Life in the IEP Tribe
Join us as we dive into the world of special education with two educators who have walked the same path as many of you. In addition to teaching in self-contained and collaborative settings, our hosts bring a unique perspective to the challenges and triumphs of raising a special needs child. From classroom strategies to heartfelt family moments, they offer practical advice, empathy, and a community of support. Discover how their personal experiences can shed light on your journey and gain valuable insights into navigating the complexities of special education both in and out of the classroom. Welcome to the tribe!
Life in the IEP Tribe
Beyond Pencil Grips: How OT Creates Meaningful Independence
Discover the transformative world of school-based occupational therapy with Taylor Pinson, an experienced OT working across all grade levels. Far beyond the common misconceptions of painful physical therapy, school OTs help students develop crucial skills for educational success through thoughtfully tailored interventions.
Taylor demystifies how occupational therapy adapts across developmental stages - from foundational play and fine motor skills in preschoolers to classroom tool mastery in elementary years, and finally to executive functioning and vocational preparation for teenagers. She explains how therapists create personalized "sensory profiles" to understand each student's unique regulatory needs, then develop customized "sensory diets" of activities and supports that help students maintain optimal regulation throughout their school day.
What truly distinguishes exceptional occupational therapy is the creativity and problem-solving involved. Taylor shares inspiring examples of ingenious adaptations that foster true independence - like modifying a Swiffer to help a student in a power wheelchair clean library tables independently, or creating a door-opening tool for a student who wanted to navigate hallways without waiting for assistance. These solutions embody the concept of "modified independence," allowing students to complete tasks autonomously with appropriate adaptations.
Perhaps most compelling is Taylor's pragmatic approach to preparing students for real-world success. Rather than expecting the world to change for students with disabilities, she equips them with practical strategies and adaptations that work within existing environments. She emphasizes making interventions accessible and affordable, often engineering solutions from everyday items instead of recommending expensive specialty equipment.
Whether you're a parent trying to understand your child's therapy, an educator collaborating with OT professionals, or someone curious about this multifaceted profession, this conversation illuminates how occupational therapy empowers students to engage fully in their education and develop skills for lifelong independence.
so at the time of this recording, it is monday evening, april 21st. I'm very excited about this week for three reasons, for reasons thrice. Number one one Thursday is the NFL draft. Number two we are one week closer to the end of school, we have five weeks left. And number three is our guest this evening. Now, this is somebody who we've had the privilege of working with, I think, for the majority of our time at our current school, so it's probably been what about four years-ish.
Speaker 3:Four years, is that right?
Speaker 1:I think so, and so she's one of those that. So every once in a while, laura and I will meet young ladies, and it's like, man, I wish we had another son, because I want that kid in our family.
Speaker 3:And tonight's guest is one of those.
Speaker 1:She's so much fun but at the same time, has so much to share a whole lot of knowledge on the topic of occupational therapy. So now what I'm going to do is I'm going to hand it over to my better half and let her introduce you, even though I sort of already did.
Speaker 3:Well, it's like this is becoming a trend and they're going to think, oh, she just says everybody's their friend, but I mean, it's true. So we forge these relationships with these service providers and parents and coworkers. And so, once again, this is, you know, started as a coworker. Now consider a friend.
Speaker 2:It is the occupational therapist and one of the two three in the county and one of the two three in the county, two evaluating occupational therapists, which is me, and then another person who's actually a friend of mine, a true friend plus colleague, and her name is Courtney Joseph. And then we have oh, we actually have Wendy Yoder. She is an OT as well, and then we have two occupational therapy assistants. So they basically do everything we do, minus, I say, the paperwork. They were the smart ones. True, they have their own set of paperwork, for sure, but they don't do the evaluations and things. That's all it is is a difference in degree, but as far as treating, they do the same exact thing we do, and actually both of them have been. They're treating longer than me, so they have even more knowledge, probably, than me on some things.
