10 Reasons: Insights from Cincinnati Public Schools OT/PT Group

I just finished doing three separate training days with a fabulous group of therapists from Cincinnati Public Schools. We had engaging conversations. Many challenges with collaboration surfaced through our discussions. As the final assignment, I asked the therapists to write out their challenges and brainstorm possible solutions. I also asked them to list reasons why using S'cool Moves might help collaboration between the different support staff entities. The therapists received an A plus on their assignment, and with their permission, I'm sharing their great work with you today. We are all in this together. Bright minds working together can solve lots of challenges. Thanks for reading, and please post comments below.  

Challenges and Solutions to “Push In” or Team Support Approaches to Related Services

Problem:

Teacher Buy-in and Carry Over

Teachers don’t feel that they have the time to do one more thing.

Solution:

S'cool Moves shows them how it ties into what they are working on (Blocks and Pillars)

Can use SM to show them how they might save time lost in correcting student behavior in a more positive way.

Problem:

Scheduling/Caseloads

It’s hard to schedule when we have multiple buildings when compared to the classroom schedule and student availability. Students are in different classrooms and need to be seen at the same time. Hard to work our schedules to fit into the time it would work in the classroom schedule. In gen ed classrooms, it is hard because there aren’t enough students receiving services to go into one classroom. IEP minutes on existing IEPs may need to get modified to get the process implemented and often determines our scheduling.

Caseloads: We are over more than under

Solutions:

Try to schedule time to correlate with intervention specialist time for carryover. Start in classes that have more than one student (specialized classes, preschool rooms). Use arrival time before school. Ask the teacher “what is a good time?” Be flexible and do some temporary schedule changes. Tie-in services to speech therapy groups which are often more an “expected interruption” to student schedules. Teach students and allow them to teacher their peers.

Caseloads: It may help us to reduce or better manage our caseloads

Problem:

Moving into the teachers’ environment

There is a loss of control with letting go of the control of the session. Feeling like a disruption and possibly being a disruption to other students. Supplies and space issues. Feeling like push-in session is diluting treatment because we are working in an environment that is not “ours.” Teachers may “abandon” the class feeling that you are working with the students, difficulty targeting what you feel like you need to work on

Solutions/Positives:

Peers provide a positive model, we are able to provide modeling the for the teacher, our students see other students struggling which helps them to realize that everyone has areas they are working on, can provide information for the teacher on other students who might benefit from targeted intervention, remind teachers/parapros ahead that we need their assistance during groups, choose your first classrooms to implement carefully, work toward getting the teachers to “lead” the group so that you can help the one who needs the hands on help

Problem:

Requires a connection between academic learning and foundational developmental-motor skills that many teachers/administrators don’t have in their educational background

Teachers/administration are required by data and standards to be very specific in interventions and instructions and this program is a broader approach which requires understanding to connect how it relates to academic targets.

Solution:

Using handouts (blocks and pillars), developmental checklists, Common Core links and the top down/bottom up pyramid model as well as the use of the IEP planning form to help break down the learning deficit

Problem: Difficulty with Data Collection

Requires a paradigm shift. We are doing more integrated/collaborative goals. Hard to collect data in a large group setting.

Solution:

Do not write goals that they will complete School Moves poster or a particular movements. Create and use a rubric to monitor student progress. If you are working from an integrated goal, we are tracking their progress on our portion for our documentation purposes, but for the IEP goal, we are not tracking the reading component of the goal which is the measurable portion. We are looking at if visual tracking is improving, r/l discrimination accuracies are better, reversals when writing etc. Our treatment notes report our progress.

Problem:

Pushing in: Special Ed. Vs. General Ed settings

Special Ed: Intervention Specialists often only have the students for a short time, conflicting with many other service providers

General Ed: Distracting the other students, Not sure that what they are working on at the time will fit into the IEP goal services are attached to.

Solution:

Overlap sessions with other service providers (SLP and Intervention Specialists), It’s easier to schedule in Special Ed classrooms and classrooms with more students, once one teacher has a positive experience they share by word of mouth and others start asking questions

10 Reasons S’cool Moves helps multiple models of service provision

1. Links to the Common Core
2. Ties clearly to educational model: Supports academic success, blocks and pillars model is helpful to communicating across disciplines
3. Gives us a “script” to talk with teachers and administrators in their professional jargon
4. Evidence based: Lots of links to research, website has many resources (look under downloads)
5. Team Building: Provides language for collaboration, lesson plan and IEP goal planning outlines help team communication
6. Materials are awesome (Multicultural too!): Back of the posters have curriculum links and explanations, most directions are very easy to follow, pictures are easy to follow
7. Online supports are impressive: Music, research, free handouts, modifiable handouts, easy to follow, charts to help with problem solving/guidelines and downloadable information and resources, ask questions online, blog, videos
8. Helps the teacher make sense of what we do in the school setting: foundational skills, blocks and pillars, instructions/explanations on posters, easily accessible, checklists, still there after we leave to provide multisensory reminders for consistent carryover
9. Adaptable to ages, abilities and environments: promotes student leadership
10. Portable