COTA in a public school system in NJ

I have personally had the Wilbarger training several times, most recently about 5 years ago. I am comfortable doing the brushing and joint compressions as part of a sensory diet. A recent problem we had come up here in school is whether or not the educational assistant (classroom aide) is qualified to touch a student in this manner (i.e. joint compressions) even after being trained by a therapist? The assistants are not comfortable doing this and I hope you can answer my question since my principal is awaiting some clarification. It also is an issue of being "educationally relevant" versus a clinical model of intervention and is in question whether we should be doing the protocol in school or letting the parents and outside OT handle this. Thanks!



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Nov 08, 2010
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Me too!
by: Anonymous

We are facing the same situation. At this point, my plan is to take off work the week before and after winter break, to administer the therapy myself. Because it has to be done so often, it is this, or homeschool for four weeks, but that doesn't help her regulate herself to the school environment. I will keep checking back to see if there is any progress. We are all going to need a precedent on our side. What is really sad, is that we've have to waste all this time until December, just because of scheduling difficulty. Crazy.
GSW

Oct 29, 2010
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Well considering....
by: Anonymous

that the protocol is usually about every 90 minutes, and the fact that if the child is not "regulated" (able to process the incoming information) because of lack of sensory input",well...............
he is not going to be able to comply, to the best of his ability.
And there you have it.
The school system is overloaded and they dont have extra time for this, so they will play down the childs need for sensory input.
It is really awful for our kids in a school setting, thats where they would actually need it the most!!!!!!
Good luck, kim

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