Speaker 3:And when she says me, this is Taylor Pinson and, like Jared said, we've had the privilege of working with her more this year, I think, than any of the others Before. We kind of saw you bop in and out and now we get to see her the majority of the week. And she also works with Xander at the high school and helping him with learning his PIN number and using his card, at helping him learn how to use his card so when we go places he can either swipe or tap and know his PIN number. So she is everywhere in the county, I think, and so that's Taylor, and so that's Taylor.
Speaker 1:So occupational therapy sounds kind of scary. I think it's one of those things where so here's a great example. So last week we had Miss Elion talking about speech and even that it's real easy to assume things that just aren't true. You know, you think you hear speech and you think, ok, well, that just has to do with talking. So we're going to teach them how to talk good and. But occupational therapy sounds like sounds scary because it sounds painful.
Speaker 1:Whenever you think of therapy at least me. When I think of therapy, I think of getting you know, twisted and popped and like all of those other things to try to make your body work the way that it's supposed to. But what I have learned in our time with Miss Taylor and others like her is that that's not the case, that occupational therapy is something completely different. So what I think I'm going to do right now is we'll turn it over to you, the expert, ms Taylor, and help us understand what occupational therapy is.
Speaker 2:So I will say you know, sometimes we are causing pain. We don't think we try to. Probably more in the adult world, I will say that one of the beautiful things about occupational therapy and why I chose it as a profession, are there is so much that we do Not one occupational therapist is doing the same exact thing as another. I have friends that work in the school system in South Carolina and they're like y'all do what? Or you know. Vice versa, we have a scope of practice, of course, but friends that work in the adult therapy world are doing totally different things.
Speaker 2:One of my jobs is at the hospital system here in Camden as well, and I'm working with adults after surgery or if they've been sick, and I'm helping get all the hospital bed and getting back to go into the bathroom on their own and showering, and those are things that we do with children. But in the school system specifically, we are helping them develop the skills that they need to fully participate in their educational journey. So, whether that's fine motor skills for handwriting, supporting the sensory regulation so they can focus and attend to their classwork, working on independence and self-care tasks, using classroom tools, pencils, scissors, glue sticks For older kids, it's those vocational skills, like you mentioned what we're doing with Xander. So, and then beyond that, collaborating with the teachers and the staff and then the families to adapt things so that these students, regardless of their ability, have access to learning that's meaningful for them, Because I do think everybody can participate with the right support. So occupational therapy is essentially just one of those supports among many that the schools offer for students.
Speaker 1:I like the word meaningful. That's really good, because what it does is it requires you to actually take the time to learn the student that you're working with and all the things that you set up to that definitely support it, and that's why you can talk to your friends that do the same thing and hear that they may be occupational therapists, but their methods in this particular situation are different than ones that you use.
Speaker 2:Because you're taking the time to learn that student and help provide them what they need to have to have as successful as life as possible is much different than just showing up and saying well, this is what I do and I'm going to run you through the ropes of this, that and the other and not take the time to find out what it is that you really need to excel in your life Right, and that's really is the basis for occupational therapy in general professional doctorate and the.
Speaker 2:You dive way more into like the research and the background and the profession than you do with just my master's level program and we talk about making sure not only what we do as therapists is evidence-based right, because we don't want to be doing something that has no research behind it, but also is meaningful to the client or student or whoever you're working with. So we use that word meaningful a lot and making sure for OT it's holistic, it's not just looking at one thing but looking at the whole person. For example, if we have a student which we've talked about before, who maybe is writing essays is not going to be their end goal in life, then we at a certain point we're not going to be working on writing five paragraphs for school because that would not be meaningful to them. And then that's when in high school and middle school, we transitioned to more of those vocational tasks.
Speaker 3:Right and because if they're not going to be doing these tasks and that, like you said, it's not meaningful, it's not, and then we're just going to meet frustrations and they won't understand why we're having them do that bit about tailing those interventions for their needs. How does that go? How does that work? Going across like the different grade levels, like from preschool to high school?
Speaker 2:So I think the one thing about occupational therapy and our background is we do have a lot of background knowledge on those developmental stages and progression. You know a lot of our coursework with our programs focuses on that. So knowing students where they're at developmentally, as opposed to just, oh, they're in first grade. They should be working on this Because, as you all know, we have a lot of first graders that may be on paper or technically working on preschool things on paper or technically working on preschool things, but we're meeting them where they're at.
