and other specialists such as a student's special education advisor or physiotherapist. Glenda works closely with the support team during each step of her process.

Next, Glenda observes and assesses the student's needs in a one-on-one, classroom and (very occasionally) home context. She then shares her findings with the student's support team, providing them with an occupational therapy programme for their feedback and ideas.

Her programme will suggest trialling a range of tools and equipment to help the student learn. For example, she might suggest a rubber grip is added to a student's pencil so that they can better manage writing. Or she may suggest formally applying to the Ministry of Education for some tailormade furniture.

Eventually, the student's occupational therapy programme is finalised and becomes part of their individual education plan (an individual education plan is sometimes made up of several programmes each tailored to meet a child's different learning needs).

Next, everyone works together to trial, test and monitor the use of different learning tools and equipment for as long as the student needs and as long as the child is eligible for Glenda's service.

Working with occupational therapists - a point to note

It's important to note that occupational therapists work with children and young people with a range of needs, for example, they work with children and young people assessed as having `moderate', `high' or `very high' needs - not just `high' or `very high' like Glenda. And some work in the early childhood education sector, too.

Occupational therapists work in different ways, too. They adapt what they do to suit the needs of individual children and young people, the needs of families, whānau, educators and specialists, and to suit the context in which children and young people live and learn. They may also adapt the way they work as new research evidence emerges and as their knowledge and experience grows.