Productivity continues to be a word many therapists dread to hear. In my time at Doctor's the productivity standard greatly increased and it left myself as a student and many of the seasoned therapists feeling very overwhelmed by just the amount of services that were being asked of each person on a daily basis. This link provides some things to think about when the unfortunate "P" word is staring you in the face!

https://newgradoccupationaltherapy.com/6-ways-to-manage-productivity-levels-for-new-grad-ots/

Here is a list of 60 different apps that are useful in the school based practice setting. Each are categorized under the goal area that would likely be addressed if wanting to use an app for a therapy session!

https://newgradoccupationaltherapy.com/60-effective-school-based-apps-for-occupational-therapy/

https://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=2491018&resultClick=3

The above article discusses how an acute care setting is often a time of anxiety for a new fieldwork OT student. I know there were many times that I was shocked by just how medically acute the conditions that I was walking into were on a day to day basis. The article explains how there is a void of simulation teaching for the acute care practice setting in OT education, and so the researchers examined the effectiveness of simulated learning versus classroom/textbook teaching. The researchers concluded that not only did the student's actual performance improve, but they were also more readily confident when entering an acute care fieldwork setting!

Over the past 12 weeks, I have thought about pencil grasp probably more than I have ever cared to, as I am sure many school-based therapists would agree!

https://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1851631&resultClick=3
The above article examined the true effect that immature and mature pencil grasps outside of the dynamic tripod grasp, and how this impacted the legibility and speed of producing written work. The results agreed with what we were taught in class, that though a grasp may be immature, it heavily relies on function at a certain point. This is why I agree that school-based therapists should continue to work hard for their younger students to use a mature grasp, and really shoot for that dynamic tripod. As the students get older however, and move closer to the 4th grade and intermediate school, this is when I feel grasp patterns should be a thing of the past in OT sessions!

https://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=2490979&resultClick=3

I have used the VMI with nearly all of the school-aged children I have had the opportunity to independently evaluate this rotation, so I was interested in reading this article that examined using the VMI as an outcome measure for handwriting interventions. The article concludes what I was hoping to hear, that when used cautiously, it is an effective tool to help identify children who would benefit from further assessment and intervention.

https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/AboutOT/Professionals/WhatIsOT/RDP/Facts/Upper%20Limb%20Amputee%20fact%20sheet.pdf

In the acute care environment, we often get labeled as the "upper limb" specialists, which is not inaccurate, though slightly off-putting when we think about just how many areas of human occupation we can readily address. When a patient has experienced an upper limb amputation, this makes many areas of day-to-day occupation a challenge. This sheet provides the basics of each stage of the rehabilitation process following upper limb amputation and what role we as OTs can play in the process as well.

Though some of us are probably still confused about the difference between PEO and MOHO, this link does a pretty excellent job of explaining the theory and detailing its applicability to the ICU environment. It evens provides a case examples and specific PEO interventions that lend themselves to the high acuity setting of the ICU.

https://www.aota.org/Publications-News/SISQuarterly/Physical%20Disabilities/8-16-measure-assess.aspx

https://www.aota.org/Education-Careers/Students/Pulse/Archive/career-advice/Practice-Areas.aspx

The above link will bring you to a page where you can look over "A Day In The Life" in nearly all of the practice settings that an OT readily works in. Thought this would be nice as we will each soon be applying for jobs in most likely one of these areas!

https://www.aota.org/Practice/Manage/Reimb/occupational-profile-document-value-ot/How-to-Write-Client-Occupational-Profile-Examples-of-Actual-Clients.aspx'

Though most of us are probably well seasoned in the art of writing a well-versed occupational profile for our patients, here are four good examples of a profile for patients in four different areas of practice can look and sound like.