Speaker 2:So for preschoolers I may focus on like the foundational skills. So fine, motor development, play is so important. You have to have this play skills. And then they carry over to the other skills sensory processing and even in preschool you're still doing those like beginning self-care routines. So, like at school, that's going to the other skills sensory processing. And even in preschool you're still doing those. Like beginning self-care routines. So, like at school, that's going to the bathroom feeding yourself at lunch.
Speaker 2:Opening packages so I think we open pack, work on opening packages all the way up until high school and then in elementary school we shift more towards like the stuff for classroom success. So handwriting, attention, tool, use, you know, glue scissors though I have some teachers that say please don't use scissors, they're scary. Or parents that are like thanks a lot, my kid came home and cut their hair, they learned a new skill. Or, you know, I have the parents that send me pictures of their kid where they colored all over their wall and they're like but they wrote their name and I'm like well, there you go um.
Speaker 2:So in elementary school I think more of those classroom, that classroom activities, and then in middle and high school we're moving towards executive functioning organization. I work on a lot with consultatively helping the kids just get back organized for that time that I see them that month. So cleaning out their book bag, helping them work on like a folder system for keeping things on their own. Work on like a folder system for keeping things on their own because they are more independent in those older grades and they're expected to keep their things organized on their own.
Speaker 2:Well, in elementary school your teacher is going to put it in the folder for you and take it out for you um, and then working on the vocational tasks, job readiness for those kids, especially for the kids who are staying up until in Georgia you can stay until your 22nd birthday so making sure that they work on skills that they're going to do once they age out of school. And then the independent living skills. So, like you said for Xander, we were working on the debit card thing. Y'all did have to go and move this year so we had to re-warn his new address after he got his old address down. Pat, um, but working on.
Speaker 2:I have a student that their job at the high school is working with the janitors, so we worked on skills that he could use when, as that was his like, one of his blocks in his school day was that or um. I have a story that I was going to mention later and one of her blocks in her school day is working in the library and keeping the library clean, so working on those kind of skills and you talked a little bit or you mentioned, when you were talking about how you do the interventions and some of the things that you help these students with.
Speaker 3:And one of the things you discussed was the sensory processing challenges which, and I have to be honest, until we had a shared student with a co-lab teacher this year and they suggested maybe we see about OT, maybe they can help you know, maybe Ms Taylor can help you know, with some of that emotional regulation. I didn't know that that was part of your job, but can you talk to us about. So what are some strategies that you use as an occupational therapist to help these students that have these sensory processing challenges, help them regulate their emotions and improve their behaviors in the school setting?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I will say the emotional regulation thing goes back to us as occupational therapists being. You know, know, we have to advocate for our services. So, um, occupational therapy we talked about the definition occupations are anything that you do in your daily life. So obviously you're you. Both of your jobs are your occupation. That you go to and you get paid for is being a teacher, um, but your occupations are also parents.
Speaker 1:And therapists and a secretary and what else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all those things. But so occupations for children is going to school, so anything that falls under that umbrella of them being able to participate in school because that is one of their jobs every day, right, is going to school. So with that, you have to have the emotional regulation skills to participate. So you have to understand everybody's like unique. We call it a sensory profile or they're the things that they need more of, less of. As far there's so many areas of sensory and then you kind of go from there. So sensory is such a big buzzword these days I think it became like a hot topic and then everyone's like, oh, let me get this sensory. I feel like it started with the fidget spinners and I'm like, just because a kid has autism doesn't necessarily mean they need a fidget spinner, right, because that's not in their sensory profile. For example, I keep using Xander xander because you know it's compliant with purpose, right? Um, but xander's so chill, right, at least he is.
