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Learning Outcome 5: 

Collaborate with Transition Program Providers for Leadership Development

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Learning Activities

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  1. St. Louis Arc on-boarding procedures and informal interviews with the team on the role and function of jobs involved in transition programming: Participate in onboarding tasks/orientation

    • ​Participated in part of the worksite orientation/onboarding with my mentor

    • Completed informal interviews with members of the transition team

    • Completed multiple online Relias trainings on topics of leadership and IDD support

  2. Attend and consult on leadership meetings (e.g., strategic planning, budgeting, committees, grant management): St. Louis Arc meetings for leadership opportunities and exposure

    • Attended a management meeting with my mentor to get a better understanding of Arc leadership and strategic planning

    • Attended two trainings, one on romantic relationships and one on Charting the Life Course

  3. Problem-solve through NextEd session to inform NextEd Challenge: Use information from yearly programming to inform summer sessions

    • Considered the NextEd Curriculum to inform NextEd Challenge content

    • Prioritized “doing” in the curriculum, informed by my OT lens and constructive feedback of NextEd team

    • Used a weekly NextEd reflection to inform NextEd Challenge

  4. Lead intake and debrief sessions for programming: Collaborate with arc staff for intake/debrief around participants and programming​

    • Co-led debrief sessions during and after overnight programming

    • Co-led debrief sessions during day programming

Learning Outcome 5 Deliverables

NextEd Field Notes Summary

Class Facilitation Topics​

  • IADL training for laundry

  • IADL training for communication (expected and unexpected behaviors)

  • IADL training for money management (saving strategies, financial goals, financial wellness)

  • IADL training for managing living spaces (e.g., cleaning spaces)

Facilitator Take Aways to Inform Future Sessions

  • Consider intro discussion topic applicability to engage the majority of the group

  • Incorporate more applicable activities of "doing" (e.g., during lessons on cleaning supplies)

  • Making time to address general anxieties and topics of current events outside of the course content

  • Need for more breaks for sustained attention/engagement

  • Money management can be dull content that is hard to digest with these clients

  • "Doing" can be more intentional during breaks - geared toward the topic

  • Find roles for every participants, rather than relying on one activity to motivate all

OT Scope Overlap with Program Content

  • "Doing" - action-based activities

  • IADLs

    • Financial Management

    • Home Management/Maintenance/

    • Communication​

  • Self-Regulation Interventions (Mindfulness)

  • Modifying activities

  • Personalizing activities to individual client needs

  • Prompting

  • Adapting Activities

  • Grading

  • Motivation

  • Executive Functioning

Potential OT Contributions to Programming â€‹

  • YA-ACS for Personalization

  • Sensory Strategies

    • Movement breaks​

    • Brain Breaks

  • ​Grading

  • Modifying/Adapting

  • "Doing"

  • Promoting participation and performance

  • Assistive Technology

  • Create tools and strategies for task analysis supporting participants (e.g., steps to laundry) 

  • CO-OP Approach

Weekly NextEd Reflections

Week 1: 

This week I got to understand the ins and out of the St. Louis Arc, from management to programming. I feel that the programming offered fits so perfectly with occupational therapy. I have been able to connect the dots between activities and programming to the OTPF. While OT has the capacity to intervene at the population level, I see this being a consultative role at the Arc based on funding. However, their programming would benefit from offering OT support for individual participants' needs (e.g., strategies for ADLs and IADLs). For me, this feels more aligned with my skills and passions. That being said, I am not sure that there is a role for this within the St. Louis Arc. I hope to gain a better understanding of my priorities as a leader in occupational therapy and transition services in the coming weeks.

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Week 2: 

This week reinforced the need to be able to adjust content to the participants' lives and needs. There was a situation pertaining to conflict within the group. We were able to spend more time with conflict resolution content to be applied to their real-life situations. OT expertise in a client-centered approach with the flexibility of adapting/modifying intervention was especially applicable this week.

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Week 3: 

The near-peer experience is an incredibly helpful piece to NextEd programming. My roommate and I were able to facilitate a conversation about roommate living based on our experience together. Near-peer perspective has been incorporated into the development of the program, but the implementation piece would also be helpful. By incorporating OT student involvement, this would be possible.

Week 4: 

In-person allows for a lot more "doing". The "review" for week 10 becomes lecture-heavy. It might be helpful to incorporate more actionable activities into the review to apply what is learned rather than just refresh/discuss.

Entrustability Scales

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