Occupational Therapy

The occupational therapists at Pathways Children's School help improve each student's ability to participate in activities of daily living. They facilitate the development of visual-perceptual, gross motor, fine motor, self-care (toileting, feeding, dressing, hygiene), sensory processing skills, and vocational skills across all environments. The occupational therapists at Pathways Children's School specialize in sensory integration. They create and provide individualized sensory diets as well as adaptive equipment so that students can access academic material and their school environment as independently as possible.

The occupational therapists work to provide strategies regarding behavior management of each student by working to increase desirable behaviors through implementation of positive behavioral supports. 

They work to develop developmentally appropriate executive functioning and cognitive skills. This includes increasing students' sustained attention, self-regulation, working memory, initiation of tasks, and planning. For younger students, this includes implementing play into sessions as play is the basis for young children to develop cognitive skills.  They provide strategies to other departments regarding how to improve students' ability to carry over these skills into their academics. 

The occupational therapists work on students' ability to access speech generating devices as well as develop alternative access methods for them to access their curriculum independently. Their goal is to ensure that each student is able to participate in their learning environment.