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Press play below to listen to the podcast Or click on your preferred podcast player link! Welcome to the show notes for Episode 1 of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast. In this very first episode of the OTSH Podcast, Jayson and Abby introduce themselves and jump right into the steps required to develop an assessment that you can defend in an IEP and beyond. Links to Show References: Subscribe - Subscribe to our website now to get access to our free downloads of Gray-space paper and Occupational Profile for school-based assessments. About us - In the first part of the podcast, we were able to briefly introduce ourselves. For more info about the OT Schoolhouse, as well as Abby and I, visit our About Us page! OT Practice Map - Find your state's school-based OT and/or PT guidelines. Not all states have their own guidelines. If your state is one of those without a set of guidelines, check out California, New York, or Wisconsin for a good start. OTAC - Occupational Therapy Association of California AOTA Conference - The Annual American Occupational Therapy Association Conference Blog Post - "Essential Components to any School-Based Occupational Therapy Assessment" Gray Space Paper - Get your free download of our 9 pages of adapted paper that helps your students with their sizing and spacing of letters and words. Handwriting Research - A blog post written by Jayson after reading up on some handwriting research. Freebies! Be sure to subscribe to the OT Schoolhouse email list & get access to our free downloads of Gray-Space paper and the Occupational Profile for school-based OTs. Have any questions or comments about the podcast? Email Jayson at Jayson@otschoolhouse.com Well, Thanks for visiting the podcast show notes! If you enjoyed this episode be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts Episode Transcript Expand to view the full episode transcript. Amazing Narrator Hello and welcome to the OT schoolhouse podcast. Your source for the latest school based occupational therapy tips, interviews and research now to get the conversation started, here are your hosts, Jayson and Abby, class is officially in session. Jayson Davies Indeed it is. Welcome everyone to the OT school health podcast. My name is Jayson. Abby Parana and I'm Abby. Jayson Davies And we are your host for the OT school house podcast. This is episode number one, the very, very first episode. Abby Parana First one. Jayson Davies First one. So thank you guys, and thank you everyone for tuning in and listening to us. We really appreciate it. Today we're actually going to be talking about everything you need in order to get through a great assessment, starting with being handed the referral, actually, even maybe before the referral, all the way to the point where you are ready to present it at the IEP meeting for the for the rest of the team. So that's kind of what's coming up. Before we get into that, though we thought that we should probably introduce ourselves. So I'm gonna just go ahead and let Abby introduce herself. Go ahead. Abby Parana Well, thanks, Jayson, I've been an occupational therapist. Well, I will have been coming up on 10 years. I've been working the schools consistently for about four years now. I prior to that, I had some medical based ot experience. When I first started looking into occupational therapy, it was graduating high school. I wanted to be an elementary school art teacher, and I shadowed. I had the opportunity to shadow an occupational therapist who was working with a child who has cerebral palsy on an art project, and she was having her do this art project. And I thought, wow, that is really a very cool profession. She was using the art project to get all kinds of movement with the child that the child wouldn't normally be able to achieve. And I just thought that was amazing. So that led me to going to study occupational therapy. Working in school seemed like a natural progression to me, as most of the people in my family, my mother, my grandmother and my sister, are all teachers, so I it just seemed logical that I would end up in schools at some point, and I really enjoy it. That's the other part. I guess that also makes sense to me. So Jayson, how did you end up in school based OT? Jayson Davies I got into ot by observing my sister. Actually, she's six years older than me, and she's also an occupational therapist, and she was a pediatric ot as well. However, not school based. She worked in a sensory clinic in Pasadena, California. And so I went in, observed and helped out over at that clinic, many, many hours worth. And it was really cool, because I always kind of had a helping heart, I guess, and being being there, seeing her, being able to help so many different kids with disabilities, it was really cool. And they were really lenient there, and kind of, you know, let me be hands on and kind of get some good experiences there. So I really enjoyed it. It's funny, because actually, you know, just like Abby, I was more interested in an art, actually, like film production, but somehow I found my way into occupational therapy as well. So that's what's kind of cool about OT is a lot of people come from many different backgrounds. Yeah. So, so I ended up at University of Southern California and got my bachelor and my master's in OT there, and I too have been in school base for about five years now. My first year was a as a contract therapist, and then now I've been in the same school district that Abby and I are in together for about four years, and it's kind of cool. I got to actually start the start the OT program there, and eventually we brought on Abby, and so we are a growing Occupational Therapy department within our district, and it just keeps getting better. But the one thing that we don't have is a lot of other OTs to collaborate with. So true. Yeah, so that's kind of why we're doing this. But I'm gonna let Abby explain that a little bit more explain what the OT school house is. So go ahead, Abby. Abby Parana Oh, no, you definitely touched on it. I think our conversations in the office definitely led us to decide to bring those conversations to a platform such as ot school house, where we have a website and a podcast that can bring all of the information and resources that you and I share together to a community of school based OTs, because our job is difficult, there's a lot of things that are constantly changing, and we need to stay up to date on those things. So some of the things that ot school house that we hope to achieve are to bring you good articles and blog posts about strategies and things to make our jobs easier, more efficient and just better all around we also have a good clickable map where you can check out your state guidelines. Guidelines, and we're hoping to bring you continuing education units as well on different school based ot topics. So you can go ahead and sign up for our email list, and we'll keep you up to date on those things. And then, of course, the podcast, our podcast, is a cool place for us to bounce ideas off of each other, as well as bring together input from different members that could be on an IEP team, as well as occupational therapists are doing cool things in the field of OT that are related to school based practice. So we're really trying to, you know, narrow down what school based OTs are working on, and bring you that information so that we can make our jobs easier and your job is easier, essentially. Jayson Davies Yeah, very true. And with that, you know, our goals for you guys and for us as well is just to continue to learn. Abby and I are both, you know, we both are huge advocates for OTs. We are huge advocates for our students, and we are huge advocates for continuing education. We both, you know, we attend the Occupational Therapy Association California conference every year, and we're hoping to go to a OTA this year in Utah. That's a big so if any of you are there, we will come find us. Yeah, but we want to be here for you guys as much as we honestly need you guys to be here for us, because we want to learn from you guys as well. And like Abby touched upon, you know, we're going to have a bunch of different bunch of different people on this show. You know, sometimes it may just be Abby and I talking and giving you, you know, something that we're doing today that works. But other times, we're gonna bring on teacher, an administrator, another OT, someone who's creating a curriculum, a handwriting curriculum. You know, maybe someone from the school, or the size matters, or Handwriting Without Tears program, something like that. Abby Parana I even have, oh, well, I mean, I even discussed one of our newer special education teachers who works in a moderate to severe special day class. She would love to come on of just what her needs are, working with those students in that population, and that really helps when you're trying to collaborate with students. So just having a perspective of what teachers and staff are needing. OTs can really impact so many areas. So I'm really excited to I don't know, just get into it. Jayson Davies Yeah, and I don't know about you guys, but I love helping teachers, because I feel like I can help one kid at a time, maybe a small group of kids at a time. But when I help a teacher, I can help 30 kids at a time. And every every year, they have 30 new kids. And so if I help one teacher today, I could touch however many lives. So that's really cool. So I think we just about touched on everything that we wanted to touch in our intro. And so we're gonna hop right into this assessment piece of our of our very, very first episode. Sorry, I can't get over this, though. It's our very first episode. This is so cool. Abby Parana Aren't you really exciting? I'm really pumped. Jayson Davies So we hope you guys are pumped too. I mean, we're digging it, and we hope you guys, you guys are loving it as well. So today, we're actually kind of gonna go over assessments. Like I said earlier, we're going to talk. We have about 10 things here that we just want to go over. And these are very actionable things that you can honestly if you wanted to start tomorrow. They're going to be about what to do when you get that referral, what to do once you've done an observation, what to do and so forth. You know, we're just going to kind of make it very actionable, very straightforward for you. And we know a lot of OTs are kind of wondering about assessments, because everyone does them differently, and so we kind of want to help you. Maybe, odds are, you're probably doing 80, 90% of what we're going to talk about today, but maybe today you'll hear one piece that kind of resonates with you that we do, and maybe it'll help out. So without further ado, let's get into it. Abby, what is the first thing that you should do when you receive a referral for an assessment? Abby Parana So in our district, I mean, you can receive a referral for nearly anything, and I oftentimes am stopped by teachers or staff in the hallways, or I'll get a random email or a phone call from someone just saying, like, hey, this kid needs an OT assessment because of X, Y or Z, and it may or may not be related to OT. So once you've gotten that referral, Jayson and I have a referral form that we're asking staff to fill out and then we actually send out the assessment plan ourselves, along with the parent questionnaire once we receive that referral, because you have to assess in every suspected area of need, obtaining that referral form and really getting to the concern of the teacher or the parent is Probably the most important thing that you have to do first. So in the beginning, that's usually where I start. So once I've received a referral, it's important to get signed permission from the parent to, you know, via an assessment plan, to assess the child. And once you've obtained that, it's good to delve into their. History and background. That's the first thing you want to get a really good, strong developmental history and background on the student, and that comes from parent interviews, that comes from chart reviews and any other assessments that have been completed prior. So this allows you to really establish what the concerns are for the child that could be impacting their academic performance. Jayson, do you have anything you want to add to that part? Jayson Davies I mean, yeah, the first thing I try to do is, honestly, I try to write, I try to write the first part of my assessment before I even see the kid in that just starts off by going through the documentation, looking at the psycho educational evaluation, looking at the speech evaluation, if there is one, any medical charts that we have based upon the kid, but yeah, that really helps to give that profile of who this kid is and what may or may not be the problem. As you get down further, you'll see, you know, it's an evaluation is almost like narrowing down to the least common denominator. And if you don't have that background, I mean, you don't know what to look at. So you're looking at fine motor, gross motor, visual motor, visual spatial, visual perception, anything else sensory, right? You're looking at everything. You're looking at everything. So if you can kind of narrow that down, it will save you time when you move on to steps 234, and down the line. So and you know what? The second step in our process is actually finding out the reason for a referral, which is kind of what we just talked about. They're kind of interchangeable a background, and finding the reason for a referral, boom. You've got to get those step step one, step two, kind of happen at the same time. So the next step in the process is to collaborate with case carriers and other IEP team members. So Abby, go ahead. Abby Parana Oh, gosh, yeah. And if you're lucky, like Jayson and I, we work out of our district office, so most of our school psychologists are located right within our district office. And if not, you know, they're short, email slash, phone call away. I constantly talk to our school psychologist about their report findings before an IEP meeting and before I even go in to assess the student whenever I can. Now, I know we're all pressed for time. I mean, this is not the perfect system, but I think collaborating with the teacher, the speech therapist and the school psychologist are is super important before you even go assess the child. And the reason being is, you know, if you are looking at a child, I don't know Jayson, like, for instance, I had a student that they were claiming a lot of sensory difficulties with, but he also had an auditory processing deficit as well as a visual processing deficit. And if you think of a school environment, those two deficits, I mean, that's how we That's how most information is presented in education setting. And so a child that has difficulty with those processing skills can also then have difficulties with attention, and so, you know, and create a lot of anxiety for them if they're trying to learn. And so what might be looked at as a sensory difficulty is more related to the auditory and visual processing. So I like knowing that information before I go in and work with a student? Jayson Davies Oh, definitely, and especially in the population. We're in a rural area, and so a lot of our kids are, well, they haven't had the best nutrition, they haven't had the best medical care. We have a very high percentage of kids that are foster are in foster homes, and all of this can can make a big difference in how a kid performs in school. And so that's very important to know this. And by talking to people and by looking at the reports, you can just gain so much that you win it if you just went straight to a standardized test. So true going forward. The next step that we do, again before we even do standardized assessments is we go in and we observe the kid. The reason I do this before the assessments is because I don't want the kid to know who I am, why I'm there, and so I kind of sneak in and get some observations before the kid knows who I am. Typically, you know, by the end of the observation, they figured out that I'm watching them. But unless you're very sneaky, very sneaky, very, very sneaky. No, but, but, yeah, those observations are so important. And I know Abby and I, we both, we both tried to observe in as many areas as possible. I mean, we start off with the morning routine. We try to get on there, during recess, during lunch, anything, any area where that kid might be having difficulty, and hopefully we already kind of know where that is, because we've looked at the research, or not the research, but the data from previous professionals, the teacher and the psych to know what what we're looking for. You know, some kids don't have problems in the classroom, but they have problems at recess, and without knowing. That we might go in and we might go in and observe them during the classroom, and then we get to the IEP, and they're like, oh, did you see the kid at recess? Or like, no, so, so we want to make sure that we observe them in all the areas necessary so you have anything to add. Abby. Abby Parana Oh, yeah, of course. I think it's really important to observe the student both in structured and unstructured time, as well as during classes when the student is super confident, like in areas of strength. So if a child says, you know, I do really well in, you know, reading and writing class, like in classes that involve reading and writing, or science or history, you want to observe them in there. But then if they tell you, you know, math is my least favorite class, and you find out that they're having all these behaviors with their math teacher, you also want to observe there. So that way that can really tell you a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of the student and their own perceived strength and weakness, and that can make you have a better informed decision on how you're going to guide the IEP team and function, you know, maximizing that child's potential as far as their functional abilities related to their school. Jayson Davies Yeah, and, and that's something, you know, we don't they don't know about us yet, but you work in a lot of the middle schools, and so especially with that, yeah, you have a chance to talk With a lot of especially the kids who may have, like, a specific learning disability or something, you know, they're mostly in general education, but you you want their input as well, not just the teacher and not just the parent and not just, you know, the principal, but also the students input. So, yeah, that's great. So what's the next step? After observations? What's the next step, Abby. Abby Parana After observations, I usually start pulling the student to assess them. And at this point it's good to build a good rapport, and you need to remember that you are assessing in all suspected areas of disability. And that is a direct term from a training we went to with our school lawyer. So when you're looking at all suspected areas of disability, the bar is very low. So if you're suspecting that the kid is having trouble with anything really functionally related to school, you are required to kind of assess in that area. Sorry if that was loud, so you don't want to leave anything unturned. I use both functional skills observations as well as standardized assessments. So sometimes standardized assessments don't they might be scoring well below average, but they're also getting A's and B's, and the classes that were would require that skill, so they may be able to compensate for those things. So don't rely solely on standardized testing. And mostly, I mean, well, our California state guidelines, they don't really say we have to rely solely on standardized testing correct. Jayson Davies They actually say that you don't have to rely on standardized testing if, if I recall correctly. They basically just say that you can't make a decision based upon one source of source of information. So by getting those observations, by getting those functional assessments, by by talking with the other professionals, that's your multiple sources of input. So even if you don't have a standardized assessment, you can still, you can still say whether or not a child or I guess you shouldn't say whether or not they need it, but you can make a recommendation to the team whether or not they need occupational therapy. So that's a great, great input. Abby Parana Oh, I might add one more thing to that, sorry, one more caveat that I learned recently after kind of like a difficult case, would be meaningful participation of the parent. So in your ot assessment, just making sure that you meet the guidelines kind of for that meaningful participation. So don't go through your whole assessment without ever getting parent input. Always at least send home a parent questionnaire and call them for an interview and add that to your report findings, just because you need to be allowing the parent meaningful participation in all aspects of that child's education. So just to cover your bases, that's a really good point to start. And that allows you, I mean, and that allows you to have rapport with the parents. So when you're going into the meeting, it's not like, Oh, who's this? OT that's going to tell me about my kid. It's you've already established some sort of communication. Jayson Davies No, exactly you hit on all points right there. I mean, just, just talking to the parent can help you in an IEP team, in an IEP meeting, so much. I mean, just by knowing the parent before and knowing what their main concerns are. A lot of times we wait till the IEP teams, like, basically the the meetings over, and then we say, oh, parents, by the way, what's your concern? We shouldn't be doing that. We should? We should? We need to know what the parents concerns are before so, yeah. So then after that, Abby kind of already touched upon it, but relating your assessments to the school based functional skills, like she said, you know if you're if your kid has below average scores on the bot, but they can copy. Anything you give them, well, then they've learned to accommodate for their for their poor visual motor skills, or whatever it might be. I mean, okay, maybe they can't copy a star, but they can copy the alphabet like nobody's business, and can copy from the board. And so again, academically, how is it going to functionally impact their skills in the classroom? I really like this next one. Abby kind of surprised me with it in her in her list. But adding she has it in here is add the guidelines stuff. I like that because what she means is she's literally pulling information straight from the California