Deakin. occupational therapy. Newsletter. Contents ISSUE

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1 Deakin Occupational Therapy practice education Newsletter ISSUE Geelong Waterfront Campus Contents Practice education workshop 2015 PAGE 2 The pass for placement program page 2 The deakin occupational therapy code of conduct page 3 supporting children s development at st aloysius parish primary school PAGE 3 occupational therapy simulations for learning website PAGE 5 Placements for 2015 PAGE 5 Welcome Welcome to the second Deakin University Occupational Therapy Practice Education Newsletter for The year has passed quickly and all of our students have now either completed or commenced their final placements for the year. A big Thank-you to everyone who has dedicated their time to supervising our students in Your hard work, effort and support of our program are very much appreciated. We wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that you all have a chance to take a summer break. We also hope you enjoy reading about what has been happening in practice education at Deakin. Kelli Nicola-Richmond What s in the Newsletter? We hope that this newsletter provides you with interesting information that is relevant to practice education, including: Practice Education Workshop 2015 The PASS for Placement Program The Deakin Occupational Therapy Code of Conduct Supporting Children s Development at St Aloysius Parish Primary School Placements 2015

2 Practice Education Workshop 2015 Save the date The 2015 Deakin OT Practice Education workshop will be held on Tuesday February 17th at the Deakin Waterfront campus. The agenda for the day is still being finalised but is likely to include topics such as: What s happening in OT an Australia-wide perspective; Providing effective feedback to students on placement; Using the online SPEF-R; and, Working with students who are experiencing difficulties on placement. Look out for an invitation to attend the workshop soon! The PASS for Placement Program The Occupational Therapy team at Deakin continues to investigate ways of supporting students who wish to improve their placement skills, particularly with regard to interpersonal and communication skills and other professional behaviours. Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) are offered across many subjects at Deakin where students assist other students to feel more confident in a particular subject. This program for the first time has now been applied across a whole curriculum and in 2014 PASS for Placement was created in the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy. This program, run across both trimesters, was facilitated by student leaders Sophie Schultz (3rd year) and Imogen Piper (4th year) who were supported by Helen Larkin, Senior Lecturer in the Occupational Therapy program and Lynn Milburn, Coordinator, Peer Support Hub, Deakin Student Life. PASS for Placement focuses on students supporting students in a relaxed environment that is collaborative and student led with an emphasis on development of independent learning skills. A total of approximately 50 OT students attended PASS for Placement and feedback from students and leaders was very positive. A formal evaluation of the program is currently being undertaken, however, comments from students attest to its value: PASS is more comfortable because it s students and they know what you ve been through because in tutorials you re meant to be able to ask questions but you always feel dumb when you ask one and you feel judged but if it s a student they know what s going through your head and even if it is a stupid question they would just answer it. By learning from peers and being able to discuss with peers, who have a greater understanding of the troubling areas when it comes to skills, makes for a more comfortable situation to express opinions and learn. The PASS program has greatly assisted my learning experience as I have been able to not only work in a relaxed environment with fellow peers, but I have also been able to gain valuable and useful information in practicing techniques that will benefit my role as a student on placement and as a graduate working in the field. Lynn Milburn (Coordinator, Peer Support Hub), Imogen Piper (4th year student), Sophie Schultz (3rd year student) and Helen Larkin (Senior Lecturer, OT)

3 THE DEAKIN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY CODE OF CONDUCT From 2015 the Deakin OT program will introduce a code of conduct that will be signed by all OT students. The code outlines a range of requirements for students, some that are general and some that are specific to practice education. The Code of Conduct covers areas such as: Professional behaviour on placement, Fitness for Placement; Professional Appearance; Confidentiality and; The Use of Alcohol or other drugs. Supporting Children s development at St Aloysius Parish Primary school A pilot program with Deakin University OT students and St Aloysius Parish Primary school Being part of a school community is an important aspect of children s development. Participating in school enables children to undertake their primary role as students, while at the same time developing aspects of their roles as player and friend (Ziviani and Muhlenhaupt, p.241). What happens however, to children who may be disadvantaged developmentally during these formative years, in schools with ever diminishing resources and funding, and exhausting demands placed on its dedicated and resourceful staff? An innovative collaboration between 3rd and 4th Year Deakin University Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (OT) students and St Aloysius Parish School, a Prep - 6 mainstream Catholic Education primary school in Ballarat, has piloted an evidence informed collaboration that embeds individually targeted Occupational Therapy input where children need it to be at school. Effectiveness of OT in the school environment is well documented (Whalen, 2003). The goal of OT in the school environment is to improve a student s performance of tasks and activities important to school functioning. This may involve direct intervention, consultation and/or education of teachers and parents. Donna Bryce Special Needs Leader St Aloysius Parish School, Tara Roberts Occupational Therapist & Deakin University Practice Education lecturer and local private paediatric Occupational Therapist Karen Boehm, took the initiative to team up to pilot a program that draws upon evidence-informed best practice. St Aloysius Parish School is a Catholic co-educational primary school with approximately 200 children. The school calls itself a small, local, Catholic school: - big on care and fun, with extensive learning opportunities in a family orientated environment Deakin University s Occupation, Wellness and Life Satisfaction (OWLS) program provides student-driven occupational therapy services to communities in partnership with local agencies. It provides opportunities for students to develop skills and competencies, which are not generally covered in traditional occupational therapy programs, such as consultancy, community development and health education. Private Occupational therapist Karen Boehme was part of the collaborative team, ensuring that a qualified OT was on-site to supervise the OT students and support their clinical reasoning alongside St Aloysius Parish School staff and students. In keeping with contemporary OT practice the Deakin OT students completed interventions wherever possible within the context of typical lessons or natural school activities and routines (Hanft & Sheperd, 2008).

