Educators may wonder whether their students are meeting their motor milestones, progressing effectively towards handwriting and scissor skill mastery, demonstrating their best potential in cognition, executive function, and self-expression, and how to address each child’s specific needs. An educator may also wish to incorporate multisensory learning, calming, regulating, or stimulating activities, and even add tasks that promote developmentally appropriate challenges into the classroom routines.
An occupational therapist can assist in creating a meaningful, age-appropriate curriculum to address very specific goals, tailored to the needs and concerns of the educators and the school. Whether through music circles, art lessons, movement workshops, play interventions, or social skills groups, an occupational therapist can describe the developmental demands, task analysis, lesson goals, and progression of the plan to ensure measurable progress and positive results.
A push-in curriculum allows an occupational therapist to observe children in their natural social and physical environment, facilitate specific skills, and if needed to suggest student or classroom based modifications, strategies, or supports, which may promote child development and classroom goals.
Art curriculum goals may include fine motor skills, hand strength and coordination, self expression, reflection, and executive function skills.
Music circles may target therapeutic listening, connection, rhythmicity, hand-eye-ear coordination, and different types of attention.
Social skill groups may involve play skills, self-awareness, communication styles, and mindfulness.
Movement workshops can target gross motor coordination, strengthening, neurologically supportive movement activities, postural control, and self-awareness.