guidelines or idea or the practice framework. So go ahead. Abby Parana So you don't want to just and I mean, I think I learned this because of being involved in some due process cases I've never actually, you know, had to justify things on a witness stand. But I think it's important that if you are talking about your school based assessment, you need to make it as objective as possible and refer to your ethical and guidelines. State guidelines and standards so you take it away from your subjective professional opinion, and your your professional opinion is always based on guidelines provided to you by the association giving your professional title. So when you're giving your assessment report findings, you need to refer to that, because you are not just pulling these recommendations out of nowhere. You're pulling them based on guidelines that you've been provided. It doesn't really matter if you're recommending services or not recommending services. You need to always do it in accordance with your guidelines, and so that'll save you a lot of hassle, and it takes out the subjective component, which is not easily defensible. If you're too subjective, you can't defend yourself, because it's your opinion. And well, opinions are opinions, you know, there's no it's hard to defend an opinion. Jayson Davies Yeah, no joke, that's my opinion, right? I'll argue your opinion. Abby, no, no. With that also research, any type of research that you might have come across in the age OT or any other publication you know, any research you can add will always help back you up Abby Parana those handwriting referrals for sure. Jayson Davies Right? Lastly, we got to sum it up. We got to sum up the report. How do you sum up your report? Abby Parana Well, you need to tie all those dots together. So if you have your sensory and your fine motor and your visual perception and your, you know, functional skills. You've got to kind of in your observations. You've got to bring all that together and pinpoint, you know, and address the concern. You want to tie it back to the original concern and the referral for occupational therapy, and then you want to tie back to you know what your findings were. So if your kid is having you know, low visual motor integration skills, you've got to tie all those strings together and come up with a remediation plan. So I oftentimes think to myself, if I can't come up with a specific plan for this kid, then you probably don't they probably don't need the OT services. So you should, as part of your report, be coming up with a plan and coming up with ideas of how you're going to fix the problems that you're finding. And that plan is all put into your recommendations. And then, of course, you go into your remediation plan, which leads to your goals. I like, IEP. Jayson Davies Yeah, um, in fact, just recently, at the end of my reports, I added a prognosis section. And I mean, prognosis may or may not be the right yeah, that may or may not be the right term. But the plan I like, too is like, if you don't, I like what you just said, If you don't have a specific plan of how you're going to help this kid, then maybe you're not going to be able to help the kid. And you know what? As OTs, we have to be able to say that to an IEP team, you know, say, hey, you know what I'm saying, this, this and this with your student. But I'm sorry, OT, at this time, may not be the best solution, and right maybe counseling is the right solution, or maybe speech therapy is the right solution, or maybe behavioral interventions is the right solution. So. Abby Parana Or, you know, oh, sorry, Jayson, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I just thought of something. Or, you know, maybe if you don't have a plan, but you can provide, you know, ideas on accommodations under like your supplemental supports. That is a that is a way to do that too. You know if it's if it can be fixed with a simple strategy, like chunking information or changing the child's seating or anything like. That there's no problem putting that under supplemental aids and supports. But ot doesn't necessarily need to be a service to make sure that happens. Jayson Davies I agree with that. So the last thing we have on our list is also thinking about the future, kind of coming up with a plan for when the student may not need ot anymore. You know, what do we see? How long is this? How long is ot suspected to need to be on this kid's case before maybe he doesn't need ot again, or maybe he'll be, he'll finish a few different goals, and he'll be able to be independent in the class. So. Abby Parana Well, I think discharge planning should always be a part of your assessment. I think once you've identified the concern, and you start talking about how OT is going to help the child, and you have a plan, and you have a goal, and you go through that process, I do not like the idea of OT services being on an IEP for three to six years or indefinitely, which happens rather regularly. Actually, I see that all the time, and exiting kids from services is super difficult. So I yeah, it can be really hard, and you need to assess a kid when you do exit them to make sure there's not another area that you're missing. And I agree with that, but when you are looking at an OT assessment, I think it's important to just have that discussion, starting from the beginning, saying, you know, OT is not a service that is meant to be there permanently. We want the we want to foster independence with the child, and I think having those discussions up front with the IEP team, whether that takes, I mean, that could take many years. That's fine, but you need to start talking about it in your remediation plan, and talking about that ot services you you don't want the kid to constantly receive ot services. If they are then they're not making progress. So, you know, I think that that's important to just have that conversation up front, not that you're pre determining an exit from OT, just that you're the goal of OT is to not always receive OT. And the goal for school is that the child be in school learning. Jayson Davies Yeah, definitely. And unfortunately, there is a I don't want to call a misconception, because for some kids, it's perfect, and for other kids is not so perfect. But the idea of, once you're in special education, you're in special education forever, or once you receive speech or in speech forever, same thing with OT and that's not how it should be. I mean, we're here to get these kids back into general education any way that we can do that. I mean least restrictive environment. Yeah, yeah. And every, every 30 minutes that I see them in a pull out session, they're missing education, which puts them further behind, right? And, of course, that's a whole nother another discussion between pull out and inclusion services, which we do hope to have here in the future. For you. All right, guys, so sorry if we started rambling on here for a minute, but just to sum it up, these are, yeah, sorry guys, if this is the very first episode we're recording, and we hope it's Well, we hope it's the best episode and the worst episode, because we want them to get better every day every week. So with that being said, I'm going to run through this list real quick. First, you got to start with your developmental profile of the child and the reason for the referral. Then from there, you got to collaborate with the case carrier and other members, as well as review reports so that you can get the best idea of what is going on with the child. From there, Abby and I, we like to observe the student in all areas, recess, everywhere, everywhere. From there, we go into our standardized assessments, and then after that, once we have our scores for the standardized assessments, we are relating our assessments back to the school based functional need of the child. So how do those the scores that they scored on the bot? How is that affecting their functional skills in the classroom. After that, we then definitely look for some some stuff that we can incorporate from our practice framework. What's an ADL versus what's not an ADL, what's a occupation versus a habit, versus all that good stuff. Yeah, and find out what our guidelines say, and we understand that not every state has guidelines, so you may have to focus on that practice, framework, framework, but the California, New York, I think Chicago, all of them have pretty good guidelines. So I recommend checking out those guidelines. All right, then you get Ohio has good guidelines. Yeah, there's a few really good ones after that. Once you've got all that stuff in there, now you gotta sum it up. You gotta kind of relate the strengths to the concerns as well as what your recommendations are going to be. And like Abby said, your recommendations could be services, they could be collaborations with the teacher, or they could be just like simple things, like a different type of desk that the child may have an accommodation right? Yeah, all right. And then I really like this one, the last the last two that Abby was talking about here was finding evidence to make a plan. Because, like she said, If you don't have a plan, how are you going to help the kid? Abby Parana Well, and I would just add to that real quick, if you are looking for evidence, just start putting it in a binder. Make a handwriting evidence studies binder and a sensory processing studies binder. And then you, once you've looked it up for one kid, just start sticking it in a binder. And that way you have it on hand, like, oh, I have another eighth grade referral for handwriting messiness. And look at all these studies saying, you know, it's habituated, or whatever it is that you're looking at. And then you can pull those studies out and be like, this is the prognosis, and this is the evidence. So just start stocking that stuff away with each case that you have. That's what I wanted to throw in there. Jayson Davies Yeah, no. And then the very last one, which is planning for the future, looking, you know, just letting the parents know, you know, ot won't be on forever, hopefully. And you know, if they need it, it will be on forever, but hopefully it won't be. And you know what, once the student meets this, this, this and this, and any other future concerns that we might have, well, then it's going to be time to get that student back into the least restrictive environment real quick. Abby, how long does it take you, would you say, to do an assessment, from referral to writing up the report. Abby Parana I mean, honestly, it probably takes me six, I would say at least six hours compared like from if you count all the observation time, the writing time, the refer, it can take six hours to even 10. I would say total time to do a good occupational therapy assessment. And I know that's hard. Jayson Davies Yeah, to do, and it's hard because of time constraints. I mean, when you got a caseload of 7074 kids, something like that, it gets hard. But, yeah, that's a whole nother conversation that, again, hope to have with trying to figure out caseload and workloads. But I agree, it takes me a good six plus hours to do a really good assessment. And I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I catch myself kind of doing, you know, a not so great quality assessment sometimes, and to all been there, right? It makes me feel bad. And you know what? I end up a lot of times I go back, and I do end up putting that time in, because I don't want to be putting a bad assessment. I mean, the last thing I want is for the kid to move and then another ot reading my assessment, being like, what's this? I mean, come on. Abby Parana We've all sent those assessments and read those. You're just like, oh my gosh, what were they doing? And then you're also like, you send in a set like, I think, as assessments I wrote three years ago. I was like, Oh, my goodness, definitely a world. And then I look at the kid now, and I'm like, What was I thinking? I was not even sure what I was thinking about that kid. And then you're Oh, yep, I figured it out. Yep, yeah, I've done the same thing. It happens. We all are there at some point. Jayson Davies All right. And with that, it is time to wrap up this episode, episode one, the very first episode of the OT school house. So with that, you know, we just want to let you guys all know that you can find all the resources we mentioned, including a blog that is kind of about the assessment that we just went through the 10 steps to an assessment and all that will be at ot schoolhouse.com backslash. Episode One. So OT, schoolhouse.com backslash episode one, and you'll be able to see it there. And with that, well, we hope you enjoyed this podcast, and we hope you'll go to the website and subscribe, and when you do subscribe, you will be you'll receive a download for some adapted paper that we made that helps kids with spacing and sizing of their letters. And you'll also be, yeah, you'll also be the first one to know about any future podcasts we have coming out, or resources that are coming up, and a newsletter and a newsletter, yep, newsletter. Abby Parana Fun. I don't know why we didn't start this sooner Jayson. Jayson Davies Right? So thank you guys. Thank you everyone out there for joining us today at the OT school house. We cannot be more appreciative of you listening to this podcast right now. We hope this helps and visit us at the site and feel free to contact us. We'd love to hear from you guys. So everyone take care. Have a good one. Abby Parana Thanks guys. Amazing Narrator Thank you for listening to the OT school house podcast for more ways to help you and your students succeed right now, head on over to OT schoolhouse.com Until next time class is dismissed. Abby Parana Can I be like, can you hear that? Jayson Davies Yes, I can hear that. Abby Parana Okay, just, I feel like you should just put that on. Can you hear that? I'll be like me, me, me. Jayson Davies Stop tapping your mic. Click on the file below to download the transcript to your device. Click here to view more episodes of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast

Click on your preferred podcast player link to listen wherever you enjoy podcasts. Welcome to the show notes for Episode 198 of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast. In this episode, Jayson discusses the often-overlooked but critical role that state and national occupational therapy associations play in protecting and advancing the profession. He highlights major advocacy wins from the past year, including AOTA's successful defense of Section 504, California's groundbreaking administrative credential legislation, Nevada's prevention of ABA encroachment on ADL services, and Nebraska's modernized OT Practice Act. Whether you're already a member or considering joining your state or national association, this episode offers compelling reasons to get involved—from joining and volunteering to simply sharing advocacy updates with colleagues. 🎧 Listen now to discover how your support can secure the future of school-based occupational therapy and ensure OT continues thriving in education settings. Learning Objectives — Learners will identify the role of AOTA and state associations in protecting the occupational therapy profession at local, state, and national levels. — Learners will identify recent advocacy wins that impact school-based OT practice, including Section 504 protections, IDEA, ESSA, and state-level administrative credential initiatives. — Learners will identify how supporting professional associations through membership strengthens advocacy and ensures the sustainability of OT services in schools. Quotes "If students cannot get federal grants for OT school, they might pursue degrees where funding is available, and that's 10% of our future workforce gone." — Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L "AOTA isn't there to provide CEUs — they're cheap protection for our jobs, making sure we don't lose our profession in the schools." — Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L Resources 👉 OT Schoolhouse Abe saffer - Episode 91 👉OT Schoolhouse Abe Saffer - Episode 157 👉AOTA Advocacy & Legislative Updates 👉California OT Association 👉 Colorado OT Association 👉Connecticut OTA Association 👉California AB1009 – Administrative Credential pathway for school-based OTs (official legislative info 👉IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 👉Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act Episode Transcript Expand to view episode transcript Amazing Narrator Hello and welcome to the OT schoolhouse podcast. Your source for school based occupational therapy, tips, interviews and professional development now to get the conversation started, here is your host, Jayson Davies, class is officially in session. Jayson Davies Hey there, and welcome back to the OT school house podcast. Thank you so much for being here. My name is Jayson, and today we have no special guest. It is just me. It is you. It is ot month. And yeah, let's just have a conversation. I want to have a real conversation around ot month, around advocacy, around a ot a, around your specific state association, and about all the state specific associations. Here in California, we have ot tag. In Colorado, they also have ot tag. I think Connecticut actually switched it up and has the Connecticut ot association. So they're coda, I believe. But yeah, whatever your state is, I want to talk about exactly what they are doing your state, as well as a ot a as well as all of us as individual occupational therapy practitioners in our own locales, if you want to call them that, our own regions, our own areas within those states, there is a lot of good things going on within the world of occupational therapy, especially school based occupational therapy. And a lot of times, we like to focus on the negative things, you know, what? What state organizations aren't doing, what the national organization isn't doing. That's what we kind of get caught up on a lot, but we forget that there is a lot of good going on. And so while you know, April is a great time to celebrate what is going well in occupational therapy and to celebrate us as individuals within occupational therapy, it's also a great time to talk about our state and national organizations about what they are doing to protect us as occupational therapy practitioners and to make sure that we don't lose our jobs in the schools and that we can continue to service those who we really enjoy servicing in the schools, you know, supporting the students and supporting the teachers, and maybe, just maybe, if you're in a state that allows it moving up into an administrative position where You can support more students and more teachers and many, many other you know, professionals and paraprofessionals to support all the students that we that we hope to help. So in this episode, I want to really focus in on some advocacy efforts, some advocacy wins at all the different levels, both. I shouldn't say both. I should say all the above at the local level as well as at the state level, and then even at the national level. I think we're going to start with the national level, because that really applies to every single person listening, whether or not you are a member of a ot a or not. Now before I do jump into exactly everything that a ot A is doing and some of the states have done this past year, I do want to kind of just make my general argument for why every single ot practitioner should be a member of both their state association as well as their national association and maybe even the World Federation of OT but primarily your state and your national organization, which all of us have, is a o, T, A. Now the way that I like to justify this, both for myself as well as for others, is that a ot a and our state association news, they're not a product that we pay for it. It's not like an exchange of money for an individual service, right? We are not paying a ot a for CEUs. To some degree, we get CEUs with our A ot a membership. And in some states, you get CEUs for your state membership. You might also get access to special events, like going to inspire or going to your state conference. You might be able to go out on a hike like I did with my region one and region two director here in Southern California and several other ot practitioners that live in Southern California, we took a nice little hike, and those are some of the, you know, awesome extra things that we get as part of being a member. But the real, you know, the crux and the core of membership, it's, it's an investment. It is an investment in our professional protection and a ot a and our status organizations, they are the only people out there fighting for us, right? We work for school districts, but school districts are not at our state fighting for us. They're not even necessarily fighting for us all the time in the local school district, even ot practitioners, right, that aren't in the schools, if they're in the hospital, you know, the hospitals aren't fighting to keep ot within Medicaid and Medicare. No, that is what OTC is doing. And the Arizona ot Association, the Oregon ot Association, and east coast, New York, Connecticut, you know, Virginia, all those ot associations, that is what they are doing. And so this member. Membership that we have with our state organization. It's not like most of our monetary, you know, exchanges. We're not getting a product in return for our investment. Instead, we are getting protection in our profession for our investment in these memberships. You know, our association membership helps those organizations to pay for policy analysis, for legislative monitoring, to keep up with all the different state senators and national Senators and House of Representatives, to see what they're up to and and to keep an eye on other professions. You know, even some people who we call our besties, like speech and PT and and some people that we might call foes like ABA, making sure that everyone is staying in line. I actually have some information about ABA going on with Nevada and just a moment as we get to some of our wins. But these are the types of things that our organizations help to protect. They pay for lobbyists within states, so that those people can go and talk to the state senators and State House of Representatives. They also build relationships with those people in government so that we can advance our profession and just kind of see what is going on when something hits the van, like many things have in the last year, a OTs is there, and, you know, they hop in their car, they jump on Zoom meetings, and they go and check in with the people that are so important in making decisions