Speaker 2:Now I know that that wasn't always the case right so he doesn't necessarily need the heavy pressure or crash pad before he participates in OT that day or even in just in school, because he that's, his sensory profile is already there. So but you can use for these children who are dysregulated in the sense of needing more movement. We do use movement breaks. So I have the trampolines, we have the swing in our sensory room. You guys have different things For a kid whose sensory profile might include that they're very they're auditory, very sensitive to auditory input so they're using the noise canceling headphones. Some of their accommodations on their IEP might include testing in a quiet room, things like that. You're not going to play really loud music for those kids because that's going to upset them or get them dysregulated. Visual supports for the movement breaks being able to make that choice and choose to have a movement break is always good. I think it's good also for teachers and therapists and it's something I strive to work on. More is making helping the children become more independent and understanding where they're at sensory wise. So as best as we can, teaching them the tools to tell us what they need. As far as it's called, so then once you get your sensory profile, it's called a sensory diet. So it's the things that they need to help them stay regulated. In particular to them has nothing to do with like a diet of food you actually eat, but it might right For a kid who likes to chew on the end of their pencils which isn't the best choice then you might give them Twizzlers or something else chewy. That's like a more appropriate thing to eat or chew on than a wooden pencil or picking at their skin or something like that.
Speaker 2:I recently actually had a para that we work with at the school. She works with a general education student but she had asked me for some strategies. He was picking at his skin a lot and hurt I mean hurting himself, but it was as she could tell he was. It was during times of like nervous things, like during testing and stuff like that. So she asked me for strategies and I saw a good idea of like the little Velcro dots and you put them on the table I know you guys have like the little bumpy stickers on your tables but and you pull off the Velcro dots and maybe putting him five or six on his desk so he can pull those off instead of pulling out his skin.
Speaker 2:So sometimes it's something just as simple as that. And then that way he's in charge of that right. He has to put them back, he can ask for them, but then it's helping him with, you know, his one particular sensory thing. But that wasn't necessarily. I just try to tell people, just because it says sensory doesn't mean it's necessarily going to work for everyone.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, somebody was sitting in their office one day and and realize some business person realized oh, wow, yeah, that word is everywhere. So what can we stick it to? To upcharge people for stuff.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Congratulations, you won.
Speaker 2:And then listen. It's a great tool to, like you know, start with when you're searching for parents and stuff. But I just tell them sometimes just to ask if that's even something they need, because I have found where you give kids a fidget and then they're more distracted by the fidget you know. So then it's not helping for what you need. So you have to find something again that's meaningful to the student and also for the teacher so they don't drive you crazy, cause I know some of the suggestions we make. Sometimes I get the looks from teachers that are like you're kidding me, right.
Speaker 1:I always follow with. I need you to explain that to me because I know you know more about this than I do, so help me right, I always follow with. I need you to explain that to me because I know you know more about this than I do, so help me understand.
Speaker 3:So, talking about the paraprofessional that came to you and you know that you collaborated with to help this student, is there other, any other instances that you can think of anything that stands out when you've collaborated with teachers to help a student succeed in the classroom? And you don't just work with the students in our classrooms, You're also working with students that are primarily in the general education classroom as well primarily in the general education classroom as well.
Speaker 3:And so teachers might say well hey, I can't have a trampoline in my room, so what are some strategies?
Speaker 2:that you have collaborated with classroom teachers. So I do think that I think a school occupational therapist end goal should be if the student were going to age or we say age out or not receive services anymore is to be able to integrate these skills and tools and interventions that we suggest into their daily school routine. Right, because then even though they might be getting less services, but then they're using the services more throughout their day, which I think should be our end goal. So I think a lot you know everybody has to work on it more but collaborating with these general ed teachers and, like you said, now you can have the trampoline in. But maybe we made movement break cards where we've taught the student to be independent enough that a pair or somebody can walk with them to the sensory room and he can use that and then he can come back. So she can't have it in her room, but the student has become independent enough that he knows when to ask for it and then he can go use it and then he can come back and continue his school day as normal. Continue his school day as normal.
Speaker 2:A particular story that I had recently that I really liked was the high school student I was saying, she had a job in the library, so for that block of her day her teachers quote, quote were the librarians. And then she did have a paraprofessional with her and she is in a power wheelchair, so she was having a hard time wiping. One of her job duties for that class was wiping the library tables. On a power wheelchair, when the chairs are all pushed in it's very hard to access the middle of the table. And so we, the librarians and the para and I, collaborated together and we decided we tried a Swiffer that has a long handle and we put the white, the Clorox wipes or Lysol wipes that she was using, showed her how to put those on the Swiffer, and then she used that. So then she wasn't. It was easier for her because she wasn't having to move her chair. She wasn't having to, para wasn't having to move the chairs out from the table so she can move her power wheelchair up to the table. So she became more independent, right, because she no longer needed Para's assistance.
