POSITION TITLE:               Occupational Therapist - Part-Time (2 days per week)

FLSA:                                  Non-Exempt

REPORTS TO:                     Special Education Director

Job Goal:

Occupational Therapy is considered a related service thus, the primary role of the occupational therapist (OT) within the school setting is to assist the child with a disability to benefit from special education. OTs may be included as members of the child’s educational team and share in the decision-making process regarding how to meet the educational needs of individual children. In collaboration with the educational staff working with the student, OTs address the daily routines and activities of school life and extend their specialized knowledge to assist in solving many of the functional challenges that students encounter in school.  OT services are provided to promote improved quality of movement, visual motor functioning, organizing and using materials appropriately, interacting with peers appropriately, attending and focusing on instruction or directions, improving coordination skills, and facilitating independence in activities of daily living. OTs recommend, construct, and teach others to maintain and use adaptive equipment for such activities as positioning, feeding, and helping children write or use educational equipment and materials. Occupational therapy interventions may address behavioral or sensorimotor problems, functional limitations, perceptual problems, and the use of assistive or other technology. Assistance may be provided with transition planning, the process that prepares the student to move from school to post-secondary activities including education, training and independent living.  Although therapists who work in educational environments are concerned about the underlying components of dysfunction, the focus of intervention is directed away from achieving isolated motor skills, such as one might see on a developmental milestone chart, and directed toward the achievement of functional tasks required to participate and benefit from the special education placement.

Essential Duties:

• Receives and records initial information and attends screening meeting as needed.
• Obtains additional or supplementary information from appropriate staff, family, and/or available records as needed.
• Observes referred student within the context of the school environment.
• Conducts evaluation using formal and informal assessments.
• Documents, analyzes, and interprets data.
• Provides information to school personnel and parents through appropriate documents and record keeping.
• Provides direct and indirect therapy interventions for individual students and/or groups.
• Provides services at multiple work sites for the purpose of providing direct therapy interventions and assistance as required.
• Maintains and is accountable for inventory and equipment.
• Transports supplies and equipment to a variety of sites for the purpose of ensuring the availability of items as needed.
• Constructs, modifies, and maintains adaptive equipment for positioning, ADL, vocational, and classroom use.
• Instructs, provides consultation, and monitors school personnel in the therapeutic management of students, including adaptive equipment.
• Communicates with school personnel and families regarding adaptations and supports required for individual students to meet IEP goals.
• Communicates with outside agencies and non-school personnel regarding needs of individual students if needed.
• Maintains and documents intervention strategies and results using forms, records, and reports.
• Organizes and implements an intervention plan that follows the special education process and school policies.
• Manages quality occupational therapy services while providing occupational therapy minutes listed in the IEP or 504, and providing compensatory service minutes when therapist is absent.
• Researches resources and methods (e.g. intervention and treatment techniques, assessment tools and methods, community resources, etc.) for the purpose of determining the appropriate approach for addressing students' functional goals.
• Establishes and maintains an appropriate record keeping and reporting system.
• Documents on Medicaid forms and bill for appropriate students monthly.
• Participates in total program planning through communication with supervisor(s) and other administrative personnel.
• Managing appropriate caseload for optimal efficiency to provide necessary intervention.
• Provides on-going information for administrative personnel regarding observed disabilities, therapy services and implications for student placement.
• Provides informal and formal in-service education for multiple levels of educational and support personnel.
• Provides information on an informal or formal basis to parents and/or non-school personnel regarding school-based therapy services.
• Participates in professional growth activities and continuing education opportunities.
• Integrates current, evidence-based professional knowledge and skills into occupational therapy practice.
• Adheres to ethical standards of the physical/occupational therapy profession.
• Supports efforts to accomplish the goals and objectives of the local education agency.
• Adheres to established rules, regulations and laws.
• Meet professional growth plan from prior performance appraisal.
• Assists in covering other Occupational Therapists FMLA, maternity, or paternity leave as needed.
• Assists in providing Occupational Therapy services during ESY as needed.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: Must be physically able to lift a minimum of 50 pounds, to stoop or bend, to respond to emergencies in a timely manner to any location on the school campus, including playground, practice fields and school buses.

Contact Information:
Human Resources
315 E Dunklin St
Jefferson City, MO 65101
573-659-3013

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION
Applicants for admission or employment, students, parents of elementary and secondary school students, employees, sources of referral and applicants for employment, and all professional organizations that have entered into agreements with our School District are hereby notified that our School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its programs and activities.