Improving Student Outcomes and Teacher Perceptions Through Pre-Referral Occupational Therapy Consultation

Each year, Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 conducts a large number of at the request of school districts. The current action research plan investigated the impact of providing professional development and collaboration from an occupational therapist in the regular education setting. Regular education teachers in the intervention group received classroom-based occupational therapy consultation visits over five months. Participants in the intervention group and a control group completed pre and post surveys to analyze their own perceptions of self-competency related to addressing occupational therapy concerns in the regular education setting and the teachers’ perceptions of the value of school-based occupational therapy services. The occupational therapist and building principal participated in post-intervention interviews to gather insight on their perceptions regarding the impact of OT services. In addition, referral data was analyzed to determine whether the provision of pre-referral professional development and class wide consultation could impact the number of initial referrals for kindergarten occupational therapy evaluations. Overall, the survey data and interviews provided some support that the provision of pre-referral professional development and class wide consultation can impact the teachers’ perceptions of self-competency related to addressing occupational therapy concerns in
the regular education setting and the value of IU OT services. The results also showed that the intervention was associated with a decrease in referrals for OT evaluations for the teachers in the intervention groups when compared to the prior year.