Speaker 2:And then it was easier for her and I am all about working smarter, not harder for her, and I am all about working smarter, not harder. Um, and then she you know we still work, accomplishing her goal of what the librarians wanted from her, which was that's what they wanted her to do for her academic thing there. As far as collaborating, I know for you guys we collaborate all the time. I see, like you said, we see each other all the time Since I convinced our principal to put my lovely room right there. But you know, working on things that like, if I'm using a special kind of paper or adaptive writing tool, like we're getting a grip or something, making sure that I'm suggesting something that is easy access, right, that I'm suggesting something that is easy access right I have as an OT.
Speaker 2:I have all the fancy stuff and I access to it through the school or through my own self because I've bought it over the years. But it doesn't do any good to suggest something that the kid's not going to have access to throughout their whole school day. Right Right, I can use the fancy things in my session and that's great, but it doesn't do the kid any good if it's something that they can't use all the time. So I do try to, when collaborating, making sure that we make it practical too, because I think that the age of social media, we see all these like awesome, elaborate things but, as we all know, funds are limited.
Speaker 3:Well, half the time they don't like those expensive things.
Speaker 2:Right, yes, yes, and not only funds limited for us, right, cause I know you guys personally and I know the team that you work with and they all go above and beyond and buy what the students need if they, if we think they need it, sometimes out of our own pockets, which makes the team great. But, um, also for the parents, right? I? I also do outpatient therapy and I have learned over the years that a lot of people don't have again the funds and the things. And would it be amazing to have a whole sensory room in these in their houses?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's not feasible, right? So I've, instead of crash pads, I've made suggestions for pulling the couch cushions off your couch and you do that for your. You know your your crash on each one and then you put the puzzle pieces in and that's what you do before bath time or something to regulate, so you're not having to buy the $500 crash pad. But most people have a couch or something like that, right? So making suggestions that parents, teachers, other people in the school can do across the board, instead of just things that look and sound fabulous things that look and sound fabulous.
Speaker 3:Because anytime you add, you know, for students with disabilities or for special needs or adaptive tools, anytime you add that it seems to add the dollar signs. You know we get these catalogs and say, well, this is in this. You know this catalog for children with special needs and it's $200, but this on Amazon is very similar and it's half the price. And so you know. I think that that's a good thing for educators and parents alike that they need to be to research it. Don't just go because it says it's for children with autism or children with special needs or people with sensory processing disorders. They really need to look and see if they can find things that are similar but not necessarily labeled as such, to help them save a few dollars save, save a few dollars, right, and that's where your other to add to your roles, your occupation.
Speaker 2:You know, I think we we've become engineers sometimes, right, we've like I've rigged up some things. Um, before where you know, I had a student that it was really meaningful to him, another student in a wheelchair. I feel like that's where we really do the like cool tool stuff. Sometimes it's like older high school kids and it was meaningful to him to be able to open the door by himself.
Speaker 2:Um, and so in the school day, because he didn't want to have to. He wanted to zoom through the halls, so he didn't want to have to wait for his pair to catch up. Um, and so I adapted one of those like reachers that we tend to usually only use with older people. I put a little hook on the end instead, and so then he could hook it, the handle, and open the door by himself. So, but if I would have found that on the internet, it probably would have cost lots of money.
Speaker 1:Oh sure, so I would like to just highlight something really quick, because you've made this point in every one of your stories, and I think it's very important for all of us as listeners to keep in mind what it is that you're doing. That you're doing when you started talking about the student that cleans the tables in the library, she couldn't get it done the way that she was doing it. What you did not do is just say, oh well, she can't do it, let's find another job. You helped find a way to help her be successful. The student opening the door well, we're just going to have to make sure that they put the buttons in that when you push it, it opens the door for you.
