Occupational Therapy (OT) is a health profession that uses meaningful activities (occupations) to help individuals participate in what they need and/or want to do to promote physical and mental health and well-being.
Occupational therapists (OTs) in schools help children fulfill their role as students by supporting their academic achievement and promoting positive behaviors necessary for learning. School OTs focus on reducing barriers to a student's participation in academics, play and leisure, social skills, self-care skills, and transition/work skills. OTs address many factors that affect learning including motor skills, cognitive processing, visual and perceptual processing, mental health concerns, difficulties staying on task, disorganization, and sensory needs, all of which may prevent successful participation in the school day.
School OTs offer services along a continuum of prevention, promotion, and interventions, and serve whole school initiatives, whole classrooms, groups of students and individual students in special education. School-based occupational therapy is not intended to replace outpatient therapy or to meet all the therapy needs of a student. It is intended to meet the needs of students to promote success in the educational environment. We are so grateful for our incredible group of OTs in D102. Thank you all, for all you do to support our students!
Pictured from left to right: Melissa Hautala, MS, OTR/L (Assistive Technology Specialist), Dana Pais, OTD, OTR/L (PES), Arica Belbot, OTR/L (PES and MS), Andrea Grant, OTR/L (EC), Julie Roeser, MOT, OTR/L (TES/AJHS), Kelly Weiner, MS, OTR/L (EC)
Not pictured: Heather Kidd Wire, MS, OTR/L (MMS and AJHS)