Are we really getting therapy into the classroom?
Physical Therapy services have evolved over the years in the
school setting. Therapy used to look like Outpatient PT just in the school
environment. We would pull our students out of class, walk them down the hall
to the therapy room, work them out, and then take them back to the classroom.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for pull out service but we can’t forget
the essential element to student success…..carry over.
This is an article from the Pediatric Physical Therapy Journal
from the APTA that gives good insight for incorporating therapy into the
preschool environment:
There are many factors that affect our ability to provide
our services in the classroom setting and there are still circumstances where
pull out is needed. However, follow up with the teacher to assist with planning
how certain skills can be carried out in the natural classroom environment are
still warranted. It takes a lot of practice for children to learn a skill and practice
must happen without the Therapist being present.
How does this happen? Being married to a teacher, I know how
hard he works every day. He is a teacher, a counselor, a dietician, a nurse, a
playmate, a father figure, and the list goes on and on. How can we also expect
these busy teachers to be a Therapist?!?
Here is my suggestion….start slowly. Pick the most important
skill for the day and figure out a way that it can be incorporated into the
natural school day. For example: if a child is working on becoming more independent
with standing, have the teacher or para-professional assist the student with
standing during an art activity with the other students. This will help the
student to be at eye level with their peers and to experience the activity in
the same way as their peers. Better yet, come into the classroom to help during
this type of activity and then transition to the teacher completing the
activity so that you can given him/her feedback.
You can make a checklist to collect data that the teacher places
a “tick” mark on to show that he/she completed the activity that you requested.
Make sure you follow up with the teacher every time and share with them the
importance of carry over. If the teacher was not able complete the task
requested, try to problem solve with them how/why it didn’t work for their
classroom.
Together we can all make a difference….it takes a team! Let’s
make a dream team for our students! Don’t they deserve it?
~Movement Matters- Whitney Carter PT, DPT