Speaker 1:Because we know this and it's hard to have conversations with parents Parents love their kids, but the world is not going to change for them. So it is our job as the IEP team looking specifically in schools, to do everything we can to position our children for success, not make the world Now would it be great if the world could just accept every disability from the standpoint of saying we can change everything to make it easier for everybody. Well, sure, but again, it's not happening. And so what you're doing and what your co-workers do is let's find ways to make the student successful instead of teaching them to expect the world to change around them.
Speaker 3:Well, not only successful, successful, but to do it successfully and independently.
Speaker 1:Independently. Yes.
Speaker 3:Independently, because one student in the library could be successful if the para moved the chairs.
Speaker 1:Well, that's true.
Speaker 3:They could still be successful, but fostering that independence is huge. Like you said, the other student didn't want to have to wait for anybody, he wanted to do it himself. Our kids want to do things themselves. Now are they going to let us do things for them?
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yes, and if we keep doing it for them, they're going to keep letting us do it for them. However, you know, as they grow, they do want that independence and that was one of the things I picked up when, Taylor, you were sharing a lot of your things. Is that fostering that independence? And to be successful?
Speaker 2:And we use the term in occupational therapy when creating our goals. Sometimes IEP goals are worded a little bit differently, but I use it a lot, especially with my outpatient goal making in the inpatient acute care. We call it modified independence. So they're still doing it independently but it's modified to them because, for example, going patient will take a shower by herself without falling. That's independently. You know, that's the goal, that's independence. Right, I could still take a shower by myself without falling, but in order to do that I have to have a shower chair that I can go in and sit in so then that's made it modified independent.
Speaker 2:So we use that in our goal that way, if anyone ever says, well, technically they didn't do it independently, so I like that the modified independence, um, which is what a lot of our students are doing.
Speaker 2:Right, we've the iep team. That's what the iep right, you're creating goals because the end is modified independence. I mean, we're modifying their educational plan so that they can be successful and, with the teachers and the therapists and everything, we're making sure that they can have what they need to be successful and successful and independent. I think you know, go hand in hand as far as the school system goes. And then we're also making sure that, like you said, the world isn't going to change for them. But you know, I do like a little bit of forced inclusion sometimes, right, you know who you're talking to.
Speaker 2:If we give, if we set the student up with the tools that they need, then when they go into the general education setting, then we're not having, you know, some of the teachers who don't have a special education things. I'm not saying that they're not great teachers, but they don't have you know resources, that we all do.
Speaker 2:But if you send the student with the tools, then there's that forced inclusion. It's like, well, you can take them now because we have them set up for what they need. Um, so it helps that teacher and it helps the student and it helps us because it helps us with our goal of because you know we would like inclusion everywhere. Right, I know that doesn't always exist and then, but if you give them the tools, then you can right.
Speaker 1:So All right, so check this out. Ms Taylor, we're going to wrap up this time together.
Speaker 1:Okay this out. Miss taylor, we're gonna wrap up this time together, okay, so let's say that this is the last time that you get to speak to somebody concerning ot. Okay, this is, this is your one shot. This is what you want them to to live with for the rest of their life. Never forget because, like, maybe you're gonna win the lottery and go live on an island somewhere and nobody ever hears from you again, because that's what we do when we win the lottery.
Speaker 3:She is leaving us.
Speaker 1:I'm not getting into all that. What is that one message that you would want our parents, teachers, students to hear?
Speaker 2:our parents, teachers, students to hear. I think that occupational therapists in the school's job is to empower students to be as independent and as engaged as possible in their day-to-day school life, and we do that by balancing these direct services and then the consultative services and looking at their IEP goals and determining where our services would benefit the student the most.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much. It's been fun having you hang out with us. That was a great answer. I'd have been like um, so be nice to each other. Yours was way better. Yeah, all right. Well, taylor, again thank you for hanging out with us and chit chatting for a little bit. Uh, we're going to go ahead and wrap this up and we'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Tomorrow. All right, I'll be there, all right tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Tomorrow. All right, I'll be there, all right, thank you.
Speaker 2:Have a good night.