I found this to be an interesting powerpoint presentation discusses the role that we can play with recess in the school-based area of practice. Two OSU students will be completing their "doctoral experience" starting the week I leave Harmon and one of the major portions of the day they plan to target it recess and to potentially develop a group of activities to improve social skills. Who knew we could play such a big part in a seemingly simple part of the day!

http://www.aota.org/Practitioners-Section/Children-and- Youth/Role-of-OT/Presentations/41768.aspx?FT=.pdf

https://www.aota.org/Practice/Manage/Reimb/writing-pediatric-goals-family-involvment-developmental.aspx

Great link for goal writing and documentation for those very young kiddos on caseload! Discusses family involvement as well as reaching those developmental milestones and strategies that the child uses to do so.

https://www.aota.org/Publications-News/otp/Archive/2015/11-9-15/medicaid-faq.aspx

This is a great explanation of the Medicaid billing process that is identical to how things work for me at Harmon Elementary. OT practitioners in Southwestern City School District bill for all services through Medicaid for each and every student, and then they are responsible for filtering out appropriate reimbursement. This link provides a very detailed understanding of what can be a very confusing part of school-based practice!

https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/Practice/Children/ASD-Tips-for-Educators-Successful-Participation-at-School.pdf

This is a similar document to the "strategies for all students" sheet that I previously posted, but this one is specifically targeted for students with ASD. Again, it provides a target behavior, effective strategies, and expertise that may be provided from an OT in the scenario when the educator feels it is necessary.

https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/Secure/Practice/Children/School%20Mental%20Health%20FAQ%20Webfin.pdf

The above link is a FAQ sheet for OT and how they play a part in mental health service delivery in the school based setting, and provides excellent specific examples based off of the tiered model used in this area.

https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/AboutOT/Professionals/WhatIsOT/CY/Tips-for-Educators-Successful-Participation-School-Strategies-for-All-Students.pdf

Here is an EXCELLENT chart describing the collaborative role between educator and OT practitioner that explains goals of the educator, tips to consider, and then eventual expertise that can be offered by an OT/OTA.

https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/AboutOT/Professionals/WhatIsOT/CY/Fact-Sheets/Workload-fact.pdf

This a a pdf explaining the difference between caseload vs. workload for school-based OTs and OTAs. This topic was something that I did not know much a difference about when I started my rotation, but with my CI's "caseload" greatly expanding in the past 11 weeks, we have discussed recalculating her workload to see if she is still in the appropriate level. The link above provides the steps to examining workload vs. caseload and gives excellent examples of how to complete this process.

https://www.aota.org/Publications-News/otp/Archive/2016/4-4-16-managers/school-supplies-free-acquire-valuable.aspx

When I started at Harmon Elementary this semester and walked into my CI's OT room the first day, I was amazed by just how many materials, books, and other treatment tools that she had. My first thought was "I can't imagine how expensive all of this must have been!". Thankfully, I found out that the district has paid for the majority of things that she has, but she has had to pay out of pocket for a good chunk of things as well. The link above describes 6 inexpensive ways to acquire supplies for school-based practice, and I thought some of the ideas that were presented were really great!

https://www.aota.org/About-Occupational-Therapy/Professionals/CY/Articles/School-consumer.aspx

Here is a quick and easy read from Ashley Opp Hofmann that will readily prepare any of us that plan to work in school-based practice to better explain our purpose to any parent/guardian that is unfamiliar with OT services and how they can help their child succeed in the educational environment.

https://www.aota.org/Practice/Manage/Apps/ten-apps-school-based-OT-practice.aspx

The above link is a list of free and paid iPad apps to use in school based practice to address deficits in the areas of: fine motor, visual perceptual, handwriting, assistive technology, social participation, and time management/organization.

https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/Practice/Children/Browse/SI/Providing%20Occupational%20Therapy%20Using%20Sensory%20Integration%20Theory%20and%20Methods%20in%20School-Based%20Practice.pdf

This is an article from 2006 that gives an excellent explanation of SI theory and it's utilization within the public and private school-based OT practice area. The article, though a bit dated, shows how SI is implemented in each stage of the OT process, including clinical reasoning, evaluation, intervention/service delivery, and outcomes. I have scored the Sensory Profile multiple times during this rotation, and it certainly proves a useful tool for us as OT's to allow our students to better access the educational environment as well as what additional needs or accommodations may need to occur in the general education classroom.