in Washington, DC or here in California, they're in Sacramento, and wherever your state is, They are there. I don't know if you get emails from your state association, but a lot of times they are the ones you know, sending out an email to us, saying, hey, we need your help everyone. Copy and paste this letter. Put your heading on it. Add your own story to it. Make it your own, but please send it to your senator and your House of Representative. Those are the types of things that our organizations are doing for us. So the key line here when it comes to understanding your state and as well as a ot a our associations, we are not buying benefits. We're not spying CEUs, that is not their purpose to give us extra things for our dues. We are really helping to fund representation of our profession of occupational therapy at all areas of the government, and that is key, because we sometimes, I think a lot of us see how fragile our profession is at sometimes, but we also don't think it could happen to us. Right? OTs not going away. But if we don't fund, if we don't pay, if we don't support our organizations, that could become real one day, other professions are willing to pay, and they're willing to pay for lobbyists to advance their ideas, their support mechanisms, they want the money that comes to occupational therapy. That's the, you know, most blunt way to say it, and they're willing to put money behind it. We're even seeing private equity get into the area of pediatric therapy services, not just occupational therapy, but pediatric therapy services in general. And wherever there's money, there are lobbyists. So we're not buying benefits when you join your state or or national organization you're buying representation of occupational therapy. Ooh, okay, I got a little worked up there talking fast if you're listening to this at two times the speed. Sorry about that, but I'm going to slow down here because I do want to highlight some really cool things that actually have happened in the past year legislatively, both with a ot a as well as at the state organization side, some of these things I've talked a little bit about, I've mentioned a few times, some of the things going on here in California, so that California Occupational therapists can actually become an administrator within the School District setting, and kind of move up, you know, not just get more pay, but also have more say of what's going on within a school and and sharing how occupational therapy can better support all students, not just students with special education, with special education services, who have an IEP and and OT is on that IEP, We know that ot practitioners can support many more students, and so that's something that here in California, we've been working on for several years. Shout out to Lisa Tess, Julie Bissell and a few others who have just been like on this for the past decade or so, really working on this, and it's been a major milestone. It's been a really big win, not just for them, but also for OTC in general, and that includes myself as an OTs member, right? Like, this is really cool stuff that we're doing. So, okay, got a little worked up there. You know, got talking about a ot a got excited talking about ot attack and all. All the really cool things that I know they're doing and the reason that I'm excited to support them, but I want to slow it down now and starting with a ot a talk about some advocacy wins, or also some areas that that a OTs still really focus on. Maybe it's not a win yet, but they're focused on and just share with you some things that are going on now. I want to preface this with, I am not, you know, volunteering with with a ot a in any capacity. I am not on the pack or anything like that the political action committee. These are things that have just been made publicly available through their website, through the newsletters that they send out, and some of those might be kind of things that you're maybe I get them because I'm a member. I don't know they send out the newsletters, but that's where a lot of this information is coming from, as well as their updates on their website. So again, these are some really cool things that a ot a has been doing for us, specifically as school based ot practitioners, and it's something that I think is worth being a member for. So the first thing is, is that a OTs actively advocating for school based ot practitioners at the federal level. They've been doing it for years. You've heard Abe Safar on this very podcast talking about what they are doing. I mean, even as recently as last year, he came on to talk a little bit about everything that's going on at the Department of Education and how a ot A is working to make sure that idea stays intact, and make sure that, you know, 504, stay intact. In fact, that's one of the big things that they worked on this past year. Both a ot A and the state associations, they work together to make sure that five oh fours were not deemed as unconstitutional. Last year, around this time, there were some states who fought to say, You know what, five oh fours are not constitutional. We don't necessarily need to be a part of them. We don't need to follow rule 504 and while a ot a as well as the, believe it was 17 different states jumped together and they said, You know what? No, we are going to make sure a, we monitor this. B, we are going to step up and say something, where we have where we have something to say. And C, we are going to find out how to be part of those conversations, whenever and wherever we can be. In the end, their hard work really paid off, and they were actually able to, you know, send out a notice saying that all the states were no longer all 17 states were no longer seeking to have section 504, declared as unconstitutional. And that was a big win. I mean, it's hard to believe that that was only about a year ago, maybe even slightly less than a year ago at the time of this podcast recording, and that was something that our A ot a membership dues helped to support, as well as state organizations within those 17 states, their membership dues also helped to support making sure that 504 did not go anywhere. I briefly mentioned, you know, the Department of Education and idea that has been an ongoing thing right now, right during this administration, there's been a lot of changes at the Department of Education, and I know that every single day, the amazing people that work in the legislative department at a ot a are constantly monitoring laws like ESSA and idea and making sure that the Department of Education isn't trying to dismantle these, or if they are trying to dismantle it, making sure that they have their voices in the room to let them know the Department of Education, you know, where occupational therapy, where the association of OT for all of America stands on ESSA and idea, and how occupational therapy practitioners like us support students who are served under IDEA or ESSA. And so this is very important. It's not something that we see right, like they're not sending out an email every day saying, Hey, today we sat in a meeting with this assistant director at the Department of Education, and we talked about this and this and this. No, they right, like that would be boring. No one wants a newsletter in their inbox about every conversation they have with someone. But you can be sure that all the wonderful people over there are doing amazing things to make sure that we don't get excluded. Like, we are very lucky that OT is directly mentioned in idea. Like, there are some professions that are not mentioned, and you know what? They're the ones that are probably fighting to say, hey, OTs mentioned. How do we get mentioned as well? And those are the same ones that we have to be careful of, because there's a possibility that if they get in there, then ot gets shaken up a little bit, and we don't want that to happen. So that's why it's very good to see a ot a actively making sure that things are going okay, because it would be very easy for a ot a to say, You know what, let's focus on Medicaid and Medicare. Care that maybe focuses more on the adult population and isn't as important as a school based OT. But the truth is, is that you know, a ot has everyone's interest at at heart all ot practitioners, I should say, and they have, you know, legislative advocates for us, not only at school based OT, but also for ot practitioners working in acute hit care and sub acute rehab and all that, you know, fun stuff. But of course, we focus on school based ot here on the podcast. And finally, the last point that I want to bring up for a ot A is that they're actively helping protect the future of the OT workforce. And this is something that is currently in the new cycle, with in respects to the amount that graduate students can actually borrow through specific federal grants for programs such as an occupational therapy schooling program, right to go to a university and get your master's or get your doctorate in an OT program. Now I will be the first to tell you that this is not my area of expertise. And in fact, when it first started to kind of come up, I was like, Is this even something I should really give much thought to? Like, how does this really impact me? But again, the more information that a OTs has put out, the more I start to understand how it definitely impacts us, because if, if students cannot get a federal grant right for occupational therapy school, then it is likely that they might look somewhere else, and they might look toward a degree where they can get funded. And because, you know, it takes money to go to school, and so if someone does go to another program to get whatever degree, let's say, just for the ease of it, they go pursue the medical doctor round, because they can get funding for that. They can get help from the government to go get their MD. Well, that is someone who is likely very smart, leaving our profession and going to another profession. And even if only you know, let's just put a relatively low number, I think 10% of people do that. Well, that's 10% of the future ot workforce that is gone right like those are people that will not be in the workforce and that later then impacts ot because if hospitals and schools and other areas where OTs work cannot hire OTs because there aren't enough of us, they will get creative, and they will figure out different ways to still support or provide the support that We provide in a different way. I'm not going to venture out to think about all the different ideas that that might look like. But as I mentioned earlier, there are other professions looking to capitalize on things like that, so we had to be careful about that like it is something that impacts us, even though we don't need graduate funds as practicing ot practitioners to get an OT degree. So yeah, that is just something that a ot A is on top of. It's still a little bit of an ongoing issue right now, but I'm pretty sure that we got the right people on it. And a ot a is there when they're on top of things, they do a pretty good job at making sure things get done. Of course, not everything, but, but they're pretty good, so I have faith in them all right. So that's going to wrap up here our conversation around what a ot A is doing for us as school based occupational therapy practitioners. And I hope that you better understand that when someone asks you, like, Hey, why or why aren't you a member of a ot a response isn't something like, oh, it's really expensive for the CEUs they provide. Well, they're not trying to provide CEUs. Those are an added benefit, but really they are cheap protection for our job. You know, a few $100 a month and and I know a few $100 is not a little, and it's for some people, it's a little. For some people, it's a lot. And you know, depends on where you are in your career, everything that's going on in your life, but to a degree, it is an insurance policy to make sure that we get to maintain our profession. And you know, the older you get, the less quote, unquote time you're going to have in your profession, the closer you get to retirement, right? But we want to protect our profession for long time to come, right? So let's continue to protect a ot a so that they can protect us all right. Now let's move on to state associations here, just like a ot a, every state is advocating on our behalf. If you're in Colorado, you've got Colorado advocating on your behalf. And one thing I didn't say actually at the top of the show or while I was talking about a ot A, is that we have to remember that these states and national organizations, they're advocating on our behalf, even if we're not paying for them. Now that is not a reason to not pay for them, because the more we pay, the more they are. Are able to advocate, but I say that they're advocating for us, and I'm not saying like, Oh, they're advocating for us if you're a member, because the fact is that they're advocating for you whether or not you are a member, because they're advocating for occupational therapy. But anyways, let's talk about the state associations here, and I'll start with California, because I know California. I live in California, and I see the updates regularly. And this year we had really exciting news, and that A, b1, 009, finally made it through the government. Went through all the rounds, went through the House of Representatives, went through the Senate, and finally got signed by our governor this year, which was the one step missing last year, and it is officially in place. And what this allows us to do is to earn our administrative credential. It didn't add any additional work to become a school based OT, which I think some people feared. They didn't make it like you had to go to extra courses in OT school, whether or not you're going to go into school based OT or you didn't have to graduate ot school and then go take another year of school in order to get this No, once you have your ot license, you can work in the schools. And then once you have so many years within the schools, and you go to an administrative credentialing program, just like any teacher would have to do to become an administrator, you can then become an administrator. Now, this is really cool. It's something that Otac has been working on for over 10 years, you know, and it's something that we finally got past, and it's really awesome. It really shows the impact that our membership dues can have on a state organization, right like this wasn't easy. Took many years. I can only imagine the amount, percentage wise, of OTs budget that had to go toward this one thing that supports about 25% of occupational therapy practitioners in any given state, but it was only possible because of our dues. It was only possible because, you know, Otac members said, You know what, I'm willing to keep paying. And thank you to every single they're probably not listening, but thank you to every single Otac member who's not in the schools that continued paying their dues to OTC, knowing that Otac was working on this rather than maybe something in the mental health field that they work in, or in the acute rehab field that they work in, like that that's important. Like that speaks a lot. You know, our OT Association support everyone, not just school based ot practitioners. And so it's really cool to see that OTC thought it was that important to support school based ot practitioners to push this through. It also took a lot of support from real school based ot practitioners. You know, this is something that I have worked on in the past. This is something that many of my colleagues, who I know in text, have been working on for years, and it's really cool to see this come through. So that was one example of, you know, ot attack, a state organization coming through, but there have been even more. So that's one example of a state organization coming through for us, but there have been more. Some of them don't necessarily always look like, advancing the profession forward, like, you know, getting an administrative credential. Others are, you know, revamping things that are already in existence. Case in point, Nebraska's organization worked to modernize their occupational therapy practice, act. And I don't know all the details of this, but this is something that, you know, they celebrated, and a OTs also celebrated with them. You know, this is important. We often say, you know, research, you know, needs to be within 10 years, and guiding documents, we want to be as recent as possible. But, you know, the same is true for our Practice Act, and it's hard to get practice acts changed because they typically have to go through the legislative process, something that is really I'm starting to see the value of within OT is that we are licensed once again. Thank you state organizations for making that possible, but we are licensed, and therefore we are protected to some extent. I actually wrote an email newsletter about this a few weeks ago that part of the reason that I'm not as worried about AI taking over occupational therapy. It's because we have this licensure in place. But if we don't protect our licensure by updating our OT practice acts within our states and making sure that you know everything is recent and that there's research behind our practice, act, then that opens up the door for AI. That opens up the door for other professions coming in and kind of stealing our thunder a little bit. So I want to give a big shout out to Nebraska and say congratulations to all of you who worked on updating your practice act. I know that is no small feat. I know it takes money, it takes time, it takes energy, countless endless nights, I'm sure. So congratulations on updating. In Your Practice Act. And finally, the third example of a big win from a state organization comes from Nevada. Well done, Nevada. You helped to pause a proposal that would have allowed ABA providers to address ADLs and IADLs through Medicaid. That deserves a clap. I hope you can hear that. I'm clapping right now. That is huge. I have heard over the last, you know, decade over decade period, school based ot practitioners complain about this on the Facebook groups, on our community, everywhere they can, about ABA providers overstepping their bounds, not just with IADLs and ADLs, but also in the world of sensory and we're seeing this. And this is a big win, like, not only because did they stop something in Nevada, but news reverberates right, like I'm talking about something in that happened in Nevada to OT practitioners all around the country that ot stepped up and prevented ABA from encroaching on our our ground of IADLs and ADLs, and that news is going to spread. And so the next time that someone says, oh, well, you know, ABA is encroaching on my ground, well now we can say, You know what? They tried. They tried in Nevada, and they got shut down. We helped them. The Nevada ot practitioners stepped up, paid their membership dues, and the Nevada ot association took care of this, along with support from a ot a and made sure that it wasn't going to happen that's going to reverberate across the entire nation, and I'm glad, because that means it is now less likely that we are encroached by ABA fun on IADLs and ADLs in California and in Arizona, and then all the other states surrounding Nevada and way beyond Nevada. So that is a win for the Nevada ot Association. You deserve a round of applause from every ot every ot practitioner, not just those in Nevada. That was huge. So thank you for doing that. We appreciate it and again, you know, it just goes to show what a state ot association can do when they have the support, both financially as well as from volunteers. Yeah, you know, we can do hard things, all right, so a OT, a has been helping us as school based ot practitioners at the federal level, within the Department of Education and beyond. We've now seen that in the States. You know, Nebraska has an updated Practice Act Nevada stopped ABA from encroaching on our ADL practices in California here, we stepped up to make sure that ot practitioners can climb into the role of an administrator level in the school based ot realm. So we got national, we got state. I also want to give out a big shout out to you and every single other ot practitioner who has advocated this year and beyond. Many of us, many of you, have advocated for additional staffing in your school district, or maybe you advocated for caseload and workload caps. Maybe you advocated to join a union so that the union can negotiate on your behalf for caseload and workload caps. These are things that don't make the news, right? You're not going to see this on Fox or ABC or CBS. Like, these are small little things. It might not even make the local paper, in fact, but they are big. Like, these are tiny things that not only affect you, but affect your ability to support the teachers and support the students that you serve, and so I want to give a big shout out to you. I hear these stories. You know, I can't think of all of them off the top of my head, but you know, I've gotten text messages and emails and Instagram threads like, hey Jayson, thank you for your caseload. Course we are implementing a workload cap in our school district, or, Hey, Jayson, you know, maybe it's someone I'm not trying to, you know, throw out my workload course out there and say that's the way it's happening. But, but I am getting people who did or did not take the workload course and are saying, hey, Jayson, you know, we just transitioned to a three to one program, and just like, awesome, because people are advocating, you know, I'm hearing from ot practitioners who have stood up and it took two years, but they are part of their union now, and now they have collective bargaining, and that collective bargaining team is helping to get them caseload and workload caps in place. Those are big like that took absolutely no money to OTC, no money to a, OT, a it just took time and energy from local ot practitioners, and that is absolutely fantastic, whether you know, you just increase your ability support students in special education, or maybe you advocated for MTSS so that you can. Support every student on campus that is huge. So thank you for advocating for you and your students. All right, so I've addressed the three areas that I really wanted to address. I addressed the national level, the state level, as well as the local level, where you have a big impact, and your ability to work at a small team can have a huge impact. And now I just kind of want to wrap up here, and you know, say, I do believe that every ot practitioner should be a member of a OT. I also believe that every member should be I also believe that every practitioner