Collaborating for Student Success: A Guide for School-Based Occupational Therapy

It is widely accepted by occupational therapists working in diverse ettings that collaboration is a valuable part of teamwork. But what collaboration actually looks like in education--and how to do it effectively to promote student performance--can be vastly different depending on one's perspectives and experiences. This practical work highlights how occupational therapists can collaborate effectively with family and education partners in the schools and connects collaboration to the mandates of IDEA and NCLB to help all students participate in the general curriculum. The editors and contributors--experts in school-based practice--have collected evidence from the occupational therapy, school psychology, and education literature as well as reflected on their own experiences to describe the successes and challenges school-based occupational therapists encounter daily when providing collaborative services and supports to students, teams, and school systems.

Collaborating for Student Success is designed as a textbook and continuing education (see AOTA's web site for details). The editors were guided by the following objectives in their selection of content that would meet the needs of advanced-level readers: identify the characteristics and challenges of providing collaborative occupational therapy services and supports within a historical perspective of working in inclusive schools; illustrate the collaborative roles occupational therapists engage in to support students with disabilities in multiple school contexts within the context of a general education curriculum; analyze the contextual variables the influence how students, families, and education personnel collaborate in an interactive team process; describe strategies and approaches for building team partnerships, including mentoring and coaching; review the evidence for providing in-context team supports to ensure students' participation in inclusive environments; donsider practical strategies for resolving challenges related to participating on collaborative teams to provide occupational therapy services and supports; recognize the communication and teaming skills needed to effectively engage in collaboration to support student learning within different environments in a school; and identify the process of initiating and sustaining changes in practice and influencing families and education personnel to engage in collaboration with occupational therapists.

Each chapter includes Voices--perspectives of students, parents, educators, administrators, and occupational therapy students and professionals; Collaboration in Action--vignettes from practice; Remember This--key points to keep in mind; Resources--print and electronic; and Reflections--questions that apply the chapter's content to specific situations. A collection of blank forms and worksheets is included in the appendix as well as on a CD-ROM for ease of use in the classroom and in practice.

Barbara Hanft, MA, OTR, FAOTA, has 35 years of experience as a clinician, lecturer, and lobbyist. As an occupational therapist with a graduate degree in counseling psychology, she has managed an early intervention program, directed therapeutic services in an urban special education setting, and developed a private practice as a developmental consultant.

Jayne Shepherd, MS, OTR, FAOTA, has worked for more than 26 years as a therapist and occupational therapy educator. Before coming to academia, she worked as a clinician, fieldwork coordinator, and supervisor in acute care, rehabilitation, and inpatient and outpatient settings for children and adults.