✰ The AOTA link is a reputable source as it is information posted by the American Occupational Therapy Association itself. This source gives its readers a solid introduction to what occupational therapists are and what they provide, do, and achieve in the school setting. Keys things being their willingness to help improve lives of the students and their valued addition to any educational team. Ultimately, this source provides a basic understanding of what occupational therapy is all about in the school setting. Only disadvantages being the information shared provided no first hand accounts.
https://www.aota.org/About-Occupational-Therapy/Professionals/CY/school-settings.aspx
✰ This source shares information and tips for any hopeful or current occupational therapist pursuing the school setting. This is a first hand account of experiences and information from a current occupational therapist working with multiple schools, someone who by all accounts is an expert on such a topic. Ultimately, this a relevant blog post as it shares useful information regarding the school aspect of working with students as an occupational therapist, providing insight on something occupational therapy school can teach which is how the school and students work. However, it is important to remember that this blog post is only one person’s account of this particular field.
http://mamaot.com/helpful-tips-for-new-school-based-occupational-therapists/
✰ Similar to the blog post, this source provides a visual representation of what occupational therapy in the school setting can look like. It is useful to those seeking information about the field, those already in the field, and those willing to learn more about an interesting career. The only disadvantage is the videos choice in only providing a visual representation of one specific year of school in an elementary building. There are multiple grade levels a therapists can work with and usually the higher the grade level, the more likely use of more complex therapy tools. Ultimately though, the viewer gets a sense of what a occupational therapists office or classroom would look like in an elementary school setting.
✰ Unlike the other sources linked on this page, this academic journal article explains what occupational therapy is while explaining why it is necessary for more occupational therapists to be in school settings. The main focus of the article is the “Partnering for Change Model,” shown in the image below, and how the partnership between educators and therapists can greatly impact and change the lives of the students for the better. It is a great article that explains in depth background information about developmental coordination disorder (DCD), a common disorder of those suggested to an occupational therapist have. While the only disadvantage to the article is that it was published a couple years ago so the call to action is a little outdated, but the message still stands that OTs in schools are very important and the research shows just that.
Missiuna, C. A., Pollock, N. A., Levac, D. E., Campbell, W. N., Whalen, S. D. S., Bennett, S. M., … Russell, D. J. (2012). Partnering for Change: An Innovative School-Based Occupational Therapy Service Delivery Model for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 79(1), 41–50. doi: 10.2182/cjot.2012.79.1.6
✰ Finally, this source is a news article regarding the appreciation a school has for its occupational therapist, Susan Lunn. Ms. Lunns was the elementary school’s employee of the month during the time this article was published and the story shares a little bit about her experience as an OT is schools and how active she is within the building. This is a good article to read up on because it shows those interested how active an OT in the school setting can be within the school while not be an active teacher. Ms. Lunns has not only been an asset to those students with disabilities, but an asset to all students in the school. Ultimately, the advantage to reading this news article is seeing real life examples of those in the OT position working and succeeding in schools. Only disadvantage being that not every OT in this particular field will work with one school so this interpretation, while provides insight, cannot be a complete generalization to what all OTs in this field position will look like.