should be a member of their state organization. And if you practice in multiple states, then you know, maybe if you can afford it, be a member of both states, if you have the ability to time wise volunteer, maybe you're retired, maybe you work part time and want to have an impact on the profession, go volunteer, be a part of the association that helps sustain our profession, whether that's A member of your state organization, or even a ot a other things that you can also do is just keep informed of what's going on within the world of occupational therapy. When your state does send out a email saying, Hey, we're working on this, go to your state website and look up the bill number. And you know, what does that actually mean? How will it impact you? Read it a little bit and and show up to the meetings that your state organization has, and chime in and share your thoughts like these are all ways that you can support ot without even paying well, you probably have to pay your dues to show up at meetings, but you can keep tabs of what's going on, even if you're not necessarily paying all the dues, because you can kind of keep track. But they make it easy for us. They send us out the important things when we need to know it, so that we can take action the annual dues that we pay for a ot a and our state organizations. They don't feel exciting. They don't feel like, you know, we went to Target, we gave even up to $300 and we got something in return. Like we don't see that instant gratification. But I would argue that they are some of the most important dollars that we can spend for the future of occupational therapy, and specifically the future of school based occupational therapies, so the annual dues that we pay, they don't feel exciting. This isn't handing over our credit card for a $300 charge at Target and getting something awesome in return. This is something where we spend $300 and we see nothing, at least not right away. But the reward does come. The reward comes in the way that Otac and Otac of Colorado and Nevada and New Jersey and Virginia and a ot A Of course, give back to us through their advocacy efforts, the things that we don't see, the things that they don't share with us in newsletters, but we know behind the scenes is making our profession better and also securing our profession from other professions who might be trying to get into some of the areas that we know we can best serve our clients, our students, and the teachers that we support. So now I just have a few challenges for you, depending on where you are. If you're not a member of your state ot Association, please consider joining. Just type into Google your state ot Association. It'll be easy to find. It'll be easy to join. Just do it. Put it on otter, renew if you can, and just let that go. Let the idea of knowing that you support your ot Association and your state their advocacy efforts. Let that be enough to make this an exciting purchase. If you're already a member of your state association, consider joining a ot a just in the same exact way. Head on over to a ot a.org and join today. Hit that renew automatically button so that it just renews auto. You don't even have to deal with it. You can split it up into monthly payments or annual payments, whatever is easier for you. If you're already a member of both of your associations, consider looking at the volunteer page see where you can get involved. It could be something as simple as you know, a quarterly meeting on zoom that only takes up four hours a year. Or if you want, you can consider running for a position that takes up considerably more time, I suggest, first, by volunteering for maybe an upcoming event, or maybe a subcommittee that only meets a few times a year. So you can just get your feet wet there if you're not ready to volunteer, I totally understand that there's other ways that you can also support. When you see an email come through from your state association, forward it to your ot colleagues. When you see something on social media from your ot association or a ot a repost it or send it to your colleagues so that they know as well. If we assume that everyone knows what our state association is doing, or we assume that everyone knows what a ot A is doing, but that's not the case, so forward it to your friends, or tag them in the comments so that they see what a ot a or your state is doing as well. Another thing you can do reply to an email those state association emails that we get that you know, inform us about what's going on, hit respond and send two sentences. Say, You know what, hey, so and so whoever sending the email. Thank you so much for this email. Thank you for your advocacy efforts. I would love to get involved. Let me know if there's anything I can do, or even if you can't say that part about let me know what you what I can do to get involved. That little, simple email that you send saying, Hey, thank you for informing me I appreciate you, goes a long way in supporting them as well. All right, so this ot month, let's celebrate our profession by supporting the people and the organizations that are helping to protect it. Take one step forward, whether that's joining an association, sharing about an association, or volunteering at an association, be a part of what moves our profession forward. Be a part of making sure that ot never goes away. All right. With that. I hope you enjoy your ot month, and I will see you next time on the OT schoolhouse podcast. Amazing Narrator Thank you for listening to the OT schoolhouse podcast. For more ways to help you and your students succeed right now, head on over to OTSchoolHouse.com. Until next time, class is dismissed Click on the file below to download the transcript to your device. Thanks for listening to the OT Schoolhouse Podcast. A podcast for school-based OT practitioners, by school-based OT practitioners! Be sure to subscribe to the OT Schoolhouse email list & get access to our free downloads of Gray-Space paper and the Occupational Profile for school-based OTs. Subscribe now! Thanks for visiting the podcast show notes! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Click here to view more episodes of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast

Click on your preferred podcast player link to listen wherever you enjoy podcasts. Welcome to the show notes for Episode 199 of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast. Transitioning from OT student to practicing clinician isn’t always a straight path—and in this episode, Chandler Sarkozi shares her real, unfiltered journey into school-based practice. From taking the NBCOT multiple times to navigating job options and ultimately choosing a travel-based school position, this conversation highlights the challenges many new grads face but don’t often talk about. Chandler dives into what it actually looks like to start mid-year as a contract OT, including figuring out housing, building rapport with students and staff, and working through imposter syndrome. She also shares practical insights on the interview process, key questions to ask employers, and how a strong support system can make all the difference. Whether you're a new grad, exploring school-based OT, or curious about travel therapy, this episode offers honest guidance and reassurance. 🎙️ Press play to hear how Chandler learned to trust herself, stay flexible, and grow into her role. Learning Objectives Identify strategies for transitioning from OT student to school-based practitioner Learners will identify key considerations when choosing between contract and district school-based OT roles Determine essential interview questions to assess support, caseload, and job expectations Guest Bio Chandler is an occupational therapist who began her career as a travel school-based clinician, supporting preschool, middle school, and transition-aged students up to age 22. Prior to graduate school, she worked at a nonprofit school for autism that utilized the DIR/Floortime model—an experience that deeply shaped her relational and developmental approach. During her training, Chandler served as a SOTA board member and led an interprofessional competition, further strengthening her leadership and collaborative skills. Through her clinical work and global travel experiences, she has developed a culturally responsive approach grounded in compassion, curiosity, and collaboration. She approaches her work with a holistic lens, recognizing that meaningful progress happens when children, families, and educators are supported together. She prioritizes authentic relationships and inter-professional collaboration to create cohesive, goal-aligned support systems that are sustainable and contextually responsive. Chandler is passionate about strengthening caregivers as a way to strengthen entire communities, and she aspires to one day develop innovative, developmentally informed schools in underserved areas—creating environments that empower both children and those who support them. Quotes “I didn't come this far… to not fully finish what I started.” — Chandler Sárközi, MOT, OTR/L “Trust yourself… you're going to learn from it regardless.” — Chandler Sárközi, MOT, OTR/L “Trying something is better than assuming” — Chandler Sárközi, MOT, OTR/L “You don’t need to stress too much about knowing all the assessments before you get hired.” —Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L “Everything is figure-out-able.” —Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L Resources 👉LinkedIn - Chandler Sarkozi - Connect with Chandler for questions about travel school-based OT 👉From Student to Practitioner Guide 👉NBCOT - National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy exam 👉Furnished Finder - Housing resources for travel therapists 👉Episode 172 with Doug Vestal - Recent OT Schoolhouse Podcast episode about student loans and financial planning Episode Transcript Expand to view episode transcript Jayson Davies Hey there, and welcome back to the OT school house podcast. This is episode 199, thank you so much for being here really quickly before we get started. I apologize if this intro and the outro later feels a little amazingly. I am overcoming a little bit of a cough cold, whatever you want to call it. And yeah, but that's not going to stop us. We are going to get through this important episode. So let's go ahead and set the scene starting a new school based ot job can feel like being dropped into the middle of a story that you're unfamiliar with, and when that unfamiliar story includes a travel contract in the middle of the school year, and maybe you just recently passed the NBC ot exam on your second, third, or maybe even your fourth try. That does not sound fun, right? Well, today's guest knows exactly what that is like. Chandler Sarkozy is an occupational therapist and assistant producer here at the OT school house podcast and one of the community managers of our school based ot collaborative community. Chandler began working with me while she was still in occupational therapy school a few years ago, and she recently made the leap from student to full time contracted school based practitioner, taking on a full caseload here in February, navigating IEPs she didn't write of course, and learning the ropes while balancing a long commute in the realities of travel therapy. In this episode, Chandler opens up about her transition, the financial decisions that led her to contract work, the support systems that saved her, the imposter syndrome that showed up anyway, and the strategies that helped her to survive and feel more confident in her new role as a school based ot if you're a new grad weighing your options, or a soon to be new grad wondering if travel therapy is right for you, or perhaps even a seasoned practitioner, curious what it's like to start mid year as a travel contractor. This conversation is for you. Let's dive in with Chandler Sarkozy, Amazing Narrator hello and welcome to the OT school house podcast. Your source for school based occupational therapy, tips, interviews and professional development. Now to get the conversation started, here is your host, Jayson Davies, class is officially in session. Jayson Davies Well, Chandler, here you are on the OT school house podcast. You are one of the most familiar people with the OT school house podcast, so it is going to be fun having you on the opposite end here as kind of being a guest on the show as opposed to kind of being the producer behind the scenes of the OT school house podcast. So welcome. How are you doing today? Chandler Sarkozi Thank you, Jayson. I'm doing good, a bit nervous, but cool to be on this side. So yeah, thanks for having me, and I'm excited to be here absolutely. Jayson Davies You know people who have attended the back to school conference or part of their two school house collaborative are familiar with you. People really appreciate how, how you bring value to I mean, at the back to school conference, mostly in our chat, really helping provide resources for people and at ot school house collaborative, everybody knows how involved you are there with making sure that professional development is going on and providing resources there. But here, we're here today to talk about you and your recent transition from being a student as an occupational therapist or an occupational therapy student moving into a full time school based ot position. So with that, before we dive into all that, I just want to hear a little bit from you how you kind of came into the world of occupational therapy. Chandler Sarkozi Yeah. So I knew I always wanted to help people. I just didn't know what that looked like when I was younger. And so my mom actually, she worked at a school and was friends with the occupational therapists, and she was like, I think ot would be the most perfect job for you. And I didn't know what ot was. So I was like, okay, like, I'll go check it out. I'll go shadow her friend and see what it's all about. And so it was at a school in elementary school. And so, you know, we saw kids in her small, little office, she had, like her desk, and then just like a little small trampoline, and then like a little crash pad. And it was, it was very small, but I'm like, Oh, wow, this seems so fun, like you're playing with kids all day. Like I'm sold. So that was kind of the beginning steps of me learning what ot was. And I had no idea that ot was in other areas as well. So I applied to OT school was all for, like, the working with kids being at a school, and then to find out there was all these other aspects to it, like in the hospitals. And I was like, that's not for me, but I'm here for the kids. I'm here for for learning. And so yeah, that's how I kind of learned about OT and. Applied to OT school. I, when I was doing that, I was actually getting my undergrad in human services, so another field of helping people, and then I transitioned to the OT aspect, awesome. Jayson Davies So what were some of the things that during school or OT school, that kind of helped you to solidify that maybe you wanted to go into school based occupational therapy. I know you mentioned, you know, that's kind of your roots in understanding occupational therapy. But as you mentioned, there's also many other areas of OT. So what was it that kind of solidified I want to go into school based OT? So we Chandler Sarkozi So we had our, we actually got to go into a school. So it was like an underserved school. working with those kids, it was really cool to see that dynamic. And the principal, I remember her so specifically. She was so upbeat and so just engaged with the kids. And she'd call everybody love. all the kids, even like us, the students our professors and everything. (6:01) And so going there and actually working with the kids, that was a really cool hands-on experience that we all did. And ⁓ then my fieldwork, I was at a school district doing evals for Playbased. and then one day a week we would go see the students. But I really liked the play-based evaluation aspect to that. And then my other placement was at a nonprofit that had a school, it had a clinic, and it had an adult section. So it was very cool having those three different areas and going to the school, seeing the transition students, which was different than what I had experienced before working with younger kids. So seeing that, I really liked. that aspect too. So just having a wide range of different experiences, even if some of them were short, just seeing the kids through their lifespan and how it is different working with each age range. Jayson Davies Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, our level our level one and level two field works really shaped what we understand about OT, I think a lot. And, you know, I never had a school based ot level one or level two, and obviously went into schools. But I know it seems like a lot of cases, people end up in one of the areas that they do a level one or level two, just because it really does shape us. And so it's so nice when you have a good level one, good level two experience that helps you, kind of get you through ot school and then into your career. And so let's go ahead and talk about that point then, because you know you go through your ot program, you go through your level ones and your level twos, and then it's kind of like, boom, you are out in the rural world here. So coming out of OT school, what was your thought process around completing the NBC, OT and then starting to work? I mean, I know nothing ever goes as planned, but, you know, go back to that moment that you graduated, what was your thinking that that, I guess, what was your thinking in terms of completing the NBC ot test and then going on to work? Chandler Sarkozi So my thinking plan was a little bit different than I think most people's, because as soon as I before I graduated, I knew that I was leaving the country. I left the country on a one way ticket. I didn't know when I was gonna come back, and so I didn't study my I had a plan that I was gonna study, but that ended up not happening. So it was months that I was gone, I didn't do what I originally said I was gonna do, oh yeah, I'm gonna, you know, study these days and make time for it. That didn't happen. So upon coming back, I was like, Okay, I want to take it as soon as possible. So I gave myself, I think, around four weeks, and I was like, I just want to take it. I want to see how I'm going to do and get it over with. So in those four weeks, all of my my cohort had already taken their exam, had already had jobs, so I had no one to study with. So it's just me alone trying to figure out the best way to study. I didn't know really what I was doing, how I needed to best study, and so I took it, and I failed by three points. And so that was super frustrating, because I was like, Oh, I was so close, but yet, so far. And so then I was like, okay, well, I need to figure out a different strategy to see if that'll help. And so I did, I studied for, I don't know how many more weeks and once again, passed, didn't pass by missing a few points. And so, you know, it just kind of got even more disappointing, like, ⁓ man, like, am I gonna get this? think I took it four times. On the fourth time I passed, And that time, I was, like, already looking for jobs. I was like, Okay, I'm passing this time. There's, there's no doubt about it, I'm staying in a good mindset about this. And so I was applying to jobs, doing job interviews, and yeah, then I found out that I finally passed and I saw those little, those little confetti things when I opened up the email, or whatever it was, and I was like, finally, I, like, texted my mom and everybody's, like, early in the morning when I got the news, and, yeah, it was finally, like a relief lifted. Jayson Davies But I think I remember that Google Chat coming in that you passed. I mean, this is, I know not everyone listening understands this, but Chandler and I meet on like a once a week basis. You know, on and off. We've skipped a few sessions every now and then, but we we meet very regularly, and I got to watch as you went through all these different emotions, per se, all these different failures, and then lifting yourself back up, and you could see how you were changing your plan in between each attempt. I mean, I remember sometimes you were going like hard at the library. Other times you're more, you know, just cuddle up with with a book or something at home. But things changed over time, and I guess, for from your perspective, what helped you, you know, once you got that email, the first three times that you know, wasn't great news, I guess. What was that experience like? Both kind of as you got that email, but then turned around to, you know, what I can do this. Chandler Sarkozi I've always not been a quitter, so I knew that no matter how many times it takes, if I keep failing, I'm gonna keep pushing through until I make it and like, I didn't come this far. I didn't go through ot school. I didn't go through all the tears and the hard times to not fully finish what I started. So, you know, I gave myself permission to feel disappointed and feel my feelings, but then I, you know, I have to pick it back up and keep going. And I think something else that helped was, by that time, my mentee from ot school, she had graduated, so she was studying for the exam as well, and she lives down the street from me, so we decided to make a study plan and start meeting up at the library. And so having her helped, you know, hold us both accountable, and we could quiz each other and ask each other questions. So I think having that that time also really helped and kept us both going, because we were both just like, Oh, we're just ready to both pass the test and be done with it. Jayson Davies Yeah, yeah, no, I totally understand that. One more question about this before we move on, because I think it's something that's not talked about very often, and that is, from your perspective, it's kind of a two part question. We'll start with part one, did you get a sense from other people in the profession, whether it be you know, even myself, that you know we met occasionally, or people from your cohort that you you know, kept in touch with, you know, did anything change relationship wise, when you let people know that, you know, I hadn't passed NBC, OT, you know, I missed it by a few points. And did that change? And the reason Matthew is because I want people who are listening to be able to kind of understand that from from the perspective, who's someone you know, who, who did have to take it a few times. Did you get a sense of anything changing when people found out that you didn't pass? Or was it similar? Were people very supportive? Did you have any hardships? Chandler Sarkozi I felt like I was, you know, incompetent when I would tell the people that I didn't pass. But nobody, you know, everybody was supportive. Nobody like said anything bad or anything like that. So I definitely tried to limit who I told each time as it went forward, just because I if I did fail, I didn't want to have to say it again or explain it. But then by that time, I'm like, You know what? It really doesn't matter. Are like, I'm taking it. If I fail, I fail. I think I got more confidence in myself to realize that either way, I'm human, I'll make mistakes, but that doesn't lower my worth. Yeah, yeah, awesome, yeah. I'm glad you've Jayson Davies had positive experiences, and I'm sure you know I always say that ot practitioners, especially are some of the kindest people and what the kindest people, and what the ethical people, and we all support one another. And you know, we just hope that that's always the case, because, you know, the NBC OT is not easy. I mean, they purposefully the pass rate, the pass to fail ratio is somewhat high, because it really is designed to make you think critically as you take the pass it or take the test. And so, yeah, you know, I couldn't be more happy for you once you pass, and I'm excited. And now, what that was back in December, Chandler Sarkozi that was in Oh, when was that? Jayson Davies Several months ago? We're just gonna months ago, yes, yeah. So that was back several months ago. And you know, like you said, once you were planning for this fourth test, and you knew you're going to pass it, you started looking for jobs. And at that point, walk me through some of the different options that you were considering, because in school based OT, I think you knew that you wanted to school based OT, or at least pediatrics. But what were some of the different options that you were weighing? Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, so I applied to some pediatric clinics, I applied to some schools, and I applied to early intervention, so all of them working with kids, I felt I hadn't done ei before, so I was, like, unsure about that one, but still, like, I was excited, because I would love to work with babies, but basically, I did some interviews with the clinics and honestly, once they told me the salary starting as an OT, like 65,000, I I feel like I've, I had so much time to think about this as I was not passing the test and as I was traveling. So those ones were out, Okay, I love traveling. I've been hesitant to look into travel therapy because something stuck in my mind if you starting out in travel therapy is not the best because they just throw you in to it. And so that kind of deterred me from doing that. But I was like, You know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna see my options. Let me just reach out to some recruiters and see what it looks like. And so I found some companies talked to them. And the one lady that I ended up talking to the most, and going with, she was very kind and understanding of all my wants and needs, because I I was very straightforward and blunt with everything that I wanted. And so she told me the options, and there happened to be an option that was close by to my house, well, not very close an hour away, but for a travel position, at least it's still in my state. So I had an interview with them, and everything seemed great. I asked a bunch of questions. They seemed very supportive, which was something really big on my list as a new practitioner coming in. I really wanted to make sure that I had a good support in the school, and that kind of right there sold me among just it, being in Illinois, being close to family as my first position, so I'm not super far away and and so, yeah, I was just weighing my options between EI and that. And I was like, and financially wise too, like, that was a big factor of mine, and so they were both on the same page financial wise. But I was like, I think having that support system and knowing that I've already been in schools, I'm comfortable there. I'm comfortable with the age ranges. So I was like, Yeah, that. That's what I'm going with. Jayson Davies All right, yeah, and then it sounds like you went directly to talking to contractors at any point. Did you apply your interview with in house districts or in house schools as a ot practitioner? Chandler Sarkozi I did, yeah, I applied to the school that I did my field work in that was actually earlier on in the process, before I even passed the exam, like maybe the second time I took the test, thinking that I was going to pass. I looked like one time prior and but I at that time, I wasn't sure about doing full time so, and they were looking for full time, so I didn't pass, and that ended up not working out regardless. So yeah, then that was pretty much when Jayson Davies it came time that you were ready after you did pass. Were there any particular reasons that you ended up going with a contract company over a school based company, whether it be an internal decision that you had made or an external in the sense that there just wasn't available positions, I guess. Why go contract route, the travel route, as opposed to in house with the district? Chandler Sarkozi For me, it was mostly about flexibility. In case I wanted to switch it up, I would. I knew that I would only be at one placement for 13 weeks if I liked it. I could continue, if the contract allowed for it, if they needed that, if I didn't, then I knew, Okay, after 13 weeks, I'm done and I can try something new. I can go into a pediatric clinic. I can go into EI I can do other things. So I felt like it gave me that flexibility of not feeling stuck in the beginning and being able to see what's out there, as well as having a stipend that's tax free money and making, you know, good money to begin with, in the contract field. So I think those were big determine, determining factors. For me, Jayson Davies I think that's a big one. I mean, aside from the financial aspect, the side that you know you can go in, you know that you have a placement for 13 weeks, you kind of get to decide if you like it or not. You also, and we're going to get more into this in a moment. You also started your contract position at a school district in like February or March, which is late in the year, as we all know, for the US public schools. So we'll talk more about that in a minute. But I think it's a good I don't think it's a bad idea. I should say, to try out contracting for the specific reason that you know, it's kind of an easy you can cut ties if you don't like it at the end of the school year or at the end of your 13 weeks. So yeah, where is there any opportunity to move further away from Illinois? And did you give that real consideration? Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, so I was really considering one of the placements in Texas, but I think I was like, I I want to be close to home for my first one, just because I don't know what to expect with everything. And I just felt like it was a good way to start, because it is a big change. It's a big transition, going from being in school to starting your career, and so just kind of slowly easing myself into it, and I thought that was a good way to start by staying in Illinois, being semi close by, and still getting the travel experience of having the travel contract, And then being able to branch out once this one's over, if that's what I decide to do, Jayson Davies yeah, yeah. I Yeah. I remember you talking about the Texas one a while back. And, yeah, when you bring up talking about the family, I've never done the travel myself. I've never lived more than like, 30 miles from where I grew up. But yeah, you know it would be an interesting experience, and I'm sure some people absolutely love it. And yeah, you what's nice is that you are going to be wrapping up your current travel contract, and just like we were talking about, you now have the flexibility. Should you decide to travel this time or in another 13 weeks after your next assignment, or whatever it might be. So that's what's nice about those short term contract jobs, is that if you like it, there is oftentimes an opportunity to stay, and if you don't like it, it's very easy to move on. Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, like I've been talking to some of my friends who are in OT and even my mom. My mom. Is a breast stenographer, I've been trying to get her to do travel therapy to to make the same amount of money in like half the year. and then she has free time to enjoy life and get to because she's always talking about, you know, just she doesn't have time and and, you know, she gets home from work and she's exhausted, I'm like, Well, this will free up your time, it'll give you more money, and you get to explore new places and see new things. And same with my friend, because she graduated with me, and I'm just like, you're young. Now's the time to try it, when you have that freedom and flexibility of maybe not having young kids or a family. So I think even for it works for young people who are just graduating, who maybe don't have a lot of responsibilities, as well as people who are older, who have older kids that already are grown, and they can now kind of live their life and do their own thing. So I think it's a wide range of people who should give it a chance and think about it and be open to the idea of seeing if it aligns with their life. Jayson Davies Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you bring up a good point, I think this is turning out to be a good follow up episode to our recent episode with Doug vestill, right? Like you can use a travel position or a few different travel positions to help you potentially get ahead on those student loans, or to help save that six months worth of emergency fund before you know, maybe taking on a position where you can afford to get paid a little bit less because you have that cushion built up, or maybe now you have a little extra funds to start your own business on the side, which I know Chandler you kind of have aspirations for in the future, potentially, right? So like by taking on a job that might be a little bit tricky, we're going to get into that in a moment. The financial reward might be worth the short term hardship. In the event that you do have a hardship with that type of position. So yeah, I think that's a perfect opportunity for us to move on to this next question. Because, you know, everything is sunshine and roses. When we apply for that job and we get the news that, yes, we're going to take that job, they're happy to have us. But after that, what came next? What were some of the immediate not necessarily, I mean, I'm going to use the word consequence, but not in a bad way, just what were some of the immediate decisions that then had to be made knowing that you were taking this job, I think you said it's a little over an hour away from you. So as a travel therapy job, even though it's only an hour away, you still have to make some decisions. What were some of those decisions? Chandler Sarkozi The biggest decision is figuring out where you're going to live. So weighing Okay, do I want to get an Airbnb? Do I want to find an apartment on furnished nurses or furnished housing, or some website like that. Or do I want to stay in a hotel, like, like, figuring out what would be the best option. Or do I stay at home and commute? Or some days commute, and then some days stay in, like, a hotel and and kind of break it, break the drive up, so figuring out what works best. So in the beginning, I was like, Okay, let me just, let me test it out. Let me see how the drive is. Because I hadn't I work remotely with Jayson, so going to a full time job, driving two hours there and back, was just, it seemed like a lot. So I'm like, let me just give it some time and see how this goes. So figuring out that and yeah, Jayson Davies I remember one of the things for you, too, is just trying to weigh if it was worth moving all your stuff. You know, it was an hour away where it was, like, far enough that you didn't want to have to drive an hour, but also close enough that an hour didn't seem too far. So I really remember you like having to weigh do I want to move just for 13 weeks? And then I think the other problem I remember you talking about, too, was that it was really hard to even find an apartment that you could rent for such a short term. Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, I think because I was in such a remote area of Illinois, there just wasn't many options that were suitable yeah, Jayson Davies So based upon that, right, knowing that there ended up being a little bit of a hardship trying to figure out if you can move somewhere, because maybe there's limited places to live. Is there anything that you might have wanted to get information from the recruiter or someone in the process before making the decision to go to that job? Or do you feel like did you have support with this? Was it all on you? Do you. Wish you had more support with it. Chandler Sarkozi I think my recruiter did a nice job of trying her best to give me the options, like she showed me the website, and just trying her best to support me in whatever ways I needed. I did a lot of looking on my own and just things were expensive, and I was just like, it doesn't seem worth it to spend that much money in the middle of nowhere when I'm closer to home. So I was just kind of Yeah, weighing what I should do. Jayson Davies And yeah, I mean, I was driving an hour and 15 minutes to work every day for five years. So I totally understand that lots of podcasting time. Yeah, so Did, did the company offer you a stipend if you were to move? Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, so the stipend, the stipend was for food and and living, yeah, housing, so when you work over a certain amount of hours, like full time, you get the stipend if you are a certain amount of miles away from your house. Jayson Davies Okay, so it all has to do with miles away from where you currently live. Chandler Sarkozi Basically, gotcha, at least my placement, my All right, Jayson Davies yeah, was there anything else in the actual process of getting hired and getting started that was just a little tricky, a little difficult, or just anything, any stories, or anything that happened that you just have been sharing that you think was whether it was tough or easy, just general things about the process. Chandler Sarkozi I feel like the process was really smooth. It went very quickly because the position needed to be filled as quickly as possible. So it was like, I'm going to get my physical, I'm going to do the TB test. All of this within like, a span of maybe, like a week and a half. I had to get all this done, but everybody made it a smooth process. And I really don't have any bad things to say about it, other than it was just quick and like, it needed to be done and the process needed to be to be completed so I could start the job, because they wanted someone ASAP. Jayson Davies Cool, sometimes it's, it's nice when things move fast, and then you get a little like, oh my gosh, what's going on here? And the next thing you know, you're thrown into it. But if it's what you want, then it's good. Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, I think if you have a different starting date that is later, then it wouldn't have gone that quick. But I knew that it was going to be a quick turnaround. but I knew that I was starting pretty soon, so I knew that it was going to be a quick turnaround. But I don't think that happens for everybody. So depends on when you are planning to start and when you want to start, your recruiter will find you a job for that time Jayson Davies that you want, yeah, and they think you wanted to start pretty quickly, so that just kind of worked out for you. Awesome. All right, now let's dive into the actual work life, I guess we can call it, and that is jumping into a school district as a contracted school based ot in the middle of February or March, whenever you started. That's already giving me a little anxiety, having to jump into a position in the middle of the school year. But yeah, tell us a little bit about your experience. Chandler Sarkozi Yeah. So I felt like I was just being, like, dropped into, like, a story, and halfway through, and I didn't know what was going on, and it was just like, Okay, I I'm new, luckily, though I had a team of OTs and PTs, so they were super helpful. Even the first day I got there, the PT, Teresa was showing me around and just helping me out with any questions I had. And so it just, even though I was scared and nervous and thrown into it, that support system, like I said in the beginning, was everything, because I knew that I had them to ask questions, to figure out how to do things. So yeah, shout out to Nancy, Valerie and Mary, all the other OTs that have just helped me tremendously in this whole time span, and they're still continuing, continuously helping me, like even today I asked a bunch of questions, so that's been very helpful, having that support, but going in like not knowing the students names, what their goals are, like just being thrown into the classroom and just trying to figure out, okay, all these kids, who are they? What are their goals? Schools just trying to build rapport with them. And some of the kids were also new as well. So they're acclimating. I'm acclimating. And so also, just like feeling like an imposter, like I don't feel like I know what I'm doing, how am I good enough to make these decisions for these kids when I'm new, I'm just learning. I barely know them. I've been here for a month and a half, two months, so it just was a lot of like overwhelm and just feeling imposter syndrome and really just not, not knowing how to navigate it on my own. So, yeah, I guess that's just been a difficult thing to to deal with. But I just had to keep telling myself, like everyone, everybody starts somewhere. You'll you'll learn as you go. You'll learn from people like I was lucky to have those other OTs that let me shadow them in the beginning and see how they work with their kids, because I was taking on some of their case loads. So I got to see how they did things in the classroom, so I could keep things as similar as possible when I started and went into their classrooms. So I think that was very helpful to see how different OTs do different things, how different teachers and different classes run their classrooms. And so it's I'm finally getting the hang of things and understanding, okay, how each classroom is different, how I structure my time in there, the tables that I go to with the kids and and my weekly group projects that we do, and then the individual sessions. So it's all coming together eventually, but it definitely took some time to feel more comfortable and understand the routines and get to know the staff and the other OTs, PTs, SLPs and teachers and everyone, Jayson Davies yeah, and I have a lot of followers, but I guess the first one here is, do you feel that the difficulties getting started at all were related to being a contract therapist as opposed to an in house district therapist, or was it simply just starting a new job? It was going to be crazy no matter what. Chandler Sarkozi Maybe a mix of both, because I think coming in at the end of the school year, I don't think that's typical for an in house district employee, I don't know, but I think just being in the middle of it all at the end of the year, when all the IEPs are and it's just a hectic time of the year to come in, so all that added stress of like, okay, here's your Kids And now and now you have IEPs to do. You have evaluations to do, so all this additional stuff that is kind of being thrown at you, more so than maybe if you start at the beginning, when there's less IEPs and and just more, you know, you're getting to know the students. it's the beginning of the year, everybody's new, everybody's coming in fresh. So I think that, and then of course, just being a new practitioner coming in and just not being fully confident in your abilities and knowing how to do things. because, like, I feel like I know kids. I've been working with kids since I was a teenager and and I've done school based and I listened to the to OT school house. I use resources and the gold banks and everything from the collaborative so, like, I know I have a good understanding, but it's just like when you're in it, it's a little bit different when you're starting. So it was, it was a transition, and I think a mix. Jayson Davies How, how prepared Do you feel the district was for having an OT come into their program in the middle of February? Did they it sounds like you have kids that were on the caseload of other ot practitioners that are still working there. So I know sometimes when a contractor comes in, especially for a short time, is to cover a maternity or paternity leave or something like that. But it doesn't sound like that was the case, or maybe it was. Chandler Sarkozi So one of the OTs was on maternity leave, so she was there up until, I don't know, a month in or whatever. So okay, he was there to support and now she's fully gone taking care of her baby, the other one, the other ot went to part time to focus on something else, just for a short time. And I think she. Be back full time. So I took some of her caseload, and then I took some of the other OTs caseload, on top of additional students that were just given to me. Jayson Davies Gotcha? Okay? I guess the reason I'm asking is because if you come in and you're taking over a caseload for someone who's going on maternity or paternity short term leave, I feel like that can be to a degree, nice, cut, dry and easy in the sense that they had a caseload of 50, you're taking on their caseload of 50. Pretty straightforward, those 50 kids are now your 50 kids, their evaluations are now your evaluations, but to a degree, it sounds like you've kind of taken on some from this person, some from that person. And I don't know, do you just feel like that it was well laid out when you came into it as to who, what kids you were going to be seeing. Or did that kind of get figured out as you were coming in and were already there? Does that make sense? Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, so I feel like they did structure and they did organize it well, because I came in with a schedule like they had it planned out what day I was gonna see each kid, just as like a tentative schedule. It didn't have to be set in stone, but that was very helpful. The OTs put that together, the ones that I work with, and just so I could, you know, have it laid out, understand, okay, Mondays, my pre K, morning, afternoon, Tuesdays, middle school. So everything was just laid out, which I think was very helpful. Jayson Davies Yeah, good. Okay, now you've been in this role for about two months. It sounds like you have developed a little bit of a support system with the OT PT practitioners in your district. How are you feeling two months later? Is it getting better? Is it still as hard as it was day one? Just kind of in general, give an idea for those who are listening, maybe thinking about taking a contract or therapy job by God in the middle of the school year that still gives me chills. Like, does it get better? And how are you feeling? Chandler Sarkozi Yes, I definitely feel more confident and more comfortable in the position. I definitely don't have as much overwhelm, but I've also taken the time, because in the beginning, I was not doing any self care. I just felt so exhausted. I had no time or energy to put in any time for myself. I would come home and I would watch TV, and that's something I rarely do that. So when I do that, I know that I'm very, very stressed. So I just like, wanted to, like, numb out and not think about anything after the end of the day. And so now I've kind of re established my routine, and it's getting nicer outside too, which also helps. I can go outside, I can take a walk, I can do my journaling, my reading outside. So it's gotten more calm, and I feel more calm internally, and more at peace. So definitely, with time, it does get better. It is definitely stressful in the beginning when you don't know the kids, you don't know anybody's name, you don't know where you're going. I got lost in the middle school one time and just went in like a big circle looking for one of the classrooms. So you figure your way around and you you learn names, you you learn the kids, you learn what they're working on. So you know you just have to be patient, and know that it will get better, and it'll take time, but you'll get there and just push through it. And having that support, once again, is has been everything for me, just knowing that I can walk back into the OT room and if I have a question, they're right there to ask. So I think that's very important when you are taking a position to know, like, are you working with other OTs, or are you the only one in the district? Are you the only one at the school? Because it's so much easier having another ot at the school that you can communicate to, even if there's others in the district, but having them right there and accessible is just a lot quicker and easier. So having those questions that you ask at your job interviews to see if it's going to align for what you want, and if you're going to have the support that you need, because I think everybody has a different idea on what they want, what they need, and so knowing knowing yourself and knowing that, and then going forward with that and figuring out, is this something that will work for me? And. And, yeah, I don't know if I just kind of went off on a Jayson Davies I think you bring up a great point, though there at the end is, you know, being okay with asking questions at the interview. And sometimes they don't give you an opportunity to ask questions, but if they do, there are some questions I think you should ask, you should ask, you know, to help you understand if this job is going to align with your values. I know some questions that I've asked and that others have asked as well. Is asking them is ot ingrained into the MTSS or RTI program? Do you use a caseload or workload model? What is that caseload expectation? You know, how long do evaluations take? Our OTs expected to go to an IEP. I mean, all those are different questions that you can ask about in the interview. Are there any questions that you have kind of thought back now in two months that you kind of either a wished you would have asked, or maybe you did ask and you were happy that you did. Chandler Sarkozi Yeah, so one was seeing if there's like, other OTs at your actual school that you're going to be at. How does the process look for like onboarding and like chat, like, Will I have a chance to shadow other OTs to kind of see what it's like, since that was something that I got to do with the OTs that were there with me, since I was taking on their caseload. So if you are taking on someone's caseload and they're still there, like, that's a good opportunity to see if you can kind of see how they do things. If you, you know, want to get some more knowledge and learn some more things, or see how they do it. How many schools will you be going to? I think that's a big one to ask, because that luckily, I'm only at one school. It's the middle school and the priest the pre K attached. So I could just imagine going to multiple schools and just how hectic that would be. So planning for that, seeing if, if that's a thing, and if you're going to have to and if that's something that you're going to want to do or not. Are there like mentorship opportunities? Are there people that you can go to to talk to, and is your caseload already set? And kind of seeing what your caseload number is, and if you know, if they know if you're going to be in a middle school and a high school, kind of getting an idea for where they would place you. So I think those are some important questions, Jayson Davies yeah, is there any one particular topic, subject, idea, evaluation, treatment modality, that you wish you would have maybe done a little bit more studying up on prior to starting at your job? And of course, this is specific to your job, but anything in particular that you wish you had gone in knowing more about before you got this job, Chandler Sarkozi I would say, just refreshing myself with the evaluations that are used and because it was so long since I had been in school and done any of these things that I think that was just be helpful to remind myself, because it just has always kind of scared me doing evaluations. So I think that for me, would have been a thing to refresh on, Jayson Davies okay, and follow up question to that, is it okay that you didn't study all that before you got this job? And are you surviving? Chandler Sarkozi Yes, yes, I am. I am once again, because of my support system and having the other OTs there to ask and to help me get through everything that I need. So, yeah, I've survived and and I'm on upward of thriving, Jayson Davies awesome, yeah, I kind of wanted to ask you that question for that exact reason I think you can figure out right? Like I wanted everyone to realize they everything is figure outable. And even if you don't know everything before you get your job, you'll figure it out once you're in that position. And so you don't have to stress too much about knowing about the Peabody, the VMI, the bot, two, three, or whatever version they use, and SPM and the sensory profile like these are things that you will learn on the job, and that's okay. You don't need to know it all before you get hired. So, yeah, Chandler, you are figuring it out, and I'm sure everyone else listening will figure it out as well. Let's go ahead and wrap this up here with just one little piece of advice that you have for maybe a new grad who's Wayne school based OT, or travel school based OT. G maybe they're in a position to a degree similar to you, where you're thinking about some of those finances a little bit long term, and they have a long term vision. What's some pieces of advice you have for them? Chandler Sarkozi I would say trust yourself, know that whatever decision you make is going to be the right decision for you in that moment, and you're going to learn from it, regardless, and even though you may not think you're doing everything right or you just don't feel confident in yourself, with time that'll come and you will feel more competent, and just show up with compassion and a willingness to learn from others, learn from your mistakes, and just stay open and believe in yourself even when it's hard, Jayson Davies yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that's great advice. You know, especially that you're making a decision based on a snapshot of where you are right now, and things will change just like they changed yesterday. They'll change tomorrow, and that's a great idea. Again, with a contract position, it's kind of even more true because you're taking on a 13 week or even if you're taking on a one year contract position, it's still a relatively short time in the grand scheme of things. And so you're making the decision based upon right here, right now, and who knows what will happen 13 weeks or a year from now? So absolutely, Chandler, go ahead. Chandler Sarkozi I was gonna say trying, like, trying something is better than assuming, like, you can always pivot if you need to. No decision is permanent, so give something a try and you, I don't think you'll regret it. You can always pivot if you need, Jayson Davies yeah, absolutely, Chandler, I want to thank you for coming on the show. You've been behind the scenes at the OT school house for so long, and you know everything about the podcast, but you have yet to be on the podcast. So I'm so happy you did this. I know you're not a professional speaker, or, you know someone who goes on podcasts ever, but I appreciate sharing, yes. So is there anywhere where people can go to learn more about yourself, or if they have questions for you? Chandler Sarkozi Yeah. So the best way to connect with me is on LinkedIn, and then I also created a free resource for anybody who's curious about travel based, travel school based, OT, and it's a PDF that you can get in the show notes if you're interested, and feel free to reach out or message me if you have any questions. I love connecting with other OTs and students. So yeah. Thank you so much, Jayson. I'm happy to be here and happy to get to talk to you about this. Jayson Davies Absolutely. I'm so used to saying I will put those in the show notes for you all. But in this case, I get to say we will put the show notes for you all. So yeah, once again, channel, I thank you so much for coming on sharing all your knowledge and your experience about this transition for you from student to being a contracted school based ot practitioner. Really appreciate it. I'm sure many who are listening will appreciate it as well. Thanks again. Hi. Thank you so much. All right, that wraps up our conversation with Chandler. Chandler. Thank you so much for being vulnerable and sharing your journey from ot student to contract a school based practitioner. It's one that many of us have experienced, including myself. I started off as a contracted therapist before moving into a district, so I totally understand how that feels. Thank you also for your honesty about the real challenges that you felt during this time. It's really easy just to kind of sit here and say, yeah, things are going well, even though you're struggling and working through some things. But you know, you're showing that, yes, this isn't easy, but yes, it's also rewarding. You're doing amazing work, and I'm excited to see where this journey takes you next. Also, of course, thank you so much for being an amazing team member here at the OT school house. You've really brought so much value to 1000s of practitioners who follow along at the OT school house. And I really appreciate all your support, all your stories, all your things behind the scenes that you do that no one listening right now even knows. Really appreciate it, of course, to everyone listening like yourself, if you are a new grad or even a seasoned practitioner looking for support resources and a community that gets school based ot I'd love to have you join us inside the OT school houses, school based ot collaborative. It's where school based ot practitioners like yourself come together for practical professional development, mentorship and all the resources you need to feel confident. In your practice. Head on over to OTSchoolHouse.com slash collab To Learn more and become a part of our community. Thanks again for tuning in to this episode of the OT school house podcast, and I'll catch you next time. Amazing Narrator Thank you for listening to the OT school house podcast for more ways to help you and your students succeed right now, head on over to OTSchoolHouse.com Until next time class is dismissed. Click on the file below to download the transcript to your device. Thanks for listening to the OT Schoolhouse Podcast. A podcast for school-based OT practitioners, by school-based OT practitioners! Be sure to subscribe to the OT Schoolhouse email list & get access to our free downloads of Gray-Space paper and the Occupational Profile for school-based OTs. Subscribe now! Thanks for visiting the podcast show notes! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 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Find courses specific to school-based OT practitioners Courses Included with an OTS Collaborative Membership The OT Schoolhouse Collaborative is our premium membership community where school-based OT practitioners learn and grow together. Members of OTS Collab receive complimentary access to the following live and recorded courses and other monthly programming events designed to help you support your students more effectively. Learn more about OTS Collaborative Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: May 7, 2026 Learn More This course, Participation-Anchored Coaching (PAC): What it Looks Like in Practice, is the second installment in a series designed for school-based occupational therapists. It moves beyond theory to provide a practical roadmap for shifting from isolated "pull-out" therapy to participation-focused, in-class coaching. Participants will explore clinical reasoning through a MOHO-informed lens to analyze student barriers within real classroom routines. The course emphasizes "rapid prototyping," a method of testing small, testable supports in context to drive sustainable student independence and teacher agency. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: April 20, 2026 Learn More This session will offer School-Based Occupational Therapists favorite quick tips and tricks to support students with a myriad of motor skills, self regulation skills, executive functioning, visual motor and visual perceptual skills - to include pencil grasps, scissor use, breathing, teaching letter formation, writing supports, classroom seating, and sensory processing that are all needed for students to participate in the classroom and school environment. These tools will help you be a power source of quick adaptations allowing you to help the entire classroom and school environment. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: March 19, 2026 Learn More This course introduces Participation-Anchored Coaching (PAC), a MOHO-informed model that centers student participation and belonging as the primary outcome of school-based occupational therapy. Participants learn to assess teacher occupational identity, competence, and preferred interpersonal modes using the adapted Mini Teacher OSA and Mini IRM Teacher Interview to identify alignment gaps that influence classroom participation. Through MOHO-guided occupational formulation, Design Thinking, and Self-Determination Theory, participants co-create teacher-informed strategies and TICKS-based, measurable goals that directly enhance student engagement. The course emphasizes the practical application of evidence-based assessment and iterative problem-solving to produce sustainable, participation-focused outcomes in school settings. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: January 21, 2026 Learn More This course focuses on practical tools for intervention to improve transition related outcomes for students on your caseload. The course will highlight the role of occupational therapy in delivering interventions related to self-determination, pre-vocational training, and exposure to employment. Additionally, the course will identify ways to engage with key stakeholders including parents and teachers to assist in positive transition services for middle school and high school students. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: December 17, 2025 Learn More This course explores the evolving landscape of school-aged mental health in a post-COVID world and the expanding role of occupational therapy in supporting students’ emotional, behavioral, and functional participation. Drawing from Dr. Monica Keen’s clinical experience and her doctoral capstone research on interprofessional mental health collaboration, this session examines current mental-health trends, trauma-informed care, behavior changes following the pandemic, and evidence-aligned OT strategies for school settings. Participants will learn practical, occupation-based approaches for addressing emotional regulation, engagement, and school participation within a tiered model of support. The course concludes with collaborative discussion and actionable steps for strengthening OT’s role in school-based mental health. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: November 19, 2025 Learn More This course equips school-based occupational therapy practitioners with a practical, ready-to-use framework to stay organized, efficient, and confident throughout the academic year. Participants will gain access to structured checklists for onboarding, daily operations, and year-end transitions, as well as clear guidelines for referrals and discharge planning. Designed specifically for the school setting, the course empowers OTs to streamline documentation, collaborate effectively with teams, and deliver services that are occupation-based and educationally relevant. By taking this course, practitioners will feel more prepared, supported, and aligned with best practices in school-based OT. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hours in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: October 16, 2025 Learn More This session offers an in-depth exploration of the Sensory Pyramid of Learning, breaking down each tier to examine how foundational sensory and motor skills influence student behavior. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how challenges at different levels of the pyramid can manifest in the classroom, affecting attention, emotional regulation, and overall academic performance. Practical strategies for identifying and addressing these challenges will be discussed, empowering educators to create more supportive and effective learning environments. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: September 18, 2025 Learn More Everyday Ethics in School-Based OT: Navigating Challenges with Clarity & Confidence equips school-based occupational therapists with the tools to confidently address real-world ethical dilemmas that arise in educational settings. Through case studies, decision-making frameworks, and updated guidance from AOTA, FOTA, and state-level regulations, participants will strengthen their ability to apply ethical principles to complex situations involving service delivery, documentation, advocacy, and the use of emerging tools like AI. This course enhances professional judgment, reduces uncertainty when facing ethical pressures, and promotes alignment with best practices and legal requirements. Ultimately, attendees will leave with actionable strategies to advocate for ethical change within their districts while maintaining student-centered, legally compliant, and neurodiversity-affirming care. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: September 4, 2025 Learn More Building on the foundational assessment principles from Part 1, this course explores the continuum of assistive technology (AT) tools available to support student participation and access in the school environment. Participants will examine a range of AT solutions, from no-tech adaptations to high-tech computer-based tools, and learn how to match these interventions to student needs. The session will also address the occupational therapist’s role in AT implementation, including collaboration, training, and progress monitoring. Through interactive discussions and case studies, attendees will gain practical strategies for integrating AT into daily routines and educational goals. By the end of the course, therapists will be prepared to effectively support students in utilizing AT for greater independence and academic success. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: August 28, 2025 Learn More This course provides school-based occupational therapy professionals with the knowledge and skills to assess and consider assistive technology (AT) solutions for students with diverse needs. Participants will explore the assessment process, including identifying student abilities, environmental factors, and task demands to determine appropriate AT supports. The course will cover best practices in collaboration with educators, families, and other team members to ensure successful AT integration. Case studies and hands-on activities will enhance practical application, empowering therapists to make informed decisions that promote student participation and independence. By the end of the course, attendees will be equipped with effective strategies for AT assessment and implementation within the school setting. Price Free for members of the OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hours in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: July 16, 2025 Learn More By taking this course, occupational therapy practitioners will be able to analyze national K-3rd grade academic standards and complete a crosswalk with required sensorimotor abilities for students to meet these demands. Furthermore, OT's will leave this course being able to assess and provide interventions embedded within the MTSS format to support student success through addressing foundation sensory perceptual and motor skills whether it be for a classroom, group or individual need. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hours in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: June 25, 2025 Learn More This course will focus on the EMPOWER model, a neurodiversity-focused occupational therapy framework designed to support school-based practice. Participants will learn how to apply the model to better understand and address the lived experiences of neurodivergent students. The session will cover strategies for conducting meaningful assessments, applying models of disablement within school settings, and identifying interventions that are neurodiversity-affirming. By using the EMPOWER model, school-based OTs will gain tools to promote neurodivergent well-being, advocate for anti-ableist practices, and empower students to thrive in an educational environment. This approach encourages practitioners to reflect on their practices and amplify the voices of neurodivergent students, helping them navigate and succeed in a world that can often be disabling. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: May 15, 2025 Learn More Social and emotional development supports a child's occupational engagement in all settings. Occupational therapy practitioners' holistic approach to prevention and positive mental health promotion is ideal for bolstering each core competency of social-emotional learning as defined by CASEL. This presentation will highlight how pediatric occupational therapy practitioners can use evidence-based interventions in each stage of childhood to promote social and emotional development while utilizing a public health, trauma-responsive, and relational (rather than behavioral) approach. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: February 27, 2025 Learn More With increasing workloads, occupational therapy practitioners must utilize existing resources in new ways to support all learners. Balancing the expectations of school-based practice, OTPs often miss recent research and practice trends. Using an OT lens, student support capacity can be enhanced through collaboration and coaching between OTPs and educators through knowledge translation (KT). This presentation will identify ways for OTPs to apply at least one KT strategy within their own schools through the MTSS process. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: January 22, 2025 Learn More As we continue to decrease children’s time and space to move and play outdoors, we are seeing a simultaneous rise in the number of children that are presenting with sensory and motor deficits. At the same time, classroom teachers are observing more and more children having trouble with attention, falling out of their seats in school, increased clumsiness, and even aggressiveness with games like tag on the playground. So, how can we reverse this alarming trend of sensory and motor issues in children? How can we ensure that children are fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses? Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program—that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis—Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help children thrive in outdoor environments using a therapeutic approach to nature play. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: December 19, 2024 Learn More This professional development course explores new insights into autism through the lens of the "intense world" theory. Participants will engage with contemporary perspectives on autism, including challenges related to sensory overload, emotional intensity, and the societal pressures of masking. The course focuses on supporting neurodiverse individuals in educational and social contexts, emphasizing authentic self-expression and meaningful participation. Through interactive discussions, participants will gain practical tools to enhance their ability to support autistic clients while fostering inclusive environments. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: November 12, 2024 Learn More This course will guide occupational therapy Practitioners in assessing fine motor skills by focusing on five often-overlooked areas that provide critical insights into a student's needs and strengths. Participants will learn how to incorporate these key areas into evaluations and reports to better inform intervention strategies. Practical techniques for gathering and applying this information will be shared, empowering OTPs to enhance their assessments. The one-hour presentation offers actionable steps to improve understanding and support of students in school settings. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: October 23, 2024 Learn More Join us as Jayson Davies explores how AI tools can enhance assessment, intervention, and documentation processes to empower OT practitioners to increase student independence and save time. Also, discover innovative use cases for Artificial Intelligence in school-based OT. Tune in to stay ahead of the curve and use this innovative technology in your OT practice! Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: October 15, 2024 Learn More Join us for an engaging panel discussion featuring occupational therapy professionals Kelsey Kornaus, and Jayson Davies as they share their top strategies for a successful start to the school year. Whether you’re a veteran therapist or new to the school environment, this session is designed to equip you with practical tips and insider knowledge to navigate the unique challenges of school-based practice. In this session, they will dive deep into essential topics, including effective caseload management, building strong collaborative relationships with educators and Parents. You'll also gain insights into organizing your time, handling the unexpected, and more! Don’t miss this opportunity to kickstart your school year with confidence and a clear plan. Get ready to leave with actionable strategies that will set you up for success for this school year! Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 2 hour in length. (0.2 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: August 21, 2024 Learn More Sensory integrative processing is foundational to how we learn about our bodies, engage with the environment, interact with others, make meaning out of activities, produce motor responses, and participate in learning. It also has direct links with our regulation and influences our behavior. Yet, deciphering sensory integrative processing-- and the 8 sensory systems that includes-- can be quite challenging. What does sensory integrative processing actually involve? Why is it so vital for behavior responses, emotional regulation, and learning? How can you better understand and influence the sensory integrative processing needs of students, and yourself, to provide occupational therapy services? In our time together we will explore these questions and many more so you will be better equipped to recognize nuances of sensory differences, how a student's emotional regulation holds the key to understanding sensory differences, provide accommodations and adaptations for students with various sensory needs, and utilize another tool by which to view behavior! Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 2 hour in length. (0.2 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: July 24, 2024 Learn More Sensory integrative processing is foundational to how we learn about our bodies, engage with the environment, interact with others, make meaning out of activities, produce motor responses, and participate in learning. It also has direct links with our regulation and influences our behavior. Yet, deciphering sensory integrative processing-- and the 8 sensory systems that includes-- can be quite challenging. What does sensory integrative processing actually involve? Why is it so vital for behavior responses, emotional regulation, and learning? How can you better understand and influence the sensory integrative processing needs of students, and yourself, to provide occupational therapy services? In our time together we will explore these questions and many more so you will be better equipped to recognize nuances of sensory differences, how a student's emotional regulation holds the key to understanding sensory differences, provide accommodations and adaptations for students with various sensory needs, and utilize another tool by which to view behavior! Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 2 hour in length. (0.2 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: June 26, 2024 Learn More As an occupational therapy Practitioner (OTP), understanding sensory processing is crucial in assessing and addressing the diverse needs of individuals. In part 1 of this course, we will discuss the eight sensory systems, including the classic five (vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell) as well as the less-known vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoceptive systems. Participants will learn how sensory information is processed in the areas of modulation, discrimination, and integration, influencing individuals' responses and behaviors. OTPs will gain skills in identifying sensory processing challenges and implementing effective interventions tailored to each individual's sensory profile. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with a comprehensive understanding of sensory processing and its impact on occupational performance across the lifespan. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: May 15, 2024 Learn More Non-academic times of the school day, can be significant contributors to student mental and physical health. Conditions that promote positive mental health include participation in enjoyable activities within caring environments that foster positive emotions (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2018). When students participate in and enjoy healthy recess and after-school leisure activities, have good friends, and perceive school personnel to be supportive, they feel more connected to school which, in turn, enhances academic performance. The aims of this session are to provide detailed information about how to implement the Refreshing Recess (RR) programs emphasizing inclusive participation, friendship promotion, mealtime conversations, healthy eating, and active play; and describe a tiered approach to Making Leisure Matter during after-school times. OTPs will be able to use the Every Moment Counts website to implement Refreshing Recess and promote leisure participation within a tiered model. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: April 17, 2024 Learn More This course describes concepts and strategies from the Size Matters Handwriting Program, a proven curriculum-based approach to teaching handwriting. Proficient writing skills are fundamental for every student, constituting a vital life skill. Writing offers enduring advantages to children, allowing them to showcase their understanding in academic settings, equipping them for prosperous careers ahead, and granting them the ability to articulate their thoughts, emotions, perspectives, and concepts with confidence. Fun ideas will be presented for many subjects to promote peer mentorship, self- monitoring and self-advocacy, as well as functional, legible printing across the curriculum. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: March 18, 2024 Learn More This course offers a deep dive into occupational therapy interventions for teens and young adults in school settings, focusing on executive function difficulties. Participants will learn about identifying and assessing executive function challenges, and the practical application of evidence-based strategies tailored to this age group. Emphasis is placed on collaborative approaches that integrate school, home, and community resources to support students' executive skills. Through a blend of theoretical understanding and case studies, the course equips practitioners with the tools to foster independence, academic success, and smoother transitions to adulthood for students with executive function deficits. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: February 20, 2024 Learn More Sensory modulation, defined as the ability to respond appropriately to sensory information and remain at an appropriate level of alertness, is critical for academic and social success. Research shows that modulation is a skill that can be taught. When viewed within a larger educational framework, sensory modulation is seen as a component of emotional regulation and social-emotional learning. This webinar covers the evidence supporting instruction in sensory modulation, basic concepts and terminology to be used in this instruction, and a specific curriculum available to ensure success in this endeavor. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: January 17, 2024 Learn More Join us for an interactive webinar focused on enhancing writing skills and progress monitoring for students of all backgrounds and abilities. Writing is an essential skill, and every student should be empowered to express their thoughts and ideas effectively. We'll touch upon the Universal Design for Learning concept and introduce various methods of writing. Dive into inclusive strategies for diverse classroom settings and explore efficient progress monitoring. Equip yourself with tools to boost effective communication and writing in students; have pen and paper ready for interactive segments. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: December 13, 2023 Learn More In this 1-hour course, you will learn the five key aspects of a valuable and efficient, top-down, school-based OT evaluation. We will discuss the exact steps you can follow from the point you receive the referral to the point that you are ready to present your findings. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: November 14, 2023 Learn More Do your pediatric clients depend on others to get through their school day? Are they reliant on prizes or adults to be motivated to accomplish tasks? Learned helplessness is a big problem for many children and there is a better way! This course will offer concrete strategies that can be included in current therapy interventions to help clients grow up into self-determined adults. In addition to getting them engaged and motivated, higher levels of self-determination are correlated with positive school, employment and independent living outcomes. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: October 10, 2023 Learn More Occupational Therapy Practitioners possess strongholds of sensory processing and underlying neurological processes, They understand constructs from contemporary neuroscience, illuminating the essential role of the vestibular system for neural networking that supports learning and communication. Learners of this course will receive theoretical foundations as well as evidence from contemporary neuroscience so that they will expand their understanding of how the interventions support the mechanism of change - neuroplasticity, which results from the vestibular activation in an otherwise underperforming vestibular system. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: September 21, 2023 Learn More Effectively navigating the RTI process will allow support for students, teachers and families as well as impact the appropriateness of related service referrals. Increase your knowledge of the RTI process through the history, federal and state law, and tiered components. Learn to incorporate specific, increasing intensity of instruction with evidence-based interventions to match a students needs within each tier. These supports may increase a student's success within the general education curriculum and the need for referrals to a specialized instructional service. Incorporating successful strategies for communication and advocacy with leadership, time management, and resources for therapeutic interventions may break down barriers. The result is a win-win for the administration, therapist, teacher, and student. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: August 16, 2023 Learn More Dr. Gibbs provides an overview of Trauma Informed Care and introduces the ACTION from Trauma Approach. The approach maps out neurological connections to further enhance understanding of the underlying mechanisms influencing behavior following exposure to trauma. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: July 20, 2023 Learn More At this point, virtually everyone has heard that mindfulness is a tool for mental health, and you may have even tried meditation or yoga for yourself. Mindfulness practices are increasingly being introduced into educational programs, and for good reason because the research is mounting for the positive impact on children and the professionals that serve them. In this introductory course, you will learn about the evidence for using mindfulness for children, teachers, and children in particular. You will learn about the brain science that links mindfulness and executive function. Lastly, you will walk away with some practices that you can bring to the classroom that will be as good for you as they are for the students you serve. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: June 21, 2023 Learn More Participants will deepen their knowledge of working with students with visual impairments. Information will include an overview of the sensory systems and how sensory information is processed differently for students with visual impairments. Participants will gain an understanding of common sensory characteristics expressed by students with visual impairments while learning how to assess and develop strength-based collaborative intervention strategies. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1.5 hour in length. (0.15 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: May 17, 2023 Learn More OTPs are often asked to assess sensory functions of children on their caseload, even though sensory integration is an advance practice area. Practitioners that take this course will receive an introduction to sensory functions and their impact on children's ability to participate in their school settings, with a focus on sensory perception and praxis. Assessment strategies will be reviewed, as well as basic interpretation of data and goal development. OTPs will have a deeper understanding of the complexity of sensory integrative issues, and strategies of how they can further develop and refine their own practice. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: April 19, 2023 Learn More "Expanding Your Leadership Skills Through Fieldwork Education" will focus on how to host an OT fieldwork student and the skills it takes to be a Fieldwork Educator. If you have you ever thought of hosting a fieldwork student but needed more information on how to start, this course will walk you through the basic steps needed to develop a relationship with an OT school, who to ask at work, and the resources that might be needed to host your first student. The presentation will also cover a few skills that help a practitioner to be successful Fieldwork Educator and how to highlight these leadership skills on a resume. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: March 23, 2023 Learn More This course is designed to support, empower, and educate occupational therapists that work within the educational setting with the tools needed to navigate student behaviors using a mindful and neurodiversity-affirming approach. It will review introductory concepts to becoming a neurodiversity-affirming practitioner, specific strategies and supports to use in the moment and ongoing, and resources to further expand your knowledge on alternative ways to train and work with paraprofessionals to help them implement and support carryover of strategies from sessions to the classroom. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: February 15, 2023 Learn More What is dysgraphia? Many professionals think it is simply a handwriting challenge. However, orthography is so much more than handwritten material. Debunking these three myths will change your perspective and clarify your understanding of dysgraphia. You will become the expert in your community about this disability and become competent in explaining the definition to other community members. Together, we can change the lives of 110 million children. Price Free for members of OTS Collaborative Duration This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) Live (recorded) on: January 18, 2023 Learn More As occupational therapy providers working in public education schools, IDEA requires that we provide services in the least restrictive environment (LRE). But what is the LRE, and how do we determine where and with what frequency OT services should take place? This one-hour workshop will discuss how the LRE became a prominent factor in public schools. We will also look into what factors play a role in determining services in the LRE for students and how OTPs can determine what services to recommend to an IEP team to ensure students are receiving OT services in the LRE. As part of this course, participants will receive handouts to help them determine services for their students going forward. Learn more