4 Opportunities for learning outcomes for the Deakin OT students Deakin OT students had the opportunity to: Support the innovative opportunity to collaborate with a private OT within the school environment. A focus on developing small group work addressing prep and grade 1 students identified occupational performance issues such as; fine motor, handwriting, self care and gross motor areas. Assistance in pre and post-test outcome measures of the OT intervention was a focus of the practice education experience. Consult with the qualified O.T, the Special Education Leader & the classroom teacher, to design and implement 2 x 8 week programs for the primary students to work through. Use standardized and non-standardized assessments and information gathering tools to determine school aged children s fine motor, gross motor, co-ordination, strength, balance, sensory processing and handwriting abilities. Interpret assessment findings in order to identify the school aged child s individual occupational performance issues Collaborate with teachers and school aged client to set SMART goals to address the child s individual goals Suggest changes or modifications to the child s working environment or learning method in collaboration with classroom teachers to optimize the child s achievement of SMART goals. Implement group and/or individual therapy sessions on a weekly basis Promote occupational therapy in schools Opportunities for St Aloysius Parish School students Forty-seven school students were given the opportunity to: Participate in weekly, fun and engaging activities to address their individually chosen and identified goals to improve their participation in school life. Examples included; handwriting, ball throwing, shoe lace tying, and using a knife and fork. Opportunities for St Aloysius Parish School staff and parents: School staff and parents benefited through: Collaboration and action taken in addressing staff and parents concerns that various students were underperforming in the classroom and also in physical education & BlueEarth sessions due to poorly developed fine and gross motor skills. A checklist developed for teachers to complete about their students, further demonstrated that there was a very real need for students to be given extra support in developing their fine and gross motor skills. Addressing the VCAA key concepts & standards in the Movement & Physical Activity dimension in the Health & Physical Education domain. This clearly states that motor skills need to be developed by students. Extra support from experts that was provided to those children who have underdeveloped motor skills. At the conclusion of the program the qualified OT met with each classroom teacher to discuss & assess the benefits of the input to the children. Given that collaborative practice between occupational therapists and teachers is required for positive and effective outcomes for school aged students and that these relationships require time and effort to develop, (Hanft & Sheperd, 2008), Deakin s Bachelor of Occupational Therapy Practice Education program looks forward to an ongoing mutually beneficial collaboration with St Aloysius Parish School in the future. Authors: Tara Roberts Donna Bryce Karen Boehm Occupational Therapist & Deakin University OT Practice Education Lecturer Special Needs Leader St Aloysius Parish School Private Paediatric Occupational Therapist References: Hanft,B., and Sheperd.J. (2008)Eds. Collaborating for student success: A guide for school based occupational therapists. Bethesda. AOTA Press. Whalen, (2003) Can Child Centre for Childhood Disability Research. Ziviani and Muhlenhaupt (2006) Student Participation in the classroom Chapter 12 in Occupational therapy for Children: understanding Children s Occupations and Enabling Participation.

5 Occupational Therapy Simulations for Learning Website The Deakin Occupational Therapy Simulations for Learning website was recently named as a finalist for an Australian Teachers of Media Award. We have also been working on eight more clips for the website that focus on areas such as; upper limb interventions, interventions used in mental health and multi-disciplinary team meetings. The website is now used as a teaching tool in all four years of the OT curriculum. Placements for 2015 We are lucky to have received many offers for placements for 2015 however we are still seeking placements for 2nd and 3rd years in Trimester 1 and for 1st and 2nd years in Trimester 2. If you would like to offer a placement or placements in 2015 and have not already told us, please contact Heather Ring on or heather.ring@deakin.edu.au What would you like to see in the Deakin Practice Education Newsletter? We appreciate your feedback. If you would like to read about a particular topic relating to practice education in the next newsletter please let us know. Send your suggestions to: k.nicolarichmond@deakin.edu.au