Occupational Therapy
At School Steps, our Occupational Therapists provide therapeutic services to foster development of the whole child. We strive to cultivate academic and non-academic outcomes by supporting academic achievement and promoting positive behaviors essential for learning. Our Occupational Therapists are able to assist students in developing important foundational skills to create educational success. We specialize in facilitating student access to educational curricula by evaluating the needs of every individual child and collaborating with a school-based team to design the most effective intervention plan for a specific school site.
We offer a continuum of services, ranging from prevention to intervention. This includes direct services, consultative services and education to parents and school staff in both general and special education. We serve public schools, county educational programs, charter schools, homeschool programs and private schools. Our students range in age from 3 to 21 years. Our Occupational Therapists within the educational setting address deficits in the following areas:
- Sensory Processing/Regulation – the neurological process that organizes sensations from one’s own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment
- Fine Motor Skills – actions of the hands, wrists and arms, including dexterity, coordination and strength
- Gross Motor Skills – encompass the abilities required to control the large muscles of the body
- Visual Perception – ability to organize and interpret information that is seen and give it meaning
- Self Help Skills – encompass the basic skills needed to take care of one’s own needs, including eating, dressing, grooming and toileting
- Vocational Skills – allow a person to master a particular subject or procedure that is applicable to a career
- Executive Functioning – set of mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions and perform multiple tasks successfully in order to achieve a goal
Our energetic team of Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants are supported by our management team through continuous mentoring and professional development opportunities. These include regularly scheduled TheraChat™ meetings and multi-disciplinary team collaboration. All of our therapists maintain continuing education requirements and we value the pursuit of additional training as well as the application of current research and evidence-based practices to ensure that we, as a team, stay on the cutting edge of advancements in our field.