This course focuses on practical tools for intervention to improve transition related outcomes for students on your caseload. The course will highlight the role of occupational therapy in delivering interventions related to self-determination, pre-vocational training, and exposure to employment. Additionally, the course will identify ways to engage with key stakeholders including parents and teachers to assist in positive transition services for middle school and high school students. B2S Conference Free Tools Free Education SBOT Goal Bank Courses The Collaborative Log in More < Back Providing Transition Related Services for Middle School and High School Students Presented by: Matthew Husband, OTD, OTR/L Attend live on January 21, 2026 @ 4:00 PM CST or watch on demand the next day Access this Course in The Collab Explore The Collab Benefits Course Description This course focuses on practical tools for intervention to improve transition related outcomes for students on your caseload. The course will highlight the role of occupational therapy in delivering interventions related to self-determination, pre-vocational training, and exposure to employment. Additionally, the course will identify ways to engage with key stakeholders including parents and teachers to assist in positive transition services for middle school and high school students. Learning Objectives 1. Learners will analyze three evidence-based interventions to improve transition related services for middle school and high school students on their caseload. 2. Learners will evaluate two assessment tools for their effectiveness in promoting self-determination and pre-employment skills. Your Instructor Matthew Husband, OTD, OTR/L Dr. Matthew Husband is an occupational therapist, with nine years of clinical experience, primarily in the field of pediatrics. He has worked in outpatient, home health, and school based practice. Dr. Husband currently works as an Assistant Professor of Practice at The Ohio State University. His area of passion is focused on improving the lives of students with autism, with a particular interest for community practice of transition. Dr. Husband received his Occupational Therapy Doctorate in May 2025 and his Capstone Project focused on improving employability for young adults with autism. Dr Husband supports the profession through his service within the AOTA, serving as the Representative Assembly member for Ohio. Contact Hours This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) OTSchoolhouse.com is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development, #0252. National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy As an AOTA-Approved provider of professional development, OTSchoolhouse.com courses are accepted by NBCOT® at a rate of 1.25 NBCOT PDUs per each hour of course content. NBCOT® is a registered trademark of The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc. Purchase Options - Collab Find The Collab Membership that’s Right for You Whether you’re just getting started in school-based OT or looking for CEUs, mentorship, and implementation support, The Collab has a membership tier built for your needs. Purchase Options - course Essentials CEUs (including this one), core resources, and community for school-based OTPs $249 / year Perfect for OTPs looking to keep up with evidence through school-based specific CEUs and core resources Join Essentials Learn Access to this course & 40+ live-online and recorded AOTA-Approved CEUs ($1500+ value) The A–Z School-Based OT Course ($399 value) (9.5 hours of CEUs) Earn 50+ hours worth of CEUs Support Access to the "OTP Lounge" forum to ask experienced OTPs for support without judgement Implement Access resources directly tied to accessible CEU courses Not included in Essentials: Live Mentorship Collaboration Hours The Back to School Conference The OT Schoolhouse Goal Bank The Caseload-to-Workload Course Custom-trained AI tools to save you time & energy Our Library of over 100 ready-to-use school-based OT resources Impact Full Access to ALL Resources, CEUs, Mentorship, & Back to School Conference $499 / year Designed for OTPs seeking for support implementing the most recent evidence and best practices Join Impact Learn Access to this course & 40+ live-online and recorded AOTA-Approved CEUs ($1500+ value) The A–Z School-Based OT Course ($399 value) (9.5 hours of CEUs) The Back to School Conference ($419 value) The Caseload-to-Workload Course ($299 value) Earn Professional development by listening to the OT Schoolhouse Podcast (ultimate time saver) Support + Mentorship The "OTP Lounge" to ask experienced OTPs for support without judgement Live-on-Zoom Q&A sessions (Collab Hours) with Jayson and the OTS Team Non-CEU events and discussions (eg. Journal club calls, assessment reviews, etc) Opportunities for 1:1 mentorship calls with Jayson and the OTS Team Implement Access ALL downloadable templates, tools, & checklists ($299+ value) The OT Schoolhouse Goal & Treatment Bank ($99 value) Curated evidence abstracts and links Access to AI tools to save you time most popular Start simple. Grow when you’re ready. Many school-based OTPs join Essentials for CEUs and core resources, then upgrade to the Impact Tier when they want mentorship, advanced tools, the Back to School Conference, and deeper support. Members often tell us that the tools and mentorship they receive within the Impact Tier finally allow them to feel supported as school-based OTs. Join Essentials Join Impact Agenda 0-5 minutes Introduction 5-15 minutes Importance of Self-Determination skills related to independent living, employment, and post-secondary education. 15-25 minutes Importance of providing resources to parents and caregivers 25-40 minutes The benefits of providing exposure to work experiences for middle school and high school students 40-50 minutes Assessment tools and intervention strategies for pre-vocational skills 50-55 minutes Ability to generalize knowledge learned in this course to use in the practitioners' specific setting. 55-60 minutes Questions and Answers Registration To access this course and others, become a member of the School-based OT Collaborative . The Collab is an online community dedicated to providing school-based OT practitioners with highly valuable professional development and interactive support to implement learned strategies. In The Collab, we learn together, support and encourage one another, and celebrate our achievements as a collective whole. Click here to learn more about the School-based OT Collaborative and watch this course inside our dedicated community of school-based OT practitioners. Instructional Methods A combination of speaker presentation with a slide deck and both synchronous & asynchronous Q+A with the presenter. Target Audience & Educational Level This is an intermediate level course intended for occupational therapy practitioners working in school systems or with a goal to better understand occupational therapy in school systems. Course Completion Requirements To receive a certificate for this course, you must watch the recorded course in its entirety. Then, you will need to take a learning assessment test and earn a score 75% or higher. If you pass, a certificate will be automatically generated and sent to your email. Special Needs Requests This course will include closed captioning and a transcript may be available upon request. You may also rewatch the course or sections of the course as needed. Additional accommodations may be requested by reaching out to us via email. Financial & Non-financial Disclosures Speaker Disclosure Matthew is receiving an honorarium for this course. Sponsor Disclosure The OTS Collaborative Community is a product of the OT Schoolhouse. Content Disclosure This learning event does not focus exclusively on any specific product or service. Schoolhouse Education, LLC is proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider of Professional Development AOTA-Approval for this Professional Development Opportunity is in progress. Stay Tuned! Terms and Conditions Schoolhouse Education, LLC will keep a record of your completed CE courses. When applicable, transcript services may include reporting to professional associations and/or state licensure boards. While Schoolhouse Education, LLC will make all reasonable efforts to offer CE credit for its courses, it is not responsible for state or national, or regulatory current policies or changes in CE requirements that may make courses ineligible for CE credits. Participant Agreement By registering for or attending any event or activity associated with the Schoolhouse Education, LLC and OT Schoolhouse, I agree to the following: Professional Development/Information Disclaimer The material presented in this course is not intended to represent the only or the best methods appropriate for the occupational therapy and/or medical condition or professional development issues being discussed but rather is intended to present the opinions of the presenters, which may be helpful to other health care professionals at arriving at their own conclusions and consequent application. Attendees participating in this professional development education program do so with full knowledge that they waive any claim they may have against the A-Z School-Based OT Course, Schoolhouse Education, LLC, and OT School House and its staff or representatives for reliance on any information presented during these educational activities. Waiver of Liability Agreement I release Schoolhouse Education, LLC, OT Schoolhouse, and its staff, presenters, and any other individuals or entities associated with this course from any and all liability connected with my participation, as well as from any liability related to changes to the schedule, events or activities. I acknowledge and agree that I am participating on my own choice and assume all risk in connection thereof and that in the event that a need for emergency medical service arises, I authorize and consent to such services being provided at my own expense. Cancelation & Refund Policy In the event that Schoolhouse Education, LLC must cancel the event for any reason, participants will be offered a credit toward the rescheduled event. OT Schoolhouse Collaborative subscribers may cancel their subscription at any time. Purchase Options - Collab Find the Membership that’s Right for You Whether you’re just getting started in school-based OT or looking for CEUs, mentorship, and implementation support, The Collab has a membership tier built for your needs. Purchase Options - course Essentials CEUs (including this one), core resources, and community for school-based OTPs $249 / year Join Essentials Learn Access to this course and over 40 live-online and recorded AOTA-Approved CEUs ($1500+ value) The A–Z School-Based OT Course ($399 value) Support Access to the "OTP Lounge" forum to ask experienced OTPs for support without judgement Implement Access resources directly tied to accessible CEU courses Not included in Essentials: Live Mentorship Collaboration Hours The Back to School Conference The OT Schoolhouse Goal Bank The Caseload-to-Workload Course Custom-trained AI tools to save you time & energy Our Library of over 100 ready-to-use school-based OT resources Impact Full Access to ALL Resources, CEUs, Mentorship, & Back to School Conference $499 / year Join Impact Learn Everything in Essentials, plus: The Back to School Conference ($419 value) The Caseload-to-Workload Course ($299 value) Support + Mentorship Access the OTP Lounge, plus: Live-on-Zoom Q&A sessions (Collab Hours) with Jayson and the OTS Team Opportunities for 1:1 mentorship calls with Jayson and the OTS Team Implement Access ALL downloadable templates, tools, & checklists ($299+ value) The OT Schoolhouse Goal & Treatment Bank Curated evidence abstracts and links Access to AI tools to save you time most popular ^ Back to top of page ^

Occupational Therapy Practitioners possess strongholds of sensory processing and underlying neurological processes, They understand constructs from contemporary neuroscience, illuminating the essential role of the vestibular system for neural networking that supports learning and communication. Learners of this course will receive theoretical foundations as well as evidence from contemporary neuroscience so that they will expand their understanding of how the interventions support the mechanism of change - neuroplasticity, which results from the vestibular activation in an otherwise underperforming vestibular system. B2S Conference Free Tools Free Education SBOT Goal Bank Courses The Collaborative Log in More < Back Vestibular Interventions that Support Learning Outcomes Presented by: Connie Wall,OTD Watch on-demand and earn AOTA-Approved CEUs Access this Course in The Collab Explore The Collab Benefits Course Description Occupational Therapy Practitioners possess strongholds of sensory processing and underlying neurological processes, They understand constructs from contemporary neuroscience, illuminating the essential role of the vestibular system for neural networking that supports learning and communication. Learners of this course will receive theoretical foundations as well as evidence from contemporary neuroscience so that they will expand their understanding of how the interventions support the mechanism of change - neuroplasticity, which results from the vestibular activation in an otherwise underperforming vestibular system. Learning Objectives 1. Learners will identify 2-3 indicators of delayed Vestibular maturation within primary school aged children. 2. Learners will recognize how vestibular activation mediates attention, memory, learning, and communication. 3. Learners will discover and identify 2-3 ways to activate vestibular functioning universally within the classroom or within the clinic setting. 4. Learners will recognize and articulate 2-3 expectations for vestibulOTherapy outcomes for children who have under-registration and delayed maturation of this sensory system. Your Instructor Connie Wall,OTD Throughout her doctoral research and tenure as a school occupational therapist and Adjunct Professor, Connie has developed expertise in a wide variety of clinical interventions, using an investigative approach to determine the most effective interventions for helping each individual child. Her clinical expertise, research, and publications have developed her leadership with vestibular interventions in pediatric - occupational therapy. Connie is keenly interested in the impact of vestibular therapies in relation to children’s occupational performance. As a seasoned pediatric OT with over 25 years of clinical experience, specialty certification in Ayres Sensory Integration, and OT doctorate, friends and colleagues look to her for professional expertise and positive leadership. Her mission is to help children and their supporting adults understand and integrate vestibular supports into their daily routine to empower children to reach beyond their potential and soar. She is hopeful the constructs of her educational offerings will be transformative to the classroom and pediatric OT programming to promote children's achievement in social and academic occupations. Contact Hours This course is 1 hour in length. (0.1 AOTA CEUs) OTSchoolhouse.com is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development, #0252. National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy As an AOTA-Approved provider of professional development, OTSchoolhouse.com courses are accepted by NBCOT® at a rate of 1.25 NBCOT PDUs per each hour of course content. NBCOT® is a registered trademark of The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc. Purchase Options - Collab Find The Collab Membership that’s Right for You Whether you’re just getting started in school-based OT or looking for CEUs, mentorship, and implementation support, The Collab has a membership tier built for your needs. Purchase Options - course Essentials CEUs (including this one), core resources, and community for school-based OTPs $249 / year Perfect for OTPs looking to keep up with evidence through school-based specific CEUs and core resources Join Essentials Learn Access to this course & 40+ live-online and recorded AOTA-Approved CEUs ($1500+ value) The A–Z School-Based OT Course ($399 value) (9.5 hours of CEUs) Earn 50+ hours worth of CEUs Support Access to the "OTP Lounge" forum to ask experienced OTPs for support without judgement Implement Access resources directly tied to accessible CEU courses Not included in Essentials: Live Mentorship Collaboration Hours The Back to School Conference The OT Schoolhouse Goal Bank The Caseload-to-Workload Course Custom-trained AI tools to save you time & energy Our Library of over 100 ready-to-use school-based OT resources Impact Full Access to ALL Resources, CEUs, Mentorship, & Back to School Conference $499 / year Designed for OTPs seeking for support implementing the most recent evidence and best practices Join Impact Learn Access to this course & 40+ live-online and recorded AOTA-Approved CEUs ($1500+ value) The A–Z School-Based OT Course ($399 value) (9.5 hours of CEUs) The Back to School Conference ($419 value) The Caseload-to-Workload Course ($299 value) Earn Professional development by listening to the OT Schoolhouse Podcast (ultimate time saver) Support + Mentorship The "OTP Lounge" to ask experienced OTPs for support without judgement Live-on-Zoom Q&A sessions (Collab Hours) with Jayson and the OTS Team Non-CEU events and discussions (eg. Journal club calls, assessment reviews, etc) Opportunities for 1:1 mentorship calls with Jayson and the OTS Team Implement Access ALL downloadable templates, tools, & checklists ($299+ value) The OT Schoolhouse Goal & Treatment Bank ($99 value) Curated evidence abstracts and links Access to AI tools to save you time most popular Start simple. Grow when you’re ready. Many school-based OTPs join Essentials for CEUs and core resources, then upgrade to the Impact Tier when they want mentorship, advanced tools, the Back to School Conference, and deeper support. Members often tell us that the tools and mentorship they receive within the Impact Tier finally allow them to feel supported as school-based OTs. Join Essentials Join Impact Agenda 0-5 minutes Introduction 5-15 minutes Defining the Problem 15-25 minutes Overview of Supporting Theories and Evidence 25-40 minutes VestibulOTherapy Assessment / Screening tool 40-50 minutes The Intervention Mechanism of Change 50-55 minutes Research Outcomes 55-60 minutes Questions and Answers Registration To access this course and others, become a member of the School-based OT Collaborative . The Collab is an online community dedicated to providing school-based OT practitioners with highly valuable professional development and interactive support to implement learned strategies. In The Collab, we learn together, support and encourage one another, and celebrate our achievements as a collective whole. Click here to learn more about the School-based OT Collaborative and watch this course inside our dedicated community of school-based OT practitioners. Instructional Methods A combination of speaker presentation with a slide deck and Q+A with the presenter Target Audience & Educational Level This is an introductory level course intended for occupational therapy practitioners working in school systems or with a goal to better understand occupational therapy in school systems Course Completion Requirements To receive a certificate for this course, you must watch the recorded course in its entirety. Then, you will need to take a learning assessment test and earn a score 75% or higher. If you pass, a certificate will be automatically generated and sent to your email. Special Needs Requests This course will include closed captioning and a transcript may be available upon request. You may also rewatch the course or sections of the course as needed. Additional accommodations may be requested by reaching out to us via email. Financial & Non-financial Disclosures Speaker Disclosure Connie offers resources and consultation through her website vestibulotherapy.org . Sponsor Disclosure The OTS Collaborative Community is a product of the OT Schoolhouse. Content Disclosure This learning event does not focus exclusively on any specific product or service. Schoolhouse Education, LLC is proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider of Professional Development AOTA-Approval for this Professional Development Opportunity is in progress. Stay Tuned! Terms and Conditions Schoolhouse Education, LLC will keep a record of your completed CE courses. When applicable, transcript services may include reporting to professional associations and/or state licensure boards. While Schoolhouse Education, LLC will make all reasonable efforts to offer CE credit for its courses, it is not responsible for state or national, or regulatory current policies or changes in CE requirements that may make courses ineligible for CE credits. Participant Agreement By registering for or attending any event or activity associated with the Schoolhouse Education, LLC and OT Schoolhouse, I agree to the following: Professional Development/Information Disclaimer The material presented in this course is not intended to represent the only or the best methods appropriate for the occupational therapy and/or medical condition or professional development issues being discussed but rather is intended to present the opinions of the presenters, which may be helpful to other health care professionals at arriving at their own conclusions and consequent application. Attendees participating in this professional development education program do so with full knowledge that they waive any claim they may have against the A-Z School-Based OT Course, Schoolhouse Education, LLC, and OT School House and its staff or representatives for reliance on any information presented during these educational activities. Waiver of Liability Agreement I release Schoolhouse Education, LLC, OT Schoolhouse, and its staff, presenters, and any other individuals or entities associated with this course from any and all liability connected with my participation, as well as from any liability related to changes to the schedule, events or activities. I acknowledge and agree that I am participating on my own choice and assume all risk in connection thereof and that in the event that a need for emergency medical service arises, I authorize and consent to such services being provided at my own expense. Cancelation & Refund Policy In the event that Schoolhouse Education, LLC must cancel the event for any reason, participants will be offered a credit toward the rescheduled event. OT Schoolhouse Collaborative subscribers may cancel their subscription at any time. Purchase Options - Collab Find the Membership that’s Right for You Whether you’re just getting started in school-based OT or looking for CEUs, mentorship, and implementation support, The Collab has a membership tier built for your needs. Purchase Options - course Essentials CEUs (including this one), core resources, and community for school-based OTPs $249 / year Join Essentials Learn Access to this course and over 40 live-online and recorded AOTA-Approved CEUs ($1500+ value) The A–Z School-Based OT Course ($399 value) Support Access to the "OTP Lounge" forum to ask experienced OTPs for support without judgement Implement Access resources directly tied to accessible CEU courses Not included in Essentials: Live Mentorship Collaboration Hours The Back to School Conference The OT Schoolhouse Goal Bank The Caseload-to-Workload Course Custom-trained AI tools to save you time & energy Our Library of over 100 ready-to-use school-based OT resources Impact Full Access to ALL Resources, CEUs, Mentorship, & Back to School Conference $499 / year Join Impact Learn Everything in Essentials, plus: The Back to School Conference ($419 value) The Caseload-to-Workload Course ($299 value) Support + Mentorship Access the OTP Lounge, plus: Live-on-Zoom Q&A sessions (Collab Hours) with Jayson and the OTS Team Opportunities for 1:1 mentorship calls with Jayson and the OTS Team Implement Access ALL downloadable templates, tools, & checklists ($299+ value) The OT Schoolhouse Goal & Treatment Bank Curated evidence abstracts and links Access to AI tools to save you time most popular ^ Back to top of page ^

Join us as Jayson Davies, MA, OTR/L, shares how AI tools can support school-based OT assessments, interventions, and documentation processes. By using AI to reduce the hours we spend on paperwork, we increase the amount of time we spend with our students. We'll cover current and evolving research, ethical considerations, and practical use cases for AI in school-based OT. Also, discover innovative use cases for Artificial Intelligence in school-based OT through an interactive demonstration. Stay ahead of the curve and use this innovative technology